Central Australia Railway: Difference between revisions
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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*[https://www.railpage.com.au Railpage Online Railway discussion and archives] |
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*[https://www.railpage.com.au/gallery?album=2246 Railpage - Photo Album of Images along the line] |
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*[http://www.southaustralianhistory.com.au/adrail.htm History of the Adelaide-Darwin Railway] |
*[http://www.southaustralianhistory.com.au/adrail.htm History of the Adelaide-Darwin Railway] |
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*[http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/num_act/ttasra1974333/sch1.html Tarcoola to Alice Springs Railway Act 1974] |
*[http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/num_act/ttasra1974333/sch1.html Tarcoola to Alice Springs Railway Act 1974] |
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Revision as of 02:33, 24 October 2017
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Service type | Transcontinental passenger rail |
| Status | Abandoned |
| Locale | Australia |
| First service | 1878 (to Quorn) |
| Last service | 1980 |
| Former operator(s) | Commonwealth Railways Australian National |
| Route | |
| Termini | Adelaide Port Augusta |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) & 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge |
|}
_--_trackbed_near_Lake_Eyre_South,_South_Australia.jpg)
The former Central Australia Railway was originally a 1241 km[1] narrow gauge (3'6") railway between Adelaide and Alice Springs and sometimes called The Ghan or Great Northern Railway. A standard gauge line replaced the southern section from Port Augusta to Maree in 1957 although utilised a new nearby route. The current standard gauge Adelaide-Darwin railway (Ghan), however uses an alternative route up to 200 km to the west. A small southern section of the original line between Port Augusta and Quorn has been preserved as the Pichi Richi Tourist Railway. A small section just south of Alice Springs has also been preserved
Naming
Officially named the Central Australia Railway, it has often been referred to as the Great Northern Railway [2] in the 1890's and into the twentieth century.
The most southern part of the line between Port Augusta and Quorn is now referred to as the Pichi Richi Tourist Railway.
The Ghan passenger train
It is suggested that The 'Ghan name is in recognition of the Afghan Cameleers that plied their trade in the area well before the railway; however, see The Ghan (Etymology) for alternatives. This colloquial term for the railway appears to have been widely in use from at least the early 1930's;[3] it may have been in use prior to this.
The new Adelaide-Darwin railway initially used The New Ghan as a trading name. It has now reverted to The Ghan, relegating the original line name colloquially as The Old Ghan.[4][5]
History
Construction in the 1870s was by South Australian Railways as a 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) narrow gauge railway.[6][7] The final part of the line closed in 1980 when the standard gauge line opened on a new alignment from Tarcoola to Alice Springs.[8]
Oddnadatta to Alice Springs
The Northern Territory Act (Cth 1910) required the building of a North-South railway although no date was specified. Two unballasted routes were shortlisted with aStandard gauge line from Kingoonya to Alice Springs estimated at 4.5m pounds and the 1.7m pound narrow gauge extension from Oodnadatta to Alice Springs. The 270 miles 65 chain extension was passed after a number of debates in Federal Parliament.[9]
Railway workers were paid 5 pounds, 8 shillings a week and a request for this to be raised to 6 pounds per week was refused by Sir John Quick in the Federal Arbitration Court on 11 March 1927.[10]
Concerns were raised regarding local Aboriginals with media reporting ""It is intended to ask the State and Federal Governments to endeavour to keep the wilder natives and especially those from the Musgrave and Everard ranges in their fastnesses for a few years." [11]
The first train consisted of 12 carriages including Mail and Fruit vans. There were 60 first class and 60 second class passengers and left on 5 August 1929 however an official ceremony to be attended by the Prime Minister was cancelled due to the cost of running a special train [12][13]
Timeline (including the Northern railway)
- 18 January 1878: South: Construction from Port Augusta starts
- 1879: South: Quorn reached
- 1883: South: Marree reached
- 1883: North: Construction of the North Australia Railway from Palmerston (Darwin) starts
- 1888: North: Pine Creek reached
- 1891: South: Oodnadatta reached, and known as the Great Northern Railway
- 1910: First promise by Federal Government to complete the line in the Acceptance Act (but no date given)
- 1926: Line acquired by Commonwealth Railways
- 1926: North: Katherine reached
- 1929: North: Birdum reached, terminus at Larrimah, and known as the North Australia Railway
- 6 August 1929: South: Alice Springs reached, and officially renamed the Central Australia Railway, but popularly known as The Ghan. The northern and southern parts are not connected.
- 1957: South: Standard gauge line from Stirling North (near Port Augusta) to Marree opened replacing line via Quorn
- Some sections of the narrow-gauge line remain in operation as the Pichi Richi Railway
- 1976: North: line closed
- 1980: South: line closed, replaced by Tarcoola-Alice Springs line
Flooding and damage
Flooding occurred on a regular basis with a number of significant closures including...
- 1936
- A works train engine dived nose-first into Camel Creek near Rodinga with a fireman sustained a broken leg after the 30 foot Camel Creek bridge was undermined. The train was an engine and three carriages and was repairing tracks from recent floods. The driver also sustained unspecified injuries.
- 16 Passengers and railway engineers were stranded at Finke River will "have to remain there for some days" with water 'four feet over the line'.[14]
- 1937 Reports of flooding delaying trains for at least 3 days
- 1939 Reports of six weeks of disruptions and headlines of "Train Weeks Late". Food shortages in Alice Springs after the train was delayed 34 days.[15]
- 1963 (May) 114 of the 140 Ghan passengers were airlifted to Alice Spings on five special flights after a week of delays. The floods "were the worse since 1938" and bread was dropped to the train.[16]
- 1967 The track was closed for approximately 27 days after the track was breached in more than 32 places including destroying the Finke River Bridge. A "minor Berlin airlift" was required for Alice Springs. There were three proposals to improve the line were mentioned by the Commissioner of Commonwealth Railways. This included
- a new route from Tarcoola to Alice Springs which the current Adelaide–Darwin railway may be based on,
- Extending the Standard gauge from Marree to Alice Springs
- Improving the existing narrow gauge line.[17]
- 1974 All roads cut around Alice Springs
List of stations
Conditions
The tortuously curving narrow-gauge line between Marree and Alice Springs was notoriously prone to delays, often caused by flash floods washing away bridges and tracks.[18] Some track was laid on sand without ballast, and wood sleepers were used, serving as food for termites, causing unstable tracks.[19]
Film
Shortly before the closure of the narrow gauge line in 1980, BBC Television filmed an episode of the television series Great Railway Journeys of the World featuring the original route of the Ghan (and the infamously slow speed of the train).
Communities after closure
One major change with the building of the new line (and resulting closure of the old) was that Oodnadatta and other communities along the route of the original line lost their railway service.
Heritage trail
The old railway route is now a heritage trail [20]
See also
Notes
- ^ "Comrails.com". Retrieved 17 April 2017.
- ^ "South Australia Great Northern Railway Impresses Commissioner". The Barrier Miner. Broken Hill: National Library of Australia. 4 December 1922. p. 4. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
- ^ "Newspaper archive". Trove. National Library of Australia. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
- ^ Newell, Brian R (2000), Following the Old Ghan railway line 1878-1980 (1st ed.), Brian R Newell, ISBN 978-0-646-39415-2
- ^ Pearce, Kenn (2011), Riding the 'wire fence' to the Alice : memories of the old Ghan railway, Railmac Publications, ISBN 978-1-86477-079-7
- ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics. "Completion of the Adelaide to Darwin railway line". Year Book Australia, 2005. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 9 July 2008.
- ^ Fuller, Basil (2012), The Ghan : the story of the Alice Springs railway, New Holland Publishers, ISBN 978-1-74257-275-8
- ^ Reid, Graeme (1996), The Demise of the Central Australia Railway, Australian Railway Historical Society, New South Wales Division
- ^ "The Senate - Alice Springs Railway". Fairfax. Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
- ^ Sydney Morning Herald. 12 March 1927.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ The Age. Fairfax. 1 June 1926.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ The Age. 5 August 1929.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ The Age. 1 June 1929.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ "Railway line four feet under water". The Age. 4 March 1936. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
- ^ "Train weeks late". Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
- ^ "Flood bound 114 fly to "Alice"". The Age. Fairfax. 20 May 1963. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
- ^ "Alice Railway Link reopens". The Age. Fairfax. 25 March 1967. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
- ^ "Central Australia Railway Floods". Townsville Daily Bulletin. National Library of Australia. 16 March 1939. p. 12. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- ^ "The Australian Outback". Chris Tarrant: Extreme Railways. Episode 2. 13 December 2012. Channel 5. Archived from the original on 4 April 2013. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
{{cite episode}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters:|transcripturl=,|serieslink=, and|seriesno=(help); Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ South Australian Tourism Commission; Northern Territory Department of Lands, Planning & Environment (2001), Discover the outback Port Augusta to Alice Springs : Old Ghan Railway heritage trail, Northern Territory Department of Lands, Planning & Environment, South Australian Tourism Commission, retrieved 8 October 2012
Further reading
- Anchen, Nick (2017). Iron Roads in the Outback: The Legendary Commonwealth Railways. Ferntree Gully, Vic: Sierra Publishing. ISBN 9780992538828.
- Commonwealth Railways (Australia) (1900), Central Australia railway : historical notes, Melbourne, retrieved 8 October 2012
- Pearce, Kenn (2011). Riding the 'Wire Fence' to the Alice: Memories of the old Ghan railway. Elizabeth, SA: Railmac Publications. ISBN 9781864770797.