"PhilD" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
om...
"PhilD" wrote in message
...
Went down to see track laying cross Elizabeth River bridge, just on
edge
of
Palmerston, this afternoon. Interesting to watch, but didn't get to
see
ballast laying, so must go and have another look tomorrow.

Looks likely to finish track laying itself within a fortnight, many
months
ahead of schedule.

From the lengths of rail being laid, already welded together, it
should
be a
much quieter trip than I remember from the old Ghan.

Phil

Phil
I lived in Darwin for quite awhile in the 60's and 70's, what happened
to the track that ran south to Larrimah, I believe it was ripped up
about 20 years ago. Was it the wrong gauge or something.
Cheers Ed
Ripped up in 1976.
http://www.aarc.com.au/aarc/info/history.html

It was narrow gauge, 3'6". The track was not really suitable for fast
freight usage, more like the old Ghan from Marree to Alice, SLOW. I don't
remember what the gauge was, but the track was quite winding in places and
cut back and forth across the Stuart Hwy. Some bridges were subject to
being
cut in the wet season. As the Stuart Hwy was upgraded, there was no way
that
it could be justified changing to and from the road and rail at such a
short
distance from Darwin. I seem to remember that it took about 12 hours from
Larrimah to Darwin, but going by road was at least half that. Added to
that
was the extra time to change the freight from one to another as well. Even
if the old line had stayed in operation longer, it would have had to been
realigned anyway.

Amazingly they have kept the old Ferguson River rail bridge, but with some
upgrading, and I'd love to see the first full freight train cross that,
but
from a safe distance. I remember using it when the Stuart Hwy was cut a
number of times.

The great pity of it coming to an end is that our stupid Australian
governments can't just continue on and build in the other missing links of
Tennant Ck to Mt Isa and from Katherine down the west coast.

Phil



The jury is still out as to whether the new Alice to Darwin link will ever
meet the building costs. I would think that any investors will be cautious
before sinking further funds into other marginal rail projects.

Geoff Lillico