Image: A 1.8-kilometre long train left Mid North South Australia last week, on a mission to deliver grain to drought-affected farmers in New South Wales. Images from Farm Online
Australia’s longest train has departed from South Australia on a mission to deliver much-needed grain to drought-affected New South Wales.
The 1.8-kilometre train left Crystal Brook station in the mid-north of South Australia last Wednesday after arriving a day prior at the Cargill GrainFlow site the previous morning to be loaded.
A total of 6,228 tonnes of locally grown wheat was loaded into 101 wagons under the supervision of Site Manager David Arbon.
“On the first day, using one rail bin, we loaded 72 wagons in six hours at a loading rate of 450t an hour”, he said.
Mr Arbon said that local team was proud to be involved with the record-breaking attempt.
“It’s our local farmers’ wheat that was delivered to our site that is going into those wagons, so it is great to see it headed off to market,” he said.
Watching the Grain Flow
Bianca Schuller – GrainFlow Regional Operations Assistant – was in charge of the Crystal Brook silo while the train was being loaded.
“The longest train I’ve ever filled at this site was 58 wagons, so to see this was pretty mind-boggling actually, it was awesome,” She said
According to Ms Schuller, GrainCorp has been so impressed with the efficiency of loading the train that another has been ordered to depart on July 9th.
The sale of grain from the Crystal Brook site provides more storage for this season’s harvest, without the need for building additional storage facilities.
“The more we can get rid of, the more we can receive without having to build any more infrastructure.”
The train was due to off-load at both Newcastle and Moree. It is believed that grain will be used for stock feed by drought-affected farmers.
Source: Farm Online