International Railroad Discussion > Australian Cattle Train

In Central Queensland, Australia, Aurizon cattle train 67C5 is on the section between Anakie and Taroborah on the lightly-laid Central Western Line on Friday 29 April 2016 with Clyde Engineering-built EMD units 2387 (a GT22LC-2) and 1730 (a GL18C) leading 16 KOJX wagons loaded with cattle. This train loaded at Winton and was heading for the meatworks at Holmview, south of the state capital Brisbane. This was the first train of the cattle traffic season loaded at Winton. These trains usually have 43 KOJX wagons, with each one carrying 20-22 cattle. 

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Neat photo of someting we no longer see over here. Thanks for posting.

Cheers,
Jack

Interesting moooo-ve. chris uk.

Very interesting, I didn't know there were such trains anymore in the world.

I was just in Brisbane last weekend and saw some cattle trains go past.  Queensland has hung onto this for years where as the other states lost this traffic in the mid 80ies.

Rick

Very interesting. In Brazil we lost this kind of train in the end of 1970's. Any pics of the cattle cars?

Pedro Rezende
Vespasiano MG,
https://youtube.com/c/minasgeraisrailways1

Havent seen a stock train in New south Wales in 40+ years.
Regards,DK

I haven't an image of the cattle wagons on this laptop, but I'll take care of it when I get home next week. They are steel crates on old box wagon underframes. Unfortunately the wagons are limited to a maximum speed of 80 kilometres per hour (about 50mph) because of the bogies. There are plans to build new crates and fit them to container wagons which are rated to run at 100 kilometres per hour (60mph), which will improve running times on Queensland's North Coast Line. Cattle trains now run on the three trunk routes from the west - from Julia Creek, Winton and Quilpie to the coastal centres of Townsville and Rockhampton and the capital Brisbane. Some trains make the longer runs from Julia Creek and Winton down to Brisbane. I used to drive cattle trains occasionally (in between the numerous mineral trains) and they were great to run. The wind resistance meant the trains were almost always slightly stretched and you could run in high notches of power without having to worry about making too many changes in throttle settings. Until recently we had more than a thousand cattle wagons, most with timber slat sides over a steel framework, but the expense of maintaining them was considered too high and they were scrapped, leaving just a few hundred of these KOJX wagons.We used to load and attach cattle wagons (and sheep wagons in some areas) from hundreds of small sidings but that has been rationalized to just a few major loading points and it's almost always one large pre-booked order, going straight to a meatworks.

Cattle trains in Queensland attract a State Government subsidy, Aurizon will only operate them if subsidised

 

Don't know why they just don't build "Cattle Containers" that can be loaded on any container flat.

The Queensland Government has just ordered 75 Cattle crates to fit on container flat waggons to meet demand for Aurizon to run these trains for the next 2 years.  (Subsadised).

spken
Landsborough. Qld.
 

Any information on the generous subsidies road transport operators enjoy to transport cattle?

Perhaps someone could articulate the impact of Queensland's volumetric loading policy on road surface longevity or pavement depth. They are costs borne by anyone who pays taxes, and it would be a refreshing change to see them acknowledged. How about the taxpayer-funded Beef Roads Scheme that has been running for more then 50 years now?

"Road safety improvements" in country Queensland are typically followed, immediately, by the extension of route availability for Type 2 road trains, up to 53.5 metres long. The Haughton Range upgrade on the Flinders Highway between Townsville and Charters Towers (circa 1998) was welcomed not only by light vehicle drivers, but also by livestock transport road operators who began running Type 2 road trains to Stuart (on the outskirts of Townsville) the day the upgrade works were completed.

If we're going to talk about subsidies, how about looking at the whole picture?