Narrow-gauge railways in Australia
Rail transport in Australia involves a number of narrow-gauge railways. In some states they formed the core statewide network, but in the others they were either a few government branch lines, or privately owned and operated branch lines, often for mining, logging or industrial use.
Prior to becoming an independent unified country in 1901, each of the six British colonies in Australia was responsible for rail transport infrastructure. Of the six colonies, only three (
As a result of this legacy, Australian railways are a confusing mix of all three gauges. Over time most of the mainland lines of whatever gauge linked up with inconvenient
. Some lines remained isolated because they were cut off by long stretches of desert.By state
Queensland
The massive narrow-gauge 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) coal trains of the Queensland Railway with 100 wagons and 2 midtrain electric locomotives show what is possible with narrow gauge with modern equipment and tracklaying techniques.
In 1865, the brief given to Queensland Railways was to build a semi-mountainous line in very sparsely populated territory, and it chose light rails, sharp curves, a small loading-gauge, light engines and rolling stock, 32 km/h speeds to make a limited budget go a long way. A clever salesman convinced the Queensland government that a narrow gauge would save money, and do the job for a hundred years. Queensland Railways was the first mainline narrow-gauge railway in the world.[1] Its tracks would eventually extend to around 9000 km.
In the intervening century, the rails have been replaced with heavier rails, there are now concrete sleepers and colour light signals, sharp curves have been straightened, tunnels have been opened out. The one thing that hasn't changed is the narrow gauge, even though the rest of the country is converting its main lines to the standard gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in).
Queensland Rail also operates the iconic
Dual gauge has been added to give access from the interstate standard-gauge line to the Port of Brisbane. Dual gauge is also proposed to convert the standard-gauge interstate line for use by narrow-gauge commuter trains.
Queensland also has extensive sugar cane tramways of 2 ft (610 mm) gauge.[2] These cane tramways sometimes use second-hand standard-gauge shunting locomotives suitably regauged. The cane trams regularly haul over 500 tonnes of raw cane at a time, and because there are no continuous brakes, they may have a radio-controlled brake van coupled to the rear.
To avoid speed restriction where some cane trams cross the main line, several of these crossings have been converted to drawbridges.
Tasmania
The first railway in the island state of Tasmania was
South Australia
The first railways in this state were 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) broad gauge including some lightweight horse-drawn lines. But following the success of the narrow gauge in Queensland, several narrow-gauge lines were started. Because of the geography of the state with deep gulfs of the ocean, the various narrow-gauge lines were isolated from each other to begin with. In the 1920s several narrow gauge lines were converted to broad gauge. The South Eastern narrow gauge lines were converted to broad gauge in the 1950s, with steel sleepers able to be converted to standard gauge at a later date if required.
The privately owned iron ore mines at Iron Knob and Iron Baron are connected to the steel works at Whyalla by an isolated narrow-gauge 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) line.
Western Australia
Inspired by the success of the narrow gauge in Queensland, Western Australia adopted the same gauge. In the capital of
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory adopted narrow gauge when it was still part of South Australia, and a north–south transcontinental line was planned from Adelaide to Darwin in the 1870s. The
The
Because there are no tunnels or narrow bridges on the old narrow-gauge line, the line received a lot of second-hand standard-gauge rolling stock, this rolling stock being noticeably larger than the original narrow-gauge wagons and carriages.
New South Wales
The railways of
Victoria
Most railway lines in
The Puffing Billy Railway is maintained and operated by volunteers as a steam-hauled preserved railway and tourist attraction. The last of the four narrow-gauge railways to open, the Moe to Walhalla line in Gippsland, which was opened in 1910 and then closed in 1954, has been partially reopened from Thomson Station into Walhalla in recent years as the Walhalla Goldfields Railway. Because the Puffing Billy Railway has nearly all of the remaining locomotives and rolling stock known to exist from the four NG lines, this line has had to modify rolling stock from elsewhere or build new, but non-original style, rolling stock.
In addition to the main rail network of the Victorian Railways and successors, a number of narrow-gauge private railways and tramways have also existed for logging and mining purposes. These included the
Most logging tramways operated in the
References
- ^ Lee, Robert (2003). "Potential railway world heritage sites in Asia and the Pacific". Institute of Railway Studies, University of York. Retrieved 31 October 2006.
- ^ "Queensland sugar cane railways today". Light Rail Research Society of Australia Inc. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
- ^ "A History of Rail in South Australia". National Railway Museum Port Adelaide. Archived from the original on 21 February 2008. Retrieved 5 March 2008.
- ^ a b c Frank Stamford (14–15 April 2001). "Australian and New Zealand Logging Tramways – Differences from North American Practice" (PDF). Retrieved 22 December 2007.