DSEPR02 Pilbara Iron Basic Session

DSEPR02 Pilbara Iron Basic Session

DSEPR02 PILBARA IRON BASIC SESSION OVERVIEW

OPERATIONS
Operations on a dedicated mining line are fairly straightforward, though the way trains are handled at the ports with heavy shunters, loco changes, and modern day cabooses (and a pusher district out in the Pilbara hills) means that this route is not a simple round-robin operation. And if you are a Cab mode afficionado, you will find a challeng with this route - my Trainz version of the loaded ore trains weigh over 20000 tons. Left hand running is in use on this railroad.

Here is how I enjoy operating this route.
Ore trains are loaded at the 2 mines. When these trains arrive at 7Mile Yard they enter one of the two swap tracks and stop. Here the road locos disconnect and manouvre to the spare consist of empty wagons which are usually in the yard layby tracks just opposite, and head south again toward the mines. The road engines usually are not called upon to go the the Point Parker or East Intercourse dumpers, but they can if required.

The now engineless consist of full ore wagons is coupled onto at the north end by the 3 heavy yard shunters stationed at 7Mile Yard. In real life there are only two of these, but in Trains we need 3 to get up the hill to the Point Parker dumpers in Cab mode. Also attaching to the rear of the consist is one of the Genset locos that are parked in the Autocaboose track just south of the swap tracks. These act as modern day cabooses in real life, and the Gensets are the best approximation of these that I could find.

Now with the 3 heavy shunters and an autocaboose at the back, use one of the provided AI schedules (or drive it yourself) to whichever of the 3 port dumpers you wish to unload the ore into.

After this is accomplished, there are runaround tracks beyond the dumpers that can be used to get the heavy shunters onto the other end of the now-empty consist for pulling back to 7Mile Yard. The distance between the dumpers and 7Mile yard is 7 miles. But you probably worked that out already.

When back at 7Mile, park the empty consist in an available layby track and disconnect the heavy shunters and the autocaboose. This empty consist is now ready for the next run south to a mine when the next road engines arrive.

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Paraburdoo Pusher service.
It's a boring run from Paraburdoo to Wombat Junction. It's steep and is almost 100 km to the pusher cutoff point. I could only coax about 30-35 kmh out of a loaded ore train with two SD70ACe shoving hard on the back so it takes a while to do it prototypically. I noted with satisfaction when companing my Cab mode timings for this section of the line are only a couple of minutes different to the timings of the real things. So the AI schedule I included for ore trains from Paraburdoo will keep to the same speed I can attain in Cab mode, just like the other ore schedules.

When you or your AI driver reach the trackmark called WOMBAT~pusher cutoff stop, you may disconnect the pushers. Don't stop short of this trackmark, as it was carefully placed so that the full train is balanced across the summit of the line. Note that if you are using an AI driver, you will need to employ a Stop Train command so you can manually remove the pushers. Use a Continue Schedule command to start the AI driver again once this is accomplished. AI drivers will remain stopped at this trackmark for only 10 minutes or so after notifying you of it's arrival. Keep an eye on this, or you will have a full ore train arrive at 7Mile with the pushers still attached ! Once the pushers are clear, use the provided AI schedule to return the pusher locos to Paraburdoo for their next assignment.

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Diesel fuel service.
Both mine sites use a lot of diesel, as might be expected. This diesel is supplied by rail. Near the Point Parker dumpers is a refinery and a track for loading diesels into tankcars. 16 of these should be onsite, full, and ready to roll toward the mines. Mount Tom Price can receive 10 at a time while Paraburdoo is limited to 6 on their respective diesel unloading tracks. Em

DSEPR02 Pilbara Iron Basic Session