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Trans-Australian
The ''Trans-Australian'' (originally known as the ''Trans-Australian Express'') was an Australian passenger train operated by the Commonwealth Railways initially between Port Augusta and Kalgoorlie on the Trans-Australian Railway line, and later extended west to Perth, and east to Port Pirie and Adelaide. History The train commenced operating between Port Augusta and Kalgoorlie in 1917 following the completion of the Trans-Australian Railway.Trans-Australian Passenger Train comrail.com It was extended to in 1937 following the conversion of this line to standard gauge. Initially the train was hauled by [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trans-Australian Railway
The Trans-Australian Railway, opened in 1917, runs from Port Augusta in South Australia to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, crossing the Nullarbor Plain in the process. As the only rail freight corridor between Western Australia and the eastern states, the line is strategically important. The railway includes the world's longest section of completely straight track. The inaugural passenger train service was known as the ''Great Western Express''; later, it became the ''Trans-Australian''. , two passenger services use the line, both of them experiential tourism services: the ''Indian Pacific'' for the entire length of the railway, and ''The Ghan'' between Port Augusta and Tarcoola, where it leaves the line to proceed north to Darwin. History In 1901, the six Australian colonies federated to form the Commonwealth of Australia. At that time, Perth, the capital of Western Australia, was isolated from the remaining Australian states by thousands of miles of desert terrain and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commonwealth Railways
The Commonwealth Railways were established in 1917 by the Government of Australia with the Commonwealth Railways Act to administer the Trans-Australia and Port Augusta to Darwin railways. It was absorbed into Australian National in 1975. Operated railways Trans-Australian Railway Construction of the standard-gauge Trans-Australian Railway between Port Augusta and Kalgoorlie commenced in 1912. Despite the inhospitable nature of the terrain and wartime supply problems, satisfactory progress was made, and the two tracklaying machines, one working from each end, met near Ooldea on 17 October 1917. The promise to construct the Trans-Australian Railway had been one of the principal inducements to Western Australia to join the Commonwealth of Australia during federation, and it was for the purpose of surveying and constructing this railway that the Commonwealth Railways Department was initially formed. It was a matter of misfortune that its two termini were break-of-gauge station ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commonwealth Railways G Class
The Commonwealth Railways G class was a class of twenty-six tender locomotives of the Commonwealth Railways, Australia. The class operated between Port Augusta (later, Port Pirie Junction railway station, Port Pirie) and Kalgoorlie on the Trans-Australian Railway. History The Commonwealth Railways was only inaugurated in 1911, so when in 1912 the railway planned to acquire its first locomotives, the decision was to adopt a design of proven reliability from another Australian railway system. The New South Wales Government Railways had the advantage of being the only other standard-gauge railway on the continent, and its 191-strong fleet of New South Wales C32 class locomotive, P class (later named C32 class) locomotives had been refined since their introduction 20 years earlier. In December 1912, companies were Invitation to tender, invited to quote for four locomotives based on the P class but with much larger Tender (rail), tenders because of the long distances be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indian Pacific
The ''Indian Pacific'' is a weekly experiential tourism passenger train service that runs in Australia's east–west rail corridor between Sydney, on the shore of the Pacific Ocean, and Perth, on the shore of the Indian Ocean – thus, like its counterpart in the north–south corridor, ''The Ghan'', one of the few truly transcontinental trains in the world. It first ran in 1970 after the completion of gauge conversion projects in South Australia and Western Australia, enabling for the first time a cross-continental rail journey that did not have a break of gauge. The train has been rated as one of the great rail journeys of the world. Its route includes the world's longest straight stretch of railway track, a stretch of the Trans-Australian Railway across the Nullarbor Plain. The service was originally operated jointly by four government railway administrations: the Department of Railways New South Wales, South Australian Railways, Commonwealth Railways and Western A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cook, South Australia
Cook is a railway station and crossing loop located in the Australian state of South Australia on the Trans-Australian Railway. It is about west by rail from Port Augusta and about north of the Eyre Highway via an unsealed road.(1927)''Travel in comfort across Australia on the Trans-Australian Railway''. Melbourne : Commonwealth Railways. internal map titled ''Map shewing Connections between Capital Cities via Trans- Australian Railway'' It is on the longest stretch of straight railway in the world, at , which extends from Ooldea, South Australia to beyond Loongana, Western Australia. Cook is the only scheduled stop on the Nullarbor Plain for the Indian Pacific transcontinental passenger train and has little other than curiosity value for passengers strolling around while their train is replenished. History Cook was established in 1917 on the Nullarbor Plain when the Trans-Australian Railway was built. It is named after the sixth Prime Minister of Australia, Joseph Cook. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kalgoorlie Railway Station
Kalgoorlie railway station is the most eastern attended station in Western Australia, located at the eastern terminus of the Eastern Goldfields Railway. It serves the city of Kalgoorlie. Beyond Kalgoorlie, the line continues east as the Trans-Australian Railway. Establishment Construction of the railway station and yard was begun in the late 1890s, as part of the extension of the Eastern Goldfields Railway from Coolgardie in January 1897. The station was formally opened by the Governor of Western Australia, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Gerard Smith KCMG, at a ceremony held on the station platform on 8 September 1896. In the early stages of the development of railways in the Eastern Goldfields, it was the junction for the following railways: *Kalgoorlie to Boulder, opened 8 November 1897 *Kalgoorlie to Kanowna, opened 6 December 1897 *Kalgoorlie to Menzies, opened 24 March 1898 In 1917, Kalgoorlie became a break-of-gauge station when the Commonwealth Railways' standard gauge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Westland
''The Westland'' was the name given in 1938 to the overnight train operated by the Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) with sitting and sleeping cars between Perth and Kalgoorlie, where it connected with the ''Trans-Australian'' service to Adelaide. History Following the opening of the Eastern Goldfields Railway to Kalgoorlie in December 1887, a service from Perth commenced. Although not named, it was often referred to as the ''Great Eastern Express'', ''Kalgoorlie Express'' or ''Kalgoorlie Passenger''. Following the opening of the Trans-Australian Railway in October 1917, its importance increased with the commencement of the '' Trans-Australian Express'' from Port Augusta in South Australia. By May 1921, a separate overnight express for interstate passengers and mail was introduced and this became the connecting train with the ''Trans-Australian Express''. On 4 June 1938, the service was relaunched and renamed ''The Westland'' with Pr class locomotives rostered. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australian National Railways Commission
The Australian National Railways Commission was an agency of the Government of Australia that was a railway operator between 1975 and 1998. It traded as Australian National Railways (ANR) in its early years, before being rebranded as Australian National. AN was widely used from 1980, the logo, logotype being registered as a trade mark. History Australian National Railways was established by the Whitlam Government, Whitlam Federal Government following a commitment made in the 1972 Australian federal election, 1972 election to invite the states to hand over their railway systems to the federal government. On 1 July 1975, Australian National Railways was formed taking over the operations of the federal government owned Commonwealth Railways. The state governments of Government of South Australia, South Australia and Government of Tasmania, Tasmania whose railway systems were deeply in debt, accepted. During the next two years, discussions between these two states and the federa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastern Goldfields Railway
The Eastern Goldfields Railway was built in the 1890s by the Western Australian Government Railways to connect Perth with the Eastern Goldfields at Coolgardie, Western Australia, Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie. History The Eastern Railway, Western Australia, Eastern Railway opened in stages from Perth to Northam railway station, Western Australia, Northam in the 1890s, and the Eastern Goldfields Railway extended this line through semi-desert to the Eastern Goldfields. It opened in stages between 1894 and 1897. *Northam railway station, Western Australia, Northam to Southern Cross railway station, Western Australia, Southern Cross: (opened 1 July 1894) *Southern Cross to Boorabbin, Western Australia, Boorabbin: (opened 1 July 1896) *Boorabbin to Kalgoorlie railway station, Kalgoorlie: (opened 1 January 1897) The Goldfields Water Supply Scheme pipeline was later constructed along the railway line. The chief engineer for both the railway and the pipeline was C. Y. O'Connor. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commonwealth Railways GM Class
The GM class are a class of diesel locomotives built by Clyde Engineering, Granville for the Commonwealth Railways in several batches between 1951 and 1967. As at January 2014, some remain in service with Aurizon and Southern Shorthaul Railroad. History The design was based on the Electro-Motive Diesel EMD F7 locomotive. The first 11 were delivered with EMD 16-567B, engines and four powered axles with the remainder having 16-567C, engines and six powered axles. The final 11 were fitted with dynamic braking. Delivered to operate on the standard gauge Trans-Australian Railway, the first entered service in September 1951. Further orders saw 47 in service by December 1967. They operated on all of Commonwealth Railways's standard gauge lines including those to Broken Hill, Alice Springs, Marree and Adelaide when converted to standard gauge in 1970, 1980 and 1982 respectively. In January 1972, three (31, 32 & 34) were loaned to the Victorian Railways for use on the North ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nullarbor Plain
The Nullarbor Plain ( ; Latin: feminine of , 'no', and , 'tree') is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its north. It is the world's largest single exposure of limestone bedrock, and occupies an area of about . At its widest point, it stretches about from east to west across the border between South Australia and Western Australia. History Historically, the Nullarbor was seasonally occupied by Indigenous Australian people, the Mirning clans and Yinyila people. Traditionally, the area was called ''Oondiri'', which is said to mean "the waterless". The first Europeans known to have sighted and mapped the Nullarbor coast were Captain François Thijssen and Councillor of the Indies, Pieter Nuyts, on the Dutch East Indiaman '''t Gulden Zeepaert'' (the Golden Seahorse). In 1626–1627, they charted a stretch of the southern Australian coast eas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Port Augusta Railway Station
Port Augusta railway station is a rail station located on the Adelaide-Port Augusta railway line in Port Augusta, South Australia. History In 1878, the first railway line in to Port Augusta was when it became the southern terminus of a proposed line to Darwin. Under South Australian ownership the narrow gauge railway, known as the Great Northern Railway, was extended in stages and reached Oodnadatta in 1891. In 1882, this line also connected Port Augusta to Adelaide when the Peterborough–Quorn railway line was completed, as there was already railway from Peterborough to Adelaide. The original Port Augusta railway station was on Commercial Road, and is now heritage listed and used as an art gallery. The railway continued through what later became railyards, through the original station, and down Commercial Road to the wharf area. The South Australian Government subsequently made offers to several syndicates to construct a line north from Oodnadatta to Pine Creek on the lan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
