Great Western - 15. GW Chap 15

Meanwhile the train north from Esperance to Port Hedland can leave on Tuesdays and Thursdays, getting to Kalgoorlie for the afternoon Prospector, and reach Port Hedland the following day, plus we will need a side track at Wiluna, which is where the two trains will pass each other in the middle of the night” I said.

“Well son, it looks like you have everything worked out, I will leave you to prepare the presentation for the mining companies” Dad said to me smiling broadly.

During the long journey back home to Perth, I spent most of the time that I was awake, working on my laptop computer, so by the time we arrived home in Albany, I had most of the work completed for the presentation.

When I sat down to dinner, the day after arriving home, I could see that my brothers and parents were waiting for me to tell them my suggested plans for the trains, which made me chuckle quietly. I have worked out a travel route and timetable for the new Great Western route, from Port Hedland, to Esperance, which is a distance of 1582 kilometres, with the northern section travelling mostly at night, with a departure of 1700 hours or 5 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays from Port Hedland and leaving Esperance at 0940 on the same days.

South bound, will connect with the morning Prospector, which will get to Northam in time to connect with the trains to Albany and Geraldton, the north bound will connect with the afternoon Prospector to East Perth, while the Great Western will continue north to Port Hedland, arriving the following morning.

With the current Great Western, which will be renamed the Coastal, and the Prospector timetables staying the same, we will have three train routes, that at some point connect together, with only the south bound new Great Western having the right timetable to travel from Port Hedland to Geraldton or Albany, with minimal layover time” I announced.

“Sounds great son, when is the meeting with the mining company?” Mum said to me, in reply, and I turned to Dad for that information, “We have set it for early next week, to allow us to recover from our trip. By the way Vern, Mum and I have agreed on the splitting of the shares, as I had said to you the other day, and we have sent a response back to Switzerland, including declining that they send staff to Albany to assist with the company.” Dad answered.

“Have we had a response back from the Minister, regarding taking over operations of the Prospector?” I asked Dad. “We have, less than an hour ago, I will let you read it later, but the gist of it is, that they are disappointed with our response, but are happy to allow us to take over just the Prospector, and they wish us to attend a meeting to discuss the plans for handing over control” Dad replied.

With the new trains due to arrive in Geraldton in just over a week’s time, Dad got to work to recruit some new train crew, including four more drivers, two porters and 6 stewards. Once he had employed the new staff, they got to work with training, joining the twice weekly return journey on the Great Western.

A week later, with both meetings over, and with the Prospector about to become part of Ashburton Engineering, Dad and I joined the Great Western, the day after we received news that the new trains from Switzerland, had arrived in Geraldton, and were being stored in the Westnet Rail Yards out of town.

Dad had decided that we would follow the Great Western south bound, we would have all crews with us at Geraldton, and with four crews and four trains, with Dad driving one of the new ones, we would travel down as far as Northam, then East to Kalgoorlie, with the second Coastal Miner following us.

Work had already begun, on building the new rail line from Leonora to Wiluna, while the mining company would build the rest from Newman to Wiluna. Work was nearly completed on the new train station extensions in Northam and Kalgoorlie.

A new train station and storage shed have been completed in Esperance, located just 4 kilometres from the centre of town, and the turn-around track just South of Leonora, has been extended, with a storage shed built at the end, to store the new train until the new track northwards is completed in about 4 – months’ time.

It was going to be a long two days, and with the renovations now completed on the family car, that was included on the train north, so Dad and I had a place to sleep, as we would be sleeping onboard the train for the whole trip.

When we finally arrived in Geraldton, we waited for all of the passengers to disembark, and the crew to do the clean-up, before the Great Western was taken out to the yards, out of town, so that the Diamond class car could be attached to one of the new trains.

The new Great Western was already in the storage shed near the train stain, waiting for its maiden journey from Geraldton to Albany, and the train we travelled up in, will remain in Geraldton, until the day after, before heading South, while the new train will head North.

A few days after arriving home from the European trip, Dad had changed the Great Western timetable on the website, so that the trains will be heading North and South, on the same days, meeting in Northam, to match with the Prospector heading West to East Perth, starting in two days’ time.

At the same time, the Coastal Miner will begin service from Esperance and Leonora, with bookings for that service being quite good, especially with the heavy advertising happening for the past three weeks.

Two days’ time, was also the day that we take over control of the Prospector train, from East Perth to Kalgoorlie, so that all at once, we have additional country train services, that have timetables that make it possible to travel a lot more, at less the cost than travelling by plane, and faster than travelling by car.

Dad had informed the media, that a special news conference was being called at the Northam train station, for 12 noon tomorrow, when the new Great Western, the two Coastal Miner trains and the Prospector will meet.

When all three trains arrived in Northam, shortly before 12 noon, there was a sizable local crowd, who had been informed of the new trains coming through today, but sadly there was very little media presence, which Dad was not too happy about.

“Mr Ashburton, Avon Advocate, could you tell us why there are so many trains arriving at once?” one reporter asked, “Ladies and Gentlemen, the train at the front, is the new Great Western, that will travel in partnership with the original Great Western, which is still in Geraldton.

The train that I drove, and the one behind it, are the Coastal Miner trains that will travel between Leonora and Esperance, and we will be heading East to Kalgoorlie shortly. In two days’ time, our company will take over control of the Prospector service, which will remain on the same timetables.

The Coastal Miner, will have a timetable, that will allow for passengers to travel from Leonora or Esperance, in the morning, and catch the afternoon Prospector to East Perth, also the timetables are being adjusted slightly so that passengers on the Great Western can travel from Geraldton or Albany, and catch the afternoon Prospector to Kalgoorlie” Dad announced.

“Sir, Avon Valley Gazette, do you have any plans for extending the services in any way?”, “Good question, and since you two are the only media bothered to turn up today, you have an exclusive.

We are working in partnership with a large mining company, where we are building a new rail line from each end, we will have a train service from the South Coast of Esperance to the far north of Port Hedland.

We are extending the rail line from Leonora, north to Wiluna, and the mining company will build from Newman to Wiluna, with the two lines connecting hopefully before the end of the year” Dad announced.

“Sir, that would truly be a great rail journey, what are you going to name it?” the first reporter asked, and Dad smiled as he turned to me. “Ladies and Gentlemen, when the new train line is completed, and ready for operation, the Great Western will take on that journey from Port Hedland to Esperance.

The northern section will be done in the late afternoon and at night, so it will arrive in Kalgoorlie, in time, to connect with the morning Prospector service to East Perth, and it will continue South to Esperance, arriving just before lunch time.

The North bound train leaving Esperance, will arrive in Kalgoorlie in time to connect with the afternoon service of the Prospector, and arrive in Port Hedland at 6am the next morning” I said, just as the Prospector announced its arrival, with a blast of its horn.

“Master Vern, one more question, will you have any passengers for this trip to Kalgoorlie?” the second reporter asked, “No, it will just be the crew for the relocation, unless you happen to be packed and ready to go” I answered with a big grin. “Actually sir, both of us have our luggage in the ticket office, just in case” the first reporter responded, and that made Dad laugh.

“Very well, you two have our permission to join us” Dad said, and that was the end of the press conference, as the two reporters dashed off to retrieve their luggage. “Put them in Platinum, we might as well milk them with as much publicity as possible” Dad said to me, before reboarding the train.

Once the two reporters were onboard, I called the front driver cabin, to say we are ready to leave, and Dad gave the horn a good long blast, before we started moving, with the other train to follow us in 30 minutes time, while the Great Western continued South, and the Prospector headed West to East Perth.

We arrived in Kalgoorlie just before 6pm, where there was a large crowd of people at the train station, including a good presence of media.

“Mr Ashburton, there are rumour flying around that you not only have taken on extra passenger services in Western Australia, but you have also began buying shares in two prominent rail companies, that involve rail freight in this state, do you care to comment?” a reporter said which caught me totally by surprised, and I turned my back to the media, to hide my shock.

Once Dad had completed the media conference, with lots more questions being asked about his involvement in shares, we caught a taxi to the hotel that we had booked to stay in, while the engine drivers, drove the trains out to West Kalgoorlie, for its overnight stop.

Once we had entered our suite, I turned to face Dad, to get some answers of my own. “Sorry about that son, I should have warned you, I have been working on getting some more control on train movements in Western Australia. At the moment, Queensland Rail owns the freight business in Western Australia, and I would like to see it back in WA control again, so I have been quietly buying shares in the company, in hope of buying the freight, that use to be known as ARG.

I have also been quietly buying shares in the Westnet Rail, to try and get more control of the infrastructure side of the rail network in WA” Dad said to me, “I see, well it would have been nice to have some prior warning, instead of looking like a stunned rabbit in headlights” I responded, which made Dad chuckle.

“I have also been thinking about changing our name, so it is more suited to what we do, since the name ARG no longer exists, since QR took over, I thought about using that name, since it is no longer a registered name, and it fits with our name. ARG can now be Ashburton Rail Group” Dad announced, and after a few moments of thinking about it, I agreed with the name change.

The following day, Dad and I were on the train heading North, while the other one heads South to Esperance and we arrived in the goldfield’s town of Leonora, just 2 ¾ hours later, and after a one hour stop at the new train station, we headed to the train shed, to secure it, until it makes its first trip to Esperance in the morning.

We would join the train as far as Kalgoorlie, and catch the afternoon Prospector to Northam, where we will stay overnight, and have the Diamond car connected to the Great Western when it arrives from Geraldton, for the return journey home to Albany. Dad had already organised accommodation for the one driver and three stewards, with a long-term lease of two houses.

It was a long five days of travelling on the trains, and I was very glad to get back home again, and try and get back to a normal routine once more. The day we arrived home, Mum had a copy of the Western Australian newspaper, and the front-page headlines were about the Great Western.