Hey everyone, not been on here much due to holidaying in Australia (I know, woe is me!).
Anyway, 7 hours ago I arrived at Perth East station having travelled all the way from Sydney on the Indian Pacific which is run by Great Southern Rail who in turn are owned by Serco. The train traverses a total of 4352 kilometres over some of the most inhospitable and some of the most wonderful and fertile territory. The journey took a total of 93hrs10mins which is in keeping with the more sedate pace of rail travel over here - obviously their is lots of stops for crew changes, passengers boarding and disembarking, train reformation and refuelling and watering the stock. The run out of Sydney traverses sme exceptionally busy suburban routes along the way, passing through Granville - site of Australia's worst ever rail disaster in 1977. The disaster was caused by a poor attitude to investment in maintenance that allowed the track to split beneath a packed commuter service. The unfortunate timing of this happening on a curve allowed the train to travel to the right of it's intended course and knock down every single pillar holding up a road bridge just before the station. Just seconds after the train had come to a halt the structural weakening of the bridge caused a large 380 tonne section of road to fall on top of parts of the 3rd and 4th carriages, ultimately claiming 83 lives! When suburbia subsides by Emu Plains the train travels up the Blue Mountains on some of the most impressively engineered mainline I've seen anywhere, climbimg 955m in around 70km between Lapstone and Bell (1069m above sea level which is 89m higher than Scafell Pike, England's tallest mountain) and with the use of no tunnels or viaducts between the two stations - there is both a tunnel and viaduct between Emu Plains and Lapstone but the people who have filled out Wiki don't have an altitude for Emu Plains station. The climb is immensly curvy and torturous with many deep excavated cuttings and large embankments. It's worth bearing in mind that the Settle and Carlisle line climbs to only 356m above sea level with the use of 22 viaducts and 14 tunnels in it's construction! As you roll back down the Blue Mountains toward Lithgow you go through the 'rat holes' - ten tunnels completed in 2010 to eradicate the world famous Zig-Zag Railway with it's steep gradients and double reversal needed to reach the valley floor. After passing Lithgow station it is not long before you cross Farmer's Creek on a large curved viaduct, and to the right as you travel you can see the much lower and narrower single track narrow gauge viaduct from the era of the first railway in the area. This was now some 3hrs30 after Sydney and with darkness my enthusiasm for recording all details also wained.
I would thoroughly recommend the long distance rail journeys operated by Great Southern Rail throughout Australia based on my experience of the longest they have to offer. Sure you can fly to Perth from Sydney in around 5 hours air time, but the cattle market approach to travel of airlines makes you glad that the journey is as short as possible. The staff are friendly, approachable and professional and tread a perfect balance between serving all the customers of the upto 26 carriage train, and ensuring everybody is behaving appropriately and lawfully.
Anyway, 7 hours ago I arrived at Perth East station having travelled all the way from Sydney on the Indian Pacific which is run by Great Southern Rail who in turn are owned by Serco. The train traverses a total of 4352 kilometres over some of the most inhospitable and some of the most wonderful and fertile territory. The journey took a total of 93hrs10mins which is in keeping with the more sedate pace of rail travel over here - obviously their is lots of stops for crew changes, passengers boarding and disembarking, train reformation and refuelling and watering the stock. The run out of Sydney traverses sme exceptionally busy suburban routes along the way, passing through Granville - site of Australia's worst ever rail disaster in 1977. The disaster was caused by a poor attitude to investment in maintenance that allowed the track to split beneath a packed commuter service. The unfortunate timing of this happening on a curve allowed the train to travel to the right of it's intended course and knock down every single pillar holding up a road bridge just before the station. Just seconds after the train had come to a halt the structural weakening of the bridge caused a large 380 tonne section of road to fall on top of parts of the 3rd and 4th carriages, ultimately claiming 83 lives! When suburbia subsides by Emu Plains the train travels up the Blue Mountains on some of the most impressively engineered mainline I've seen anywhere, climbimg 955m in around 70km between Lapstone and Bell (1069m above sea level which is 89m higher than Scafell Pike, England's tallest mountain) and with the use of no tunnels or viaducts between the two stations - there is both a tunnel and viaduct between Emu Plains and Lapstone but the people who have filled out Wiki don't have an altitude for Emu Plains station. The climb is immensly curvy and torturous with many deep excavated cuttings and large embankments. It's worth bearing in mind that the Settle and Carlisle line climbs to only 356m above sea level with the use of 22 viaducts and 14 tunnels in it's construction! As you roll back down the Blue Mountains toward Lithgow you go through the 'rat holes' - ten tunnels completed in 2010 to eradicate the world famous Zig-Zag Railway with it's steep gradients and double reversal needed to reach the valley floor. After passing Lithgow station it is not long before you cross Farmer's Creek on a large curved viaduct, and to the right as you travel you can see the much lower and narrower single track narrow gauge viaduct from the era of the first railway in the area. This was now some 3hrs30 after Sydney and with darkness my enthusiasm for recording all details also wained.
I would thoroughly recommend the long distance rail journeys operated by Great Southern Rail throughout Australia based on my experience of the longest they have to offer. Sure you can fly to Perth from Sydney in around 5 hours air time, but the cattle market approach to travel of airlines makes you glad that the journey is as short as possible. The staff are friendly, approachable and professional and tread a perfect balance between serving all the customers of the upto 26 carriage train, and ensuring everybody is behaving appropriately and lawfully.
