Railway Digest Magazine Sep-14 Back Issue

Gold Coast Light Rail opens for business
In the pre-dawn gloom of Sunday, 20 July around 150 passengers joined Bombardier Flexity 2 tram No.08 at Gold Coast University Hospital for the 5.00am departure of the first southbound service on the Gold Coast’s light rail line. At the other end of the line, at Broadbeach South, tram No.12 departed at the same time, thereby marking the opening of the Gold Coast light rail, the latest addition to light rail operations in Australia. John Hoyle reports.

Semaphore Signal Farewell
Once a common sight around the Victorian Railways network, semaphore signals – particularly the charming ‘somersault’ variety – have now all but disappeared. David Campbell takes a look at the history of these interesting devices and reports on where the survivors can still be seen in action.

The CSR Qishuyuan SDA-2 Locomotive
Peter Clark takes a look at Pacific National’s new 88 Class locomotives, recently delivered from CSR Qishuyuan, in China, as its model SDA-2. Although similar to PN’s existing 83 Class in appearance and dimensions, the CSR SDA-2 is a completely new design, as Peter explains.