Train Rides

[joe greiner]

Normally, my telly is little more than a talking lamp, while I'm preoccupied with reading. But last night, I watched with great interest an episode of Great Scenic Railway Journeys on our Public Broadcast System. The newspaper grid wasn't specific, and I tuned in merely out of curiosity; you can imagine my surprise when the opening credits identified Australia as the target country.

I'd known earlier that Australia had both Irish and English track gauges (gages?). A bloke from the Australia Railway Historical Society was interviewed about something else, but they probably have a web site where I could learn more. (Now confirmed: http://arhs.railwaymuseum.org.au/ )
To tell the truth, I didn't notice much difference in the gauges from my viewpoint - none of them side-by-side, of course. Perhaps some have been consolidated? (pending)

The great journey included six railways:
1. Rottnest Island
2. Hotham Valley
3. A "Wine Train" through Barossa Valley
4. The Puffing Billy, with Victorian Narrow Gauge - a third gauge to examine
5. The Zig Zag Railway in the Blue Mountains
6. Kuranda Railway from Cairns
Our friend Google assisted me in correcting some spelling. (Sounded like Carranda, alas, but now I can find it in an atlas.)

The Zig Zag Railway had an interesting logo: intertwined zRz in a keystone, reminiscent of our Pennsylvania Railroad - now pretty much defunct or consolidated AFAIK.

To my distress, I discovered more than halfway through the show, that I could photograph the tube. Unfortunately, upon downloading to the compu-duh-r, I also discovered that I should have taped over the camera's warning light to avoid a central reflection. So I've included only the last picture, which has contact information. Base price in US$ is unchanged as of today, but YMMV for s/h.

The production date of the show was 2004, and a few things might have changed since then. 'Twas a thoroughly enjoyable virtual tour, though. Highly recommended.

Joe

[Pat]

Joe, I don't think there is a train track on Rotto. I do not remember one when I was there 10 years ago. I maybe wrong, one of the more knowledgeable Sandgropers will know. It maybe the Indian Pacific between Sydney and Perth.

I also have found the website (http://www.gsrj.com/) for any interested person.

[m2c1Iw]

Hi Joe,
One of my co workers, he's the one shown on "The Footplate" page is involved with a local volunteer organisation Steam Ranger (http://www.steamranger.org.au/marketing/home_new.htm) maintaining, restoring and running some old steamers.

Thought you might be interested. A great day out when they run.

Cheers
Mike

[joe greiner]

Joe, I don't think there is a train track on Rotto. I do not remember one when I was there 10 years ago. I maybe wrong, one of the more knowledgeable Sandgropers will know. It maybe the Indian Pacific between Sydney and Perth.

I also have found the website (http://www.gsrj.com/) for any interested person.

I'm pretty sure it was on the island; maybe not. Originally built to supply components and ammo for a couple coast artillery installations. Big guns - about 1.5m recoil, but by the time they were done, aerial warfare had superseded gunboats, and those guns didn't do ack-ack IIRC.

Joe

[Gra]

Like th US, Australia is a commonwealth of states. The railways were controlled by each individual state. In the usual bureaucratic way some states used one gauge and others used another.

At one point the train from Melbourne to Sydney had to stop halfway through its journey and the passengers had to gett off one train ,cross the platform and get on a second train and continue the journey:no:

Completely insane but that continued up until the 70's I believe. Go figure. Eventually the Federal Government stepped in and enforced a standardisation of gauge

[joe greiner]

Melbourne to Sydney? I thought it was much farther West. I vaguely recall a documentary that claimed Irish immigrants arrived in Perth, and proceeded East with Irish gauge. English gauge proceeded West from East coast. At the changeover, the carriages were jacked up and set down on 'tother-gauge trucks. Could be there were several such waypoints, of course. I haven't yet browsed the museum.

We had our own RR nightmare regarding standardisation of time zones.

Joe

[Optimark]

Peterborough in South Australia is quite unique in that it was the place where three railway gauges met. Gladstone is another according to this link.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/South-Australia/Peterborough/2005/02/17/1108500204567.html

I worked on a railway line in Western Australia in 1974 changing the narrow gauge to standard gauge, I believe Victoria is or was Broad gauge. he line i worked on was from Kalgoorlie down to Esperance via Norseman, which was a shade under 250 miles.

It is very sandy over there, the tracks were all held on with fish plates on every second sleeper, except on any curve longer than 4 chains, when a fish plate was attached to every sleeper.

A fish plate is a flat piece of metal that you attach the rail to, this is then attached to the sleeper by a minimum of two dogs, sometimes three dogs and a really big fishplate has four dogs, the big ones were used in points and any curve that was longer than 8 chains. A longer curve meant a higher speed could be taken, hence the reinforcement. The speed limit on that line was 22 mph if I remember correctly and there were a couople of sections where the limit was about 17 mph. A dog is what we call a rail spike, or nail.

I watched the first Southern Aurora train travel past our house in the very early sixties. That was on the first trip on a single train from Melbourne to Sydney without having to change trains. When the train went past we saw a neon sign on the back saying, "Southern Aurora" in two lines at about a 30 degree angle, it was navy blue. We talked about it for weeks.

Mick.

[David H]

We - that is my wife and I did the Zig-Zag train ride about 10 yrs ago and was surprised when the train pulled into the station it turned out that we were getting a ride on an old Queensland railmotor with Yerongapilly on the destination. Sort of took us back in time a little bit. Was an enjoyable ride to the bottom and a number of train buffs ran a interesting commentary on the way down. Another great place to visit is the Don River Railway down in Tasmania just outside of Devonport. Spent a whole day there wandering around their big restoration workshop. Everyone only to happy to talk and pass on information. Can be found here www.donriverrailway.com.au (http://www.donriverrailway.com.au)
David

[wheelinround]

A full comprehensive List of Australia's and OS Railway web sites http://www.arhsact.org.au/misc/links.php#heritage

Try this which is present day train journey's http://www.theoverland.com.au/our-trains/train-routes.php

2004 besides going on the Don River Train and viewing their museum we went on the Strahun to Queenstown A.B.T http://www.puretasmania.com.au/default.asp?pID=46

Here's a handy site http://www.steamengine.com.au/railways/mainline/save3801/index.html

http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/rail/trains/history.aspx

http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/railways/

Hope these help Ray

[Ashore]

Joe, I don't think there is a train track on Rotto. I do not remember one when I was there 10 years ago. I maybe wrong, one of the more knowledgeable Sandgropers will know. It maybe the Indian Pacific between Sydney and Perth.

I also have found the website (http://www.gsrj.com/) for any interested person.
There is a train on rottie , though the last time I was there it was stopped for track work / maintance , its the old train the army used to get supplies to the gun emplacements .
The zig zag is now much reduced in length and you are better off to drive and walk it to see the convict built tunnels and sidings etc .
Other great trips for train buffs are the GHAN from Darwin to Adelaide and the West Coast Wilderness Railway ABT :2tsup:
opps wheelin already mentioned this one

[joe greiner]

Thanks for confirming my memory of the show, Ashore.

An interesting feature of the Zig-Zag was orchestrating the "ballet" of several trains running on single track via switchbacks. Might not be so much of that nowadays I guess.

And lest we forget, the train to Alice Springs is the subject of some world-famous folklore/jokes. I could repeat it from weak memory, but Google [train "alice springs"] should be enough to find it.

Thanks for the links and pic, Ray. Ditto Pat, Mike, Mick, and David.

Joe

[artme]

Very interesting reading.
A great pity that trainride have become, for most people, a distant memory, a tourist jaunt or an expensive luxury.
I have been on the Kuranda ride but none of the others apart from Sydney -Melbourne on the standard gauge,
I took a trip from New York to Buffalo along the Hudson some years back. Beautiful relaxing journey.
The most spectacular train trip I've taken was from Curitiba to Paranagua in Brazil. In my opinion the engineering of this track and the scenery would rival anything in the world.

[fenderbelly]

Hi Joe, i was just on the Kuranda train a few days ago, below is one of the pics i took



http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i300/plodger/OutbackQueenslandTour306.jpg

And the old Gulflander, really rattles your bones this one.
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i300/plodger/StartofTourofOutbackQueensland213.jpg

[Cliff Rogers]

Journeyman Mick lives in Kuranda, Powderpost lives between Mareeba & Kuranda & I live about 85Kms from Kuranda, I'll drive past it tomorrow after I finish a job in Mareeba.

[joe greiner]

Neato, fenderbelly. That bridge on the Kuranda is very reminiscent of the Bailey Bridge kit developed in Merrie Olde during WW2; I have a reference around here someplace, and I think the Bailey Bridge might have had verticals at all the panel points, or maybe not. They, and a successor design, are quite popular in Oosa for temporary works in bridge replacements. The Florida Department of Transportation has several already assembled for loan/rent to contractors. And I saw a permanent installation in Valdez, Alaska in 1985. I expect you'd find them, temporary and/or permanent, in all of the former colonies.

Probably not much room for springs on the Gulflander, eh?

Thanks for the pics.

And hope for some more from Cliff, if he sees this in time.

Joe

[Cliff Rogers]

...And hope for some more from Cliff, if he sees this in time.

Joe
I'm not going by train. :D

[joe greiner]

Gosh, Cliff, they now make smaller cameras that don't have to be hauled by locomotive.:D

Joe

[Cliff Rogers]

I know, mine fits in a car but the car tracks go nowhere near the train tracks. :p

[kiwigeo]

Queensland went for narrow guage (3ft 6in) which is basically an American (Rio Grande) guage. New Zealand eventually went for the same guage after initially playing with broad guage. Someone with a few brain cells worked out that in a mountainous country like New Zealand broad guage would end up being a total disaster.

[Buzza]

A great train ride exists in South Australia, and the fare cannot be beaten. FREE train rides at the Penfield Park Railway, Salisbury South Australia. They have a great railway there, and infernal combustion as well as steam engines pull the trains. They have a web page and meet on the last Sunday most months. :D

[powderpost]

There is another "great" train ride up here in far North Queensland, goes from Cairns on Wednesday morning to Forsyth and back to Cairns by Saturday afternoon. We did that trip two years back. It is unique in that it is the only train to use the line and will stop at any time for any reason. It is total relaxation, basic and you will get to see none of the "tourist" track, but the real Australian "outback" and at a leisurely pace. The "train" is an old two carriage rail motor.
Jim

[STAR]

Being an ex North Queensland Mareeba boy the Cairns - Kuranda rail is a must. but when we visited some friends in Tasmania we were impressed with the rack and pinion train that went over the mountains from Strahan to Queenstown.

How they built that track shows the pioneering fortitude of those who came before us.

[STAR]

Small world this Cliff.

I was born in Mareeba North Queensland and yes the North Queensland Cowboys are my Number one team followed by the Gold Coast Titans and then the Brisbane Broncos.

Unfortunately they all bombed out this year but Queensland did win the State of origin series.

And to our American friend Joe who told me previously that his office was only 200 meters from the Restaurant called ' Thank God it's Friday ' at Tallahassee. Where my family and I had lunch when driving from New Orleans to Orlando Florida.

[joe greiner]

Small world this Cliff.

I was born in Mareeba North Queensland and yes the North Queensland Cowboys are my Number one team followed by the Gold Coast Titans and then the Brisbane Broncos.

Unfortunately they all bombed out this year but Queensland did win the State of origin series.

And to our American friend Joe who told me previously that his office was only 200 meters from the Restaurant called ' Thank God it's Friday ' at Tallahassee. Where my family and I had lunch when driving from New Orleans to Orlando Florida.

'Twould be a neat coincidence if it were so. It seems that TGIF was near a different highway exit, and have now folded their tent. The one near my office was/is "Ruby Tuesday." Close, but no cigar. Probably a population explosion in memory. Why do they have to be so cute with the names?

BTW, my favourite RR name is the "Crab Orchard and Egyptian" - a short line RR in southern Illinois, only about 15 miles of track, and 3 (or so) locomotives. Crab Orchard is a nature preserve near Marion IIRC, and "Egyptian" derives from the area's copious agricultural productivity. They were the last 'Murrican RR to switch from steam to diesel-electric.

Joe

[powderpost]

Just got back from a month in Canada and U.S.A. Took the "Rockie Mountaineer" from Jasper to Toronto. Was very impressed by the trip, but more impressed with the quality of the food. The only downside was that the train had to give way to the freight trains, and was 4.5 hours late into Toronto. Still a very impressive train ride.
Jim

[journeyman Mick]

Just got back from a month in Canada and U.S.A. ...........

Welcome back Jim, you were just about to head off last time I saw you at the markets. Hope everything is OK at your place as I know there were a few bushfires down your road, with one today.

Mick

[Cliff Rogers]

http://www.ksr.com.au/