Trans-Australian Railway

For the former train service between Western Australia and South Australia, see Trans-Australian.

Trans-Australian Railway Looking east on the Trans-Australia Railway from Cook, South Australia Track gauge: 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) Legend km Adelaide-Port Augusta railway 0 Port Augusta branch line to Whyalla 28 Tent Hill 55 Hesso 85 Bookaloo 118 McLeay 150 Wirrappa 181 Pimba branch line to Woomera 219 Burando 250 Wirraminna 283 Coondambo 302 Kultanby 335 Kingoonya 377 Ferguson 413 Tarcoola Central Australia Railway 450 Malbooma 473 Lyons 515 Wynbring 546 Mt Christie 575 Mungala 602 Barton 634 Bates 684 Ooldea 717 Watson 770 Fisher 823 Cook SA - WA border Kalgoorlie Eastern Goldfields Railway 1930s advertising poster for the Trans-Australian Railway.

The Trans-Australian Railway crosses the Nullarbor Plain of Australia from Port Augusta in South Australia to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. It includes a 478 kilometre stretch of dead-straight track, the world's longest, between the 797 km post west of Ooldea and the 1275 km post west of Loongana.

The line forms an important freight route between Western Australia and the eastern states. Currently two passenger services also use the line, the Indian Pacific for its entire length and The Ghan between Port Augusta and Tarcoola.

Earlier passenger services on the route were known as the Great Western Express.

History

CL10 and L266 with an east-bound freight train near Parkeston in 1987

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 the only practicable method of transport was by sea, a time-consuming, inconvenient and often uncomfortable voyage across the Great Australian Bight, a stretch of water known for rough seas. One of the inducements held out to Western Australians to join the new federation was the promise of a federally funded railway line linking Western Australia with the rest of the continent.

In 1907 legislation was passed, allowing for the route to be surveyed. The survey was completed in 1909 and proposed a route from Port Augusta (the existing railhead at the head of Spencer Gulf in South Australia's wheatfields) via Tarcoola to the gold mining centre of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, a distance of 1063 miles (1711 km). The line was to be to the standard gauge of 4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in (1,435 mm), even though the state railway systems at both ends were narrow gauge at the time. Its cost was estimated at £4,045,000.

Legislation authorising the construction was passed in December 1911 by the Andrew Fisher Government and Commonwealth Railways was established in 1912 to build the line. Work commenced in September 1912 in Port Augusta.

Work proceeded eastwards from Kalgoorlie and westwards from Port Augusta through the years of the First World War. By 1915, the two ends of the line were just over 600 miles (966 km) apart with materials being delivered daily. Construction progressed steadily as the line was extended through dry and desolate regions until the two halves of the line met on 17 October 1917.

The entire intercity route was not converted to standard gauge until 1970.

Named services

On inauguration, the passenger service was known as the Great Western Express. Towards the end of its life as a mixed gauge service, between Kalgoorlie and Port Augusta it was usually known as the Trans-Australian. From February 1970 the service became the Indian Pacific.

From the start of construction until 1996 the Tea & Sugar Train carried vital supplies to the isolated work sites and towns along the route.

Terrain

The final distance was 1051.73 miles (1692.60 km), slightly less than the original survey. At no point along the route does the line cross a permanent fresh watercourse.

Bores and reservoirs were established at intervals, but the water was often brackish and unsuitable for steam locomotive use, let alone human consumption, so water supplies had to be carried on the train. In the days of steam locomotion, about half the total load was water for the engine.

According to Adelaide-born astronaut Andy Thomas, the line is identifiable from space, because of its unnatural straightness. "It's a very fine line, it's like someone has drawn a very fine pencil line across the desert," he has said.

Names of stopping places

See also List of localities and stopping places related to the Trans Australian railway line

Most of the stopping locations in the 129° E to 134° E part of the railway in South Australia (except for Deakin, which is 3 km inside Western Australia's state border) were named after the first seven Australian Prime Ministers:-

Location	Name of Prime Minister	Prime minister number	Distance from Port Augusta in miles
Deakin, Western Australia	Alfred Deakin	Second	599
Hughes, South Australia	Billy Hughes	Seventh	567
Cook, South Australia	Joseph Cook	Sixth	513
Fisher, South Australia	Andrew Fisher	Fifth	479
Reid, Western Australia	George Reid	Fourth	632 This station is west of Deakin.
Watson, South Australia	Chris Watson	Third	445
Barton, South Australia	Edmund Barton	First	376

Other federal ministers from the 1900–1917 era occur outside of this sequence amongst stopping places on the rail route.

Operations

GM29 and GM3 with an Adelaide bound Trans Australian at Rawlinna in 1986

Because of the inevitable problems of finding suitable water for steam locomotives in a desert, the original engineer, Henry Deane envisaged diesel locomotives for the line. He got as far as making enquiries with potential manufacturers. Unfortunately, a scandal involving the supply of sleepers led to Deane's resignation before the diesel locomotive proposal had advanced beyond the point of no return.

Initially train were hauled by G class locomotives and from 1938 by C class locomotives. It was not until 1951 that regular diesel hauled passenger services worked on the Trans Australia Railway, hauled by the new GM class locomotives.

The Trans-Australian Railway originally had crossing loops (passing sidings) 400 m long every 100 km or so. As traffic increased the number of crossing loops increased. To handle longer trains, crossing loops were lengthened so that in 2008 they are all at least 1800 m long and spaced about 30 km to 60 km apart.

Most crossing loops are unattended and train crew operate the points as required. Crossing loops now have self restoring points, so that points are reset to the straight route when a train departs from a crossing loop. The loops are now being fitted with radio controls so that train crew can set the points as they approach. The safeworking is Train Orders.

See also

• Transcontinental railroad

References

Bibliography

• Adam-Smith, Patsy (1974) The Desert Railway. Adelaide: Rigby ISBN 0-85179-675-3
• Buckland, J.L. (1965) Canadian and American Locomotives in Wartime Service on the Trans-Australian Railway Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, September, 1965.
• Burke, David, (1991) Road Through the Wilderness: The Story of the Transcontinental Railway, the First Great Work of Australia's Federation. Kensington, N.S.W.: New South Wales University Press. ISBN 0-86840-140-4
• Henshaw, C.H. (1964) Overland to Perth in 1928 Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, April, 1964.
• Spear, R. Clarke (1917) The Golden West: Trans-Australian Christmas number Perth, Western Australia "The Golden West, Vol. 13, December 1917."

External links

• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons
• Australian Bureau of Statistics article on federal railways.
• Australia for Everyone: Railway Ghost Towns of the Nullarbor Plain – briefly describes each town and siding on the Trans-Australian Railway
• Port Augusta – Kalgoorlie rail map SA Track & Signal