Central Australian Railway

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Map showing the separate routes
Note that this was a different railway from the current Adelaide-Darwin railway

Central Australian Railway was a railway between Adelaide and Alice Springs, it was a precursor to the Adelaide-Darwin railway, however it was a different route, and a different gauge.

In the 1890s and into the twentieth century it was sometimes referred to as the Great Northern Railway [1]

It was frequently referred to as The Ghan and also since completing of the newer railway has been referred to as the Old Ghan.[2][3]

Construction in the 1870s was by South Australian Railways as a 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) narrow gauge railway.[4][5] The closure and removal occurred in the 1980s [6]

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 Australian Railway, but popularly known as The Ghan. The northern and southern parts are not connected.
  • 1957: South: Line from Stirling North (near Port Augusta) to Marree rebuilt and connected to Adelaide
    • Some sections of the narrow-gauge line remain in operation as the Pichi Richi Railway
  • 1976: North: line closed

List of stations

The route on a signboard at Quorn
  • Adelaide
  • Terowie
  • Peterborough
  • Hawker
  • Brachina

...

  • Alice Springs

Conditions

The tortuously curving narrow-gauge line between Maree and Alice Springs was notoriously prone to delays, often caused by flash floods washing away bridges and tracks.[7]

Film

Shortly before the closure of the narrow gauge line in 1980, the BBC 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 [8]

Notes

  1. ↑ "SOUTH AUSTRALIA GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY IMPRESSES COMMISSIONER.". Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW : 1888 - 1954) (Broken Hill, NSW: National Library of Australia). 4 December 1922. p. 4. Retrieved 9 October 2012. 
  2. ↑ Newell, Brian R (2000), Following the Old Ghan railway line 1878-1980 (1st ed ed.), Brian, R. Newell, ISBN 978-0-646-39415-2 
  3. ↑ Pearce, Kenn (2011), Riding the 'wire fence' to the Alice : memories of the old Ghan railway, Railmac Publications, ISBN 978-1-86477-079-7 
  4. ↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics. "Completion of the Adelaide to Darwin railway line". Year Book Australia, 2005. www.abs.gov.au. Retrieved 9 July 2008. 
  5. ↑ Fuller, Basil (2012), The Ghan : the story of the Alice Springs railway, New Holland Publishers, ISBN 978-1-74257-275-8 
  6. ↑ Reid, Graeme (1996), The Demise of the Central Australian Railway, Australian Railway Historical Society, New South Wales Division 
  7. ↑ "CENTRAL AUSTRALIAN RAILWAY FLOODS.". Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld. : 1885 - 1954) (Qld.: National Library of Australia). 16 March 1939. p. 12. Retrieved 8 October 2012. 
  8. ↑ South Australian Tourism Commission; Northern Territory. Dept. of Lands, Planning and Environment (2001), Discover the outback Port Augusta to Alice Springs : Old Ghan Railway heritage trail, Northern Territory Dept. of Lands, Planning & Environment ; [Adelaide] : South Australian Tourism Commission, retrieved 8 October 2012 

See also

Further reading

External links

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