23 of December 2014.
It has been sometime since our last blog report and we have received many enquiries asking for an update. It may appear that not much is happening however this is most certainly not the case.
The last of the testing was competed in September and since then the engineering team has been hard at it completing the test data and repots to finalized compliance with regulation and network standards.
We are now very pleased to report that approval has been forwarded from the national rail regulator (ONRSR) advising that 6029 may now run. After almost 8 years of hard work we are now ready to go, and in some way we are now pinching ourselves... is this actually happening?
To get our overseas friends in the loop, summers in Australia can be extremely harsh and fires are a natural disaster that cannot be under-estimated. Our Christmas is celebrated around the BBQ, and the beach is where a lot of Australians spend their holidays.
The 6029 team won’t be having a break this year as we will spend January 2015 finishing of the list of small jobs to get 6029 roadworthy. We are asking for all available to help out during this time.
We can now announce that the first shakedown run will be on the 28th of Febuary 2015 from Goulburn to Thirlmere. We will be running to the annual festival of steam that by all accounts will be a big event. As this is in effect a running-in trial, available seats will be limited. Tickets will go on sale on the 8th of January from the Canberra Railway Museum ticket office. Visit http://canberrarailwaymuseum.org/ for details.
The purpose of the shakedown runs is to fine tune the locomotive and to iron out any bugs as they arise. We will then plan the first official run most likely at the end of March, dependent on how the weather is shaping up as we come out of summer.
We have penciled in Goulburn as the staging point to run on the main south and we will run a series of short shuttles in May. This will allow passengers to connect with the local services from Sydney.
Our first sleeping car tour will be on the June long weekend to Junee in Southern NSW. This part of NSW features main line operations including the Bethungra spiral. We will also feature local runs between Junee and Wagga Wagga.
I will close off by thanking everyone for their well wishes and support during the testing trails, the interest has been overwhelming.
We would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy new year, that will no doubt be an exciting one for steam preservation.
Alan Gardner
