Operating the Palmerston North Esplanade Scenic Railway - 2011 Extended Version скачать в хорошем качестве

Operating the Palmerston North Esplanade Scenic Railway - 2011 Extended Version

The Palmerston North Esplanade Scenic Railway commenced operating in 1969 as a Model Engineering Club. Over the years the track was expanded to its current length of just over 2 km, with locos being built in 1969, 1975 and 1997. In 2016 they embarked on a major upgrade of their facilities and replaced the dark and dingy cinder block train shed we see in this video with a new Depot, which was followed soon after with a new Station building. This video was filmed in 2011 - well before the improvements began and shows the fleet as it was. The Railway is run purely by volunteers, and averages a membership of about 90 personnel. Normal running days are weekends and public holidays as well as selected school holidays. The railway is located within the confines of the Victoria Esplanade in the City of Palmerston North, New Zealand. It has the honour of operating through many parts of native bush (where bird song competes with the horn blast and squealing flanges on steel tails), planted flowering gardens and in close proximity to the playground, where an additional ticket office and platform is sited. This video highlights the setting up of the railway for the day's running with combining the coaches, fueling the locos and putting out warning signs whilst checking the track before running commences. We then go trackside around the circuit to catch the obligatory run-by action, ending with the final pack up at the end of the day. Improvements through to 2023 have seen the construction of a new purpose built depot, and new architecturally designed Station/ticket office, track improvements and re-alignments, re-branding two of the locos into the modern KiwiRail livery and the installation of automatic, digital crossing lights/bells at three road crossings - as well as huge improvements to the grounds and surroundings. Each loco is powered by an electric start, 3 cylinder Kubota diesel engine which operates a hydraulic pump which drives a hydraulic motor, linked to the axles by a chain drive. Each loco can haul up to 6 fully laden coaches. The Railway doesn't operate if it's raining or excessively windy - the native trees have a tendency to shed their branches - or topple over completely! The members range from young to old and are all proud to be operating "an icon of Palmerston North". Soon after filming this production, I was invited to submit an application to join the Railway and have been a continuous member ever since - that makes 11 years now.