All Manner of Trains

[M636C]

This again is an official Australian Government film this time from 1962. Again this appears to be a quality scan of the original 35mm movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usi4LM_iVuw

The story is a locomotive driver (seen at work in the opening scene) decides to travel from Cairns in North Queensland to Perth in Western Australia, with a number of changes of train due to the breaks of gauge. One of these breaks had been eliminated in the year the movie was made. As a locomotive driver, the travel would have been made on free passes with payment being required for the sleeping berths.

A good general picture of Australian Railways sixty years ago, including the building of EMD design cab units.

It may be worth watching it on a large screen, although not as artistic as "A Steam Train Passes".

Peter

[Jones1945]

Thank you so much for the video, Peter.

You can see my childhood dream job at 13:50 .

[BaltACD]

Interesting - amazing that the 'states' couldn't agree on a single gauge for the country.  First time I have seen narrow gauge cars moved on rail laid on standard gauge flat cars.  Where there is a will, there is a way.

See where OZ has a film board similar to Canada.

[SD70Dude]

How much dual or triple gauge track does Australia have?

[BaltACD]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq2oJFaOXb4

[M636C]

How much dual or triple gauge track does Australia have?

The most significant dual gauge is in Western Australia, with the double track main line from Perth to Northam, around 60 miles being dual standard and narrow gauge.

There are probably another twenty miles, again double track from Midland (on the main line) to the port of Kwinana which serves the main freight depot at Kewdale and a major yard at Forrestfield.

There is a lot of dual Broad and Standard gauge in Melbourne from the city to a yard at Tottenham. In Victoria most freight is on standard gauge but most passenger traffic is on broad gauge. There is concern about the possibility of derailment on the broad gauge on dual gauge through a brake block falling into the narrow gap betwwn the dual rails. As a result broad gauge trains are limited to 50 mph on dual gauge. This is seen as unreasonable and has restricted the introduction of standard gauge into some regional areas where passenger services would be affected.

In Queensland, there is dual gauge fram Acacia Ridge to the Port at Fisherman Islands. The interstate line from Brisbane has been converted to dual gauge for about half its length, mainly for the use of commuter trains but with some freight traffic.

Much of the "Inland Railway" currently under construction will be dual gauge within Queensland.

Triple gauge track was confined to the towns of Gladstone and Peterborough in South Australia. There were a few triple gauge turnouts, and I believe that one of those was preserved in Peterborough. Both of those locations are standard gauge only since the broad and narrow gauge lines closed, although there was a tourist railway on the narrow gauge in Peterborough, and a museum still exists in the former locomotive depot.

Peter

[M636C]

BaltACD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq2oJFaOXb4

 

I don't think I had seen this video before, nor had I heard the song about the old "Ghan". I think it gives a good impression of the old line, which of course was there for freight traffic rather than a very slow passenger service.

The locomotives shown are Clyde built EMDs, model JL22C. They were built as lightly as possible to keep the weight below the limits on the line (around 10.5 long tons per axle) They even had 36" gauge traction motors rather than the usual metre gauge motors. I think three of the class appear in the shots in the movie, supposedly of the one train. One shot shows the locomotive name "Ben Chifley". The first of class was traditionally named after a prime minister, Chifley having been a locomotive driver before entering politics. It was said that when these locomotives were transferred to Port Lincoln for grain and gypsum traffic, it was found that the transition relays didn't work because they had never reached transition speed on the old Central Australia line.

Incidentally, the present "Ghan" on standard gauge was turned back last week at Alice Springs and all the passengers had to return to Adelaide, because the Northern Territory government closed the border to South Australia where, in Adelaide, around 20 cases of COVID-19 had been discovered.

Peter

[Flintlock76]

BaltACD

Interesting - amazing that the 'states' couldn't agree on a single gauge for the country. 

Not the first time that happened.  The same thing occurred here in the US during the pioneering years of railroad building.  It took the Civil War to convince everyone, both North and South, that having a standard gauge for everyone was a good idea.  

[Backshop]

BaltACD

Interesting - amazing that the 'states' couldn't agree on a single gauge for the country.  First time I have seen narrow gauge cars moved on rail laid on standard gauge flat cars.  Where there is a will, there is a way.

See where OZ has a film board similar to Canada.

 

They only became "states" in 1901.  Before that, they were self-governing independent colonies of Great Britain.

[BaltACD]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQC1Sw0wy6o

[M636C]

BaltACD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQC1Sw0wy6o

 

 

Port Augusta is still a good place to watch trains, although it has been quite hot recently and this will be worse as we enter summer in December.

The power station was progressively enlarged but has since shut down, maybe two years ago. Given my comment on the weather, there is a huge solar photoelectric array just West of the former coal line, which has closed.

The workshops are still there, now operated by Progress Rail. They built a few EMD locomotives there around 2000, and hundreds of underframes for EMD locmotives. I think they only do overhauls now.

I often stay in a motel next to the illustrated caravan park.

The wharves have shut down and the tracks removed and there is a park there now.

Here is another film from the same source. Interesting views of laying a new railway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZCMwrMOV9Y

The fence to keep wandering animals out of the Normanton station is a high point.

The view at 01.55 shows a Westbound railcar on the double track dual gauge close to its Easternmost point. Beyond the next yard, the eastbound track is standard gauge only, while the narrow gauge diverges to both north and south.

Peter