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#11
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Railway progress into Darwin
"Keith Sayers" wrote in message ... On Thu, 18 Sep 2003 08:26:21 GMT, "PhilD" wrote: How long ago were you here???? Well the first time was pre-cyclone ..... A small story, FWIW. I had been living in the Pilbara - on the cyclone coast - and had been familiar both with cyclones and the sort mid to late last century construction designed to withstand them. In due course I left there for a leisurely trip around Oz. Coped with the 400 miles of dirt road to the fascinating little port of Broome. Bumped my way around the Kimberleys, getting about as far down the Gibb River road as was possible with two-wheel drive and spare fuel in jerry cans. On across the VRD to Katherine and that enormous gorge - 'Wow, what a small river in such a big gorge - why build this bridge so high?' ..... Drove on north up the the 'Track'. Bitumen! Wow, what luxury! Only one lane, need to pull off onto the dirt to pass, but still the luxury of smooth driving. Eventually, a day or two later maybe, reached a country crossroads called Berrimah. Remember the little village there with its post office and a fellow who mounted Buff horns. Soon after that was driving alongside what used to be claimed as the world's largest airport in area covered (or was it just Australia's largest?). And so into Darwin. There's still a stretch of the old Stuart Hwy south from Adelaide River (now called a "scenic route"), and it's frightening to think that we used to use it all the time, and with roadtrains always present. Deliberately putting 2 wheels in the dirt to overtake a roadtrain was normal driving and you either learnt the art, had accidents or did a lot of following. I was looking for a friend in Alawa (who, incidentally, was a trackie on the NAR) and that took me a while. As I was driving around I was absorbing the feel of the place and I still remember my first impression : 'Mmmmm, interesting. This area is evidently not cyclone prone. These houses are obviously not built to cyclone standards.' The following Christmas came Tracy ...... I was posted here in mid '73, but was working in Katherine at the time of Tracy and came into Darwin on Boxing Day to find relatives. There were whole new suburbs destroyed, but amongst older suburbs were wooden framed, fibro clad houses barely touched and other near new brick ones destroyed. With many destroyed ones it was quite easy to see that the roof was poorly tied down and just lifted off and then the walls fell in. We pay a lot more now for cyclone coding, but it's still only to cat 4 standard. One day we will get a 5, but hopefully not before I've built my own shelter to cope with it. We've always wondered why some of the same rules are not applied down south as well. We see media coverage of small storms down there and can see how simple things like proper attachment of roofs would save a lot of damage. __________________________________________________ ____________ Keith Sayers, Canberra, Australia Mail : 6 Clambe Place, CHARNWOOD, ACT 2615 http://www.pcug.org.au/~kmsayers -------------------------------------------------------------- |
#12
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Railway progress into Darwin
On Sat, 20 Sep 2003 05:37:41 GMT, "PhilD" wrote:
We've always wondered why some of the same rules are not applied down south as well. Probably some result of risk assessment. One in ten, hundred, thousand year chance of something happening. At what point do you say 'take the risk'? Apparently something of the sort happened here in Canberra some thirty years ago. There was a proposal to build a new suburb to be called Duffy on what was then the edge of the city and against a pine forest. The risk of fire coming down through the forest was, apparently, foreseen but considered such a low risk that it was accepted. Last January ........ __________________________________________________ ____________ Keith Sayers, Canberra, Australia Mail : 6 Clambe Place, CHARNWOOD, ACT 2615 http://www.pcug.org.au/~kmsayers -------------------------------------------------------------- |
#13
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Railway progress into Darwin
"Keith Sayers" wrote in message ... On Sat, 20 Sep 2003 05:37:41 GMT, "PhilD" wrote: We've always wondered why some of the same rules are not applied down south as well. Probably some result of risk assessment. One in ten, hundred, thousand year chance of something happening. At what point do you say 'take the risk'? Apparently something of the sort happened here in Canberra some thirty years ago. There was a proposal to build a new suburb to be called Duffy on what was then the edge of the city and against a pine forest. The risk of fire coming down through the forest was, apparently, foreseen but considered such a low risk that it was accepted. Last January ........ It would be funny if it wasn't so serious. I think that the reason that higher construction standards etc aren't applied elsewhere has a simple answer in votes. Up here the application of the cyclone coding had little impact federally on votes, but if applied in southern capitals I doubt that voters would like the price consequences. Insurance companies probably wouldn't mind though. Just heard on our TV news that there's 2km of line to be laid tomorrow to the end of the line. There's apparently still 6km of line to be done in the freight yards etc though. PhilD |
#14
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Railway progress into Darwin
"PhilD" wrote in message ...
Went down to see track laying cross Elizabeth River bridge, just on edge of Palmerston, this afternoon. Interesting to watch, but didn't get to see ballast laying, so must go and have another look tomorrow. Looks likely to finish track laying itself within a fortnight, many months ahead of schedule. From the lengths of rail being laid, already welded together, it should be a much quieter trip than I remember from the old Ghan. Phil Saw on the Today show the final connection of the track, Clair Martin and Dr. Stack doing the honors. Did the former chief minisiter (what's his name) get involved at all? or did Clair Martin take all the credit Looking forward to training it from ASP to DRW sometime in the future Ed |
#15
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Railway progress into Darwin
wrote in message om... "PhilD" wrote in message ... Went down to see track laying cross Elizabeth River bridge, just on edge of Palmerston, this afternoon. Interesting to watch, but didn't get to see ballast laying, so must go and have another look tomorrow. Looks likely to finish track laying itself within a fortnight, many months ahead of schedule. From the lengths of rail being laid, already welded together, it should be a much quieter trip than I remember from the old Ghan. Phil Saw on the Today show the final connection of the track, Clair Martin and Dr. Stack doing the honors. Did the former chief minisiter (what's his name) get involved at all? or did Clair Martin take all the credit Looking forward to training it from ASP to DRW sometime in the future Ed I think you mean Denis Burke, but no I don't think he was involved, or the media didn't show it. Clare acts like it was all her own personal work, unfortunately. I doubt that it would ever have been built if Labour had been in government during the same period. Too busy holidaying at taxpayers expense in Greece to do anything useful. Better go now before I start on more comments on that subject, blood pressure already rising. PhilD |
#16
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Railway progress into Darwin
The justification of infrastructure building such as these shouldn't just be measured by the short term cash returns, rather we should be looking into the future. 100 years to get around to building 1500 km of railway line and how many years and still no alternate Sydney airport is rather pathetic. We're run by committee's that eternally debate anything without really ever getting anywhere. Our leaders have no vision of the future of this country. Our politicians never have a problem finding money for pet projects that don't really better the country, but a steady program for rail projects is usually put off to a future generation. Meanwhile we have to rely on road transport, so everything ends up designed around it, regardless of long term consequences. I'm a Yank. Our politicians are the same way and always have been. The following is from a song in the musical 1776. It's a fictionalized story about what transpired leading up to the Continental Congress declaring independence from Great Britain. They may sit here for years and years in Philadelphia These indecisive grenadiers of Philadelphia They can't decide on what is right or wrong or what is good or bad I'm convinced the only purpose this congress ever had was to gather here specifically to drive John Adams mad! Chorus: You see we piddle twiddle and resolve not one damn thing do we solve piddle twiddle and resolve nothing's ever solved in foul, fetid, fuming, foggy, filthy, Philadelphia. |
#17
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Railway progress into Darwin
On Sat, 27 Sep 2003 05:20:56 GMT, Odysseus wrote:
I'm a Yank. Our politicians are the same way and always have been. Hmmmm. And is it true what I heard about the people who choose your politicians - that something like half are below average intelligence? __________________________________________________ ____________ Keith Sayers, Canberra, Australia Mail : 6 Clambe Place, CHARNWOOD, ACT 2615 http://www.pcug.org.au/~kmsayers -------------------------------------------------------------- |
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