Lost Lines and Closed Services
Closed Stations
Abandoned Tunnels
Abandoned Bridges
Abandoned Infrastructure
Railway Journeys of Yesteryear
The Old Ghan
The idea of a railway from Adelaide into the far north was suggested in the 1860s when railway building in Australia was at its peak. Up until that time, Australia's outback telegraph and pastoral stations relied on camel trains to bring their supplies, no matter how isolated or far away they were. These camel trains worked the Queensland road, which later became known as the Birdsville Track, as well as the Oodnadatta and Strzelecki Tracks.
The Tea and Sugar Train
In 1915 it was proposed that a supply train provide food and water for the navvies (railway worker) maintaining the Trans Australian Railway. With the completion of the line, the supply train became the lifeline of the fettler (track layer or repairer) communities, bringing them food, water, clothing, household items, letters and news of the rest of the world. It became known as the Tea and Sugar train.
The Tasman Limited
Though there are no passenger sevices on the line today - in fact there are no passenger rail services at all in Tasmania - there was once a passenger train which ran from Wynyard to Launceston, and then on to Hobart. Called the Tasman Limited, the service started in 1954 running from Hobart to Launceston to Wynyard, with 26 stops in between, and ended in 1978. It was considered the state’s great luxury passenger train.”
The Newcastle Flyer
The Newcastle Flyer was an Australian passenger express train that operated from November 1929 until April 1988 connecting New South Wales' two largest cities, Sydney and Newcastle. On 1 May 1889 the first trains began running between Sydney and Newcastle. However, it was not until November 1929, with the pending completion of the Pacific Highway, that a premier express service was introduced. Two trains named the Inter City Express and the Northern Commercial Limited were introduced taking 2 hours 45 minutes to cover the 168 kilometres.
The Southern Aurora
The overnight Sydney-Melbourne express, the Southern Aurora, was one of the icons of Australian railways in the 1960s and 1970s. It conveyed passengers only between the starting and terminating points (although later in its life some limited intermediate traffic was allowed). Uniquely in Australia, it conveyed only First Class passengers, all of whom were accommodated in air-conditioned sleeping cars, all equipped with showers.
The Spirit of Progress
The Spirit of Progress was the premier express passenger train on the Victorian Railways in Australia, running from Melbourne to the New South Wales border at Albury, and later through to Sydney. The service ushered in a standard of passenger train speed and comfort not previously seen in Australia.
The North Mail
The North Mail was an overnight train from Sydney that ran to Werris Creek then divided into two sections - one to Moree and the other to New England. It ran along the Great Northern Railway, and depending on the day ran to either Armidale, Glen Innes or Tenterfield. Both sections of the train conveyed passengers in first and economy class seating and also sleeping berths.
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