Big Country : Bug Train : Big Price!

Monday Mini-Blog

It is worth reminding ourselves that Australia is BIG - VERY BIG. Most of it is unattractive near-desert flat scrubland. As this vast island was "colonised", we Brits began to build railways. But they were based in the emerging colonies (later state-based and state-run) and different gauges were used by different installers.

Different gauges did not really matter until you wanted to link the emerging networks together to provide wider national travel. Wikipedia (what else) gives some history of what was operated at each gauge.

1855 – New South Wales – standard gauge steam powered railway from Sydney to Parramatta opened.

1856 – South Australia – broad gauge Adelaide to Port Adelaide railway opened

1865 – Queensland – narrow gauge Ipswich to Bigges Camp (renamed Grandchester in honour of occasion) on the way to Toowoomba railway opened, first narrow gauge main line in the world.[6]

1871 – Tasmania – Deloraine to Launceston railway opened as broad gauge, converted to narrow gauge in 1888

1879 – Western Australia – narrow gauge Geraldton to Northampton railway opened

1883 – Railways of New South Wales and Victoria meet at Albury

1887 – Railways of Victoria and South Australia meet at Serviceton

1888 – Railways of New South Wales and Queensland meet at Wallangara

1889 – Western Australia's first land grant railway opened, the narrow gauge Great Southern Railway, completed from Beverley to Albany, linking Perth to the colony's only deep-water port

1889 – Northern Territory – narrow gauge Darwin to Pine Creek railway opened

1891 – Western Australia – first sections of narrow gauge privately funded land grant Midland Railway opened, completed from Midland Junction to Walkaway in 1894.

1915 – Standard gauge Canberra to Queanbeyan railway opened

1917 – Standard gauge Trans-Australian Railway completed between Kalgoorlie and Port Augusta

1919 – Railways of New South Wales and South Australia meet at Broken Hill with break-of-gauge

Narrow gauge 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in

Standard gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in

Broad gauge 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)

The above is just a selection, but the train described in this blog could not have existed until something was done to rationalise the different gauges.

With the remaining narrow gauge parts of the East-West rail corridor being converted to standard gauge in 1966, the Department of Railways New South Wales, South Australian Railways, Commonwealth Railways and Western Australian Government Railways agreed that a through passenger service from Perth to Sydney be inaugurated. Originally to be named The Transcontinental, in 1969, the Indian Pacific name was adopted by a joint meeting of transport ministers.\

The service was originally operated jointly by the four operators whose networks it traversed, with revenues and costs apportioned Department of Railways New South Wales (28.5%), South Australian Railways (10%), Commonwealth Railways (45%) and Western Australian Government Railways 

The first Indian Pacific service left Sydney on 23 February 1970, becoming the first direct train to cross the Australian continent, (Please note : no sound on video - your laptop is not busted!)

Of course, nowadays it is not a "real" train carrying people who want to get somewhere ...

... it is a package holiday on a very long thin moving hotel! In old money, the train runs for 2720 miles (approx). That is about four and  half times the UK rail journey between Penzance and Thurso!

The frequency is not quite up to UK Inter City standards.

The weekly train leaves Perth every Sunday throughout the year.

Here is the full day by day schedule.

Yummy grub - comfy cabin!

The Null (no) arbour (tree) Plain is just what it says on the tim. It has the longest stretch of straight railway track in the world ...

Construction of the line began in 1912, when two teams set out from Kalgoorlie in Western Australia and Port Augusta in South Australia, meeting in the centre of the Plain at Ooldea, an uninhabited area noted for a water supply. The line was entirely rebuilt in 1969, as part of a project to standardise the previously disparate rail gauges.

The railway line has the longest straight section of railway in the world at 478 kilometres (279 miles); that is just a tad longer than the train mileage between London and Newcastle!

fbb reckons that even his love of scenery would begin to waver, so best take a good book!

In Strine (the real argot of Australia) it is pronounced "Air Delight" ...

And so to day four!

Blue mountains, wowsers!

And finally to Sydney (In Strine - Sinny) where apparently they have some well known sights.

 It looks a jolly good ride, but, to re-use a Strine phrasw, "Emma Chizzit?"

With the Aus dollar at about 66p each, that puts a "Gold" single at £2795 in real money - which for full board and excutsions doesn't seem too bad. But of course, fbb would still have to get to Australia which might double that price tag.

All fbb can do is dream .....

Let There Be Light

Itt became very obvious that the illumination on the 2nd flloyr ex-bedroom at fbb mansions was wholly inadequate for model railway building and operation. Even without fbb's eye problems the four GU10 bulbs were weedy.

So No 1 son offered to install something better.

Here is the result/

Two of the modern equivalent of fluorescent tube units have been fixed at the folds of the "attic" ceiling.

A second "tube" is at the "junk" end of the layout but it is too much of a mess to share.

Also delivered yesterday was a can of a version of WD40 ...

fbb, full of possibly misplaced optimism, is hoping that it will clean up the contacts on his pointwork - contacts which resiliently refuse to make contact and thus pass on "the electric" to the trackwork beyond. It is "specialist", so it MUST ve good (?).

 Next Variety mini-blog : Tuesady 8th November