Rolling – on the Indian Pacific from inSYDnificant to PERfection

[UP4014]

You should be right in 6 weeks.

The Indian was due into Goulburn Wednesday via Melbourne, but an SCT derailment west of Geelong has closed that line today and the NSW main west is closed due to flooding.

Here was the view outside my office window literally. Last Wednesday 9/11 when the IP had to stable in Goulburn for the day while passengers where shuffled by bus to and from Sydney.

https://flic.kr/p/2nYmb2o

 

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Connecting the IP to an aircraft, people here have no doubt traveled or seen the IP, note the spot welded stainless construction, designed by the Budd Company in Philadelphia and built here under license from Budd.

Well there is a link to flying here and if anyone has visited the Pima Air and Space museum they have an aircraft also designed and built by Budd.
Budd built a stainless steel aircraft using the same techniques like spot welding they used on railway passenger cars, they have a couple of good stories about a crash where the plane belly landed and was so tuff it was almost a party scene at the crash site. Originally built for Army and Navy.

Because of its build material it weighed a ton so had a not so good range, however if someone was shooting at you in the Central American jungle know doubt it was a good freighter to be in.

Budd RB-1 - Pima Air & Space

Budd RB-1 Conestoga Early in World War II it was feared that there would be a shortage of aluminum for the construction of aircraft, so the government sought out designs that used what were called “non-strategic materials.” Generally, this referred to wood, but the Budd Company took a different...

pimaair.org

Photo of Budd RB-1 Conestoga NC45347 - Aviation Safety Network

Photo of Budd RB-1 Conestoga NC45347 taken by Terry Knight at Bluefield, VA

aviation-safety.net