Trans-Australian Railway

Trans-Australian Railway
Looking east on the Trans-Australia Railway from Cook, South Australia Track gauge: 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Legend
km Adelaide-Port Augusta Railway 0 Port Augusta branch line to Whyalla 28 Tent Hill 55 Hesso 85 Bookaloo 118 McLeay 150 Wirrappa 181 Pimba branch line to Woomera 219 Burando 250 Wirraminna 283 Coondambo 302 Kultanby 335 Kingoonya 377 Ferguson 413 Tarcoola Central Australia Railway 450 Malbooma 473 Lyons 515 Wynbring 546 Mt Christie 575 Mungala 602 Barton 634 Bates 684 Ooldea 717 Watson 770 Fisher 823 Cook SA - WA border Kalgoorlie Eastern Goldfields Railway

1930s advertising poster for the Trans-Australian Railway.

The Trans-Australian Railway crosses the Nullarbor Plain of Australia from Port Augusta in South Australia to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. It includes the world's longest stretch of dead-straight railway track, a 478 kilometre (297 mi) length between the 797 km post west of Ooldea and the 1275 km post west of Loongana.

The line forms an important freight route between Western Australia and the eastern states. Currently two passenger services also use the line, the Indian Pacific for its entire length and The Ghan between Port Augusta and Tarcoola.

Earlier passenger services on the route were known as the Trans-Australian or, commonly, just 'The Trans'.

History

In 1901, the six Australian colonies federated to form the Commonwealth of Australia. At that time, Perth the capital of Western Australia, was isolated from the remaining Australian States by thousands of kilometres of desert terrain and the only practicable method of transport was by sea, a time-consuming, inconvenient and often uncomfortable voyage across the Great Australian Bight, a stretch of water known for rough seas. One of the inducements held out to Western Australians to join the new federation was the promise of a federally funded railway line linking Western Australia with the rest of the continent.

In 1907 legislation was passed, allowing for the route to be surveyed. The survey was completed in 1909 and proposed a route from Port Augusta (the existing railhead at the head of Spencer Gulf in South Australia's wheatfields) via Tarcoola to the gold mining centre of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, a distance of 1063 miles (1711 km). The standard gauge (56.5 inches (1.44 m)) line was costed at £4,045,000. Legislation authorising the construction was passed in December 1911 by the Andrew Fisher Labor government and Commonwealth Railways was established in 1912 to build the line. Work commenced in September 1912 in Port Augusta. The line was built to standard gauge, even though at the time the state railway systems at both ends were narrow gauge. The entire intercity route was not converted to standard gauge until 1970.

Work proceeded eastwards from Kalgoorlie and westwards from Port Augusta through the years of the First World War. Construction progressed steadily as the line was extended through dry and desolate regions until the two halves of the line met on 17 October 1917. From the start of construction until 1996 the Tea and Sugar Train carried vital supplies to the isolated work sites and towns along the route.

Terrain

The final distance was 1051.73 miles (1692.60 km), slightly less than the original survey. At no point along the route does the line cross a permanent fresh watercourse. Bores and reservoirs were established at intervals, but the water was often brackish and unsuitable for steam locomotive use, let alone human consumption, so water supplies had to be carried on the train. In the days of steam locomotion, about half the total load was water for the engine.

Names of stopping places

See also List of localities and stopping places related to the Trans Australian railway line

Most of the stopping locations in the 129° E to 134° E part of the railway in South Australia (except for Deakin, which is 3 km inside Western Australia's state border) were named after the first seven Australian Prime Ministers:-

Name of Prime Minister	Prime minister number	Distance from Port Augusta in miles
Deakin	Second	Deakin, Western Australia 599
Hughes	Seventh	567
Cook	Sixth	Cook, South Australia 513
Fisher	Fifth	479
Reid	Fourth	460
Watson	Third	445
Barton	First	376

Other federal ministers from the 1900-1917 era do occur outside of this sequence, amongst stopping places on the rail route. Curtin and Chifley are much closer to Kalgoorlie while O'Malley and Lyons are on the South Australian side.

Route of the TAR

Operations

Because of the inevitable problems of finding suitable water for steam locomotives in a desert, the original engineer, Henry Deane envisaged diesel locomotives for the line. He got as far as making enquiries with potential manufacturers. Unfortunately, a scandal involving the supply of sleepers led to Deane's resignation before the diesel locomotive proposal had advanced beyond the point of no return.

It was not until 1951 that regular diesel hauled passenger services worked on the Trans Australia Railway, hauled by the new GM class locomotives.

The Trans-Australian Railway originally had crossing loops (passing sidings) 400 m long every 100 km or so. As traffic increased the number of crossing loops increased. To handle longer trains, crossing loops were lengthened so that in 2008 they are all at least 1800 m long and spaced about 30 km to 60 km apart. Most crossing loops are unattended and train crew operate the points as required. Crossing loops now have self restoring points, so that points are reset to the straight route when a train departs from a crossing loop. The loops are now being fitted with radio controls so that train crew can set the points as they approach. The safeworking is Train Orders.

See also

• Transcontinental railroad

Further reading

• Adam-Smith, Patsy (1974) The desert railway Adelaide : Rigby ISBN 0851796753
• Buckland, J.L. (1965) Canadian and American Locomotives in Wartime Service on the Trans-Australian Railway Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, September, 1965
• Burke, David, (1991) Road through the wilderness : the story of the transcontinental railway, the first great work of Australia’s federation Kensington, N.S.W. : New South Wales University Press. ISBN 0868401404
• Henshaw, C.H. (1964) Overland to Perth in 1928 Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, April, 1964
• Spear, R. Clarke (1917) The Golden west : Trans-Australian Christmas numberPerth, Western Australia "The Golden west, Vol. 13, December 1917."

External links

• Australian Bureau of Statistics article on federal railways.