Diesels Of The Desert Trans Australia Railway

[haverfordwest]

You have been around a bit like me then Bruce. Mind you stayed in the same country, i had the misfortune not to.

Mike.

[seagoon]

Lived in a NSW north-coast town as a child until 1964. Went to Sydney for work and lived there until moving to Canberra in 1984 and spent 30 years there. Moved to far-north coast NSW in 2014 after retirement.

[haverfordwest]

Found it quite easily.

Mike.

[haverfordwest]

Fair play Bruce, that makes sense. I noticed earlier you said you resided in Canberra. I thought you were an NSW cobber, through and through 😂😉.

Mike.

[seagoon]

Surely a coastal location would have been better, half way between Sydney and Melbourne. ....

Aaah! Good point, Mike.
But the reason the powers-that-be at the time did not want it on the coast was primarily because of danger in a time of war.
Far safer to have the national seat of government away from any coastal location - no need then to fear attacks from ships. They didn't have to even think about air attacks.....that didn't exist!

[haverfordwest]

Hi Bruce, yup i have looked on Google Earth in the past at Canberra's location. Talk about pick a random location. LOL

Surely a coastal location would have been better, half way between Sydney and Melbourne. Just thinking out loud here buddy, not picking holes.

More great info Bruce, you are an excellent educator 👍👍. I must go back and finish the 421 cab ride from Canberra.

Many thanks buddy, i always greatly appreciate your input.

Mike.

[seagoon]

......Sydney and Melbourne and other cities have railways as well as airports. Surely the Australian capital should have at least the same emphasis on both modes of transport buddy.....

What is probably hard to understand is that Canberra was created in the middle of nowhere and the only reason for a railway line was to bring goods in for the construction of the new capital and coal for the new powerhouse. It was never intended as a passenger line.

The Main Southern Line....the closest mainline to Canberra.....was completed between Sydney and Albury, on the Victorian border, in 1881. That's exactly 20 years before Federation and before a national capital was even thought of, let alone plopping it down in the middle of a cow paddock in the Yass region!

Thus the reason that, in 1914, to bring freight into the construction site, a branch was opened between Queanbeyan and Canberra, essentially a spur off the line to Cooma, which reached that town in the late 1800s. (Long since closed.....the line, not Cooma!)
It made sense (at the time) to use the then-built line from Goulburn to Cooma as the feeder for a spur to Canberra's construction site rather than construct a much longer spur out north to Yass....some 60 kms away.

Canberra now has a light-rail system running in the city between the northern suburb of Gungahlin and the city centre....about 12kms.
Plans are in place to extend it to the southern suburbs, starting this year.

Hope this helps, Mike.

[haverfordwest]

Great stuff Bruce, excellent info and very much appreciate you taking the time to post. I understand what you say about airlines being the main mode of transport. But Sydney and Melbourne and other cities have railways as well as airports. Surely the Australian capital should have at least the same emphasis on both modes of transport buddy.

Hahahahahaha, a port over 125 miles from the city it serves, sorry i found that very funny LOL.

Good read thank you very much Bruce 😎😎.

Mike.

[seagoon]

Oh i see thank you Bruce. .........

No worries, Mike.

Canberra is the national capital, yep.
Following Federation in 1901 the national Parliament was set up in Melbourne but the government decided that Australia had to have its own national capital.....none of the State capitals could also be the National capital.
They determined that it had to be between Sydney and Melbourne....the two largest cities......so the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) was marked out where it now is located.
The main Southern rail line didn't run anywhere near it......thus Canberra ended up being a branchline (Queanbeyan to Canberra) off what later became a branchline to Cooma from Goulburn.

Rail transport into Canberra has never been considered terribly important other than for the movement of petroleum fuel back in the early days and even before I left Canberra in 2014 that had stopped.....all fuels being delivered by road.

Air travel has been the prime method of getting into and out of Canberra for decades....all capital cities are served by plane, as are also several regional centres.
In the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s it was Trans Australian Airlines and Ansett Airlines for capital services and Airlines of NSW for regional services.

Fun fact! - Did you know that Canberra has a sea port? Although over two-hundred kilometres from the coast, Canberra has a port at Jervis Bay.
One of the decisions regarding the new National Capital was that it must have access to the sea......so they pinched Jervis Bay from NSW and made it part of the ACT. True!

There you go....a potted history, Mike.

[haverfordwest]

Oh i see thank you Bruce. I didn't realise there was that much autonomy for each area pre-Federation. I am surprised though that being an English controlled country, overall. They didn't all get told to use the UK standard gauge, for railway construction.

Info very much appreciated buddy, we never stop learning. My poor old late father, always used to say. Only a fool or a liar says he knows it all.

I was very surprised a couple of months back. Watching a cab ride and seeing that Canberra (we were taught in school that is the overall capital). Is only served by a single track line and it is only a branch line. What is going on there Bruce ?

Mike.

[seagoon]

.......I don't really understand how all the different states had their own railways, track gauges, etc. I always thought Australia was one country, with a central government controlling everything.....

It goes back to pre-Federation, Mike, when what are now the States and Territories were individual British colonies, each with their own local administrators but controlled by Britain.
Perhaps Wikipedia says it best.....

Rail gauges in Australia display significant variations, which has presented an extremely difficult problem for rail transport on the Australian continent since the 19th century.
As of 2022, there are 11,914 kilometres (7,403 mi) of narrow-gauge railways, 18,007 kilometres (11,189 mi) of standard gauge railways and 2,685 kilometres (1,668 mi) of broad gauge railways
In the 19th century, each of the colonies of Australia adopted their own gauges.
With Federation in 1901 and the removal of trade barriers, the short sightedness of three gauges became apparent.
It would be 94 years before all mainland state capitals were joined by one standard gauge.

[haverfordwest]

I love all that period stuff, Bruce. I don't really understand how all the different states had their own railways, track gauges, etc. I always thought Australia was one country, with a central government controlling everything.

I am pleased you found it interesting, buddy.

Mike.

[seagoon]

That brings back memories, Mike.
Back in the days when Commonwealth Railways ran the Indian-Pacific service. Good stuff.

[billbloggs]

Now that was interesting - great catch Mike!!!!! EMD obviously in for the long haul. Certainly 'hard yards' in the early days of cross country railroading down under.

Cheers
Duncan

https://www.youtube.com/@carlray7224/videos

[haverfordwest]

I found this very interesting.

Mike.