The North Australia Railway (NAR), also known as the Palmerston to Pine Creek railway, was a 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) narrow gauge railway which ran from Darwin, once known as Palmerston, to Birdum, just south of Larrimah.
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In the nineteenth century the Northern Territory was administered by South Australia. The John Cox Bray Government in South Australia introduced the Palmerston and Pine Creek Railway Bill in 1883. The £959,300 contract went to C & E Millar of Melbourne on the proviso that they could use coolie labour. The line reached Pine Creek in 1888 and was officially opened on 30 September 1889[1]. Singhalese and Indian gangs did the grubbing and earthwork and 3,000 Chinese labourers laid over 1 km of track per day. A total of 310 bridges and flood openings were built.
The Commonwealth Government took control in 1911, having promised to complete the railway from Adelaide to Darwin but without setting a time frame for so doing.
The line was extended to near Katherine in 1917. A further extension saw the line reach Birdum in 1929.
In 1930 a mixed train, called Leaping Lena[2] ran to an established timetable.
During the Second World War Larrimah, nine kilometres north of Birdum, became the effective railhead as it was on the Stuart Highway, unlike Birdum. The 100m bridge across Birdum Creek is still present. There were loco turning triangles at both locations. The busiest time for the railway was during the Second World War. As many as 247 trains ran per week in 1944.
A railway line from Alice Springs to Darwin had been discussed and promised by politicians for many years.
A railway between Alice Springs and Birdum was proposed as early as 1918, before the two lines had reached those locations.[3][4]
A private company proposed a railway from Birdum to Bourke, New South Wales in 1932.[5][6]
Following the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Australian Army surveyed a rail route from Alice Springs to Birdum in 1942[7][8] and from Mount Isa, Queensland to Birdum via Tennant Creek in 1943.[9]
A railway from Dajarra, Queensland to Birdum was considered in 1952-53[10] but the Cabinet decided not to proceed.[11]
Construction of a standard gauge railway to Darwin was first seriously proposed in 1965 when construction of a new standard gauge line to Alice Springs was discussed.[12]
The Federal Government promulgated an order to close the narrow gauge North Australia Railway line on 20 May 1976, with services ceasing on 30 June of that year[13], as result of the loss of iron ore traffic originating from the Frances Creek operation. Maintenance gangs were withdrawn in December 1977. Heavy floods in 1978 destroyed significant parts of the railway, effectively eliminating any hope of the railway re-opening.
Nearly 20 years later, the AustralAsia Rail Corporation a consortium was formed to build the standard gauge link between Alice Springs and Darwin.
Construction on the new standard gauge line from Alice Springs started in July 2001 and was finally completed on 17 September 2003. The first freight train reached Darwin on 17 January 2004 and the first Ghan passenger service ran from Adelaide via Alice Springs to Darwin in early February 2004. The line runs near the route of the North Australia Railway in places but uses very little of the old infrastructure.
The Pine Creek Railway Station is on the National List of Significant Places at the National Trust of Australia.