Pichi Richi Railway is a 39 kilometres (24 miles) narrow-gauge heritage railway in the southern Flinders Ranges of South Australia between Quorn and Port Augusta. For much of its length the line lies in the picturesque Pichi Richi Pass, where the line was completed in 1879 as work proceeded north to build a railway to the "Red Centre" of Australia – the Central Australia Railway.
The Commonwealth Railways ran trains through the pass until 1970, when it ceased services. There were proposals to demolish the line including the bridges and dry stone walls, but the Quorn Progress Association recognised their heritage value and significance. Lobbying by local and distant supporters reached Mr. Keith Smith, Commissioner of the Commonwealth Railways.
On 22 July 1973, the not-for-profit Pichi Richi Railway Preservation Society Inc. was incorporated, initially to ensure conservation of the 1878 dry stone walls and the bridges in the Pichi Richi Pass. It became evident that the prospect of operating heritage trains was possible and after undertaking restoration of deteriorated sections of the line, the Society operated its first trains to Summit, just 12 months later.
Following further track repairs, trains were able to travel to Pichi Richi, and later to Woolshed Flat. After relaying, the line was restored to Stirling North – at that time the western terminus of the line.
A newly built extension to Port Augusta was opened in 2001.
The Society continues to be completely managed and staffed by its volunteer members and operates its own restored steam and diesel hauled trains on a variety of services between March and November each year.[1]:8–9,51–56,60[2]:13[3]
Background
The line was built initially to service mining in the Flinders Ranges, as part of the South Australian Railways' Port Augusta and Government Gums Railway. It started in 1878 at Port Augusta, proceeded through the Pichi Richi Pass (being opened at Quorn in 1879), and reached the initial terminus at Government Gums (now named Farina)in 1882. The line was extended to Marree (then named Hergott Springs) in 1884 and Oodnadatta in 1891. In keeping with the intention to extend it to become a north–south transcontinental line, it was named the Great Northern Railway in 1882. When the Commonwealth Railways took over operations in 1926 it had the more prosaic name, given a year earlier, Central Australia Railway. Completed as far as Stuart (renamed in 1930 as Alice Springs) near the centre of Australia, the 1,225 kilometres (761 miles) line never went further north. Nevertheless, it served for a century as a lifeline for isolated outback communities, a vital link for supplies in World War II, and the setting for the famous passenger train, The Ghan.[1][2]:8,9 The Pichi Richi section also became the feeder route to the east–west Trans-Australian Railway from 1917 to 1937. It had the steepest gradients of the whole route, necessitated by the refusal of decision makers to heed the advice of surveyors and engineers to stay west of the Flinders Ranges, giving priority instead to servicing promising copper prospects and expected agricultural wealth in the locality.[2]:6[1]:5,6 This source of decades of operational nuisance and expense had become, in the lines old age, the source of enjoyment for travellers, as locomotives worked hard to ascend the grades.
Locomotive W934 at Woolshed Flat in 2012Diesel-electric locomotive NSU52, unlike the railway's steam locomotives, is able to operate on days of high fire danger
The headquarters of PRRPS is at the Quorn railway station. Restoration and repair work continues to be undertaken by volunteers at the carriage restoration and locomotive workshop.
Trains operate through the Pichi Richi Pass to Woolshed Flat and Port Augusta and out of Port Augusta to Quorn.
Pichi Richi (1974) (elevation 344m or 1,129ft), Woolshed Flat (1979) (elevation 269m or 883ft) and Stirling North (1999) on the original alignment, and to Port Augusta (2001) on a new alignment between Stirling North and Port Augusta.[4][5]
Pichi Richi is the name of the pass through which the railway travels and is also the name of the former township located in the Pass, after which the Society is named. The name Pichi Richi is believed to come from the region being a traditional centre in the production of pituri, a mixture of leaves and ash chewed as a stimulant by the First Nations people in Australia.
Current operations
PRRPS continues to expand the type and number of services as more rolling stock and track is restored and rehabilitated.
The Afghan Express is a return trip to Quorn from Port Augusta (78 kilometres return). This train usually consists of Ghan carriages from the 1920s and is often hauled, wherever possible, by an original Ghan steam locomotive, NM25, and recreates the type of travel experienced on the Ghan in the 1930s and 1940s.[6]
Flinders Ranges Visitor Information Centre, located in Quorn station, together with the Pichi Richi Railway Museum, souvenir shop & ticket office.
A shorter journey, the Pichi Richi Explorer is a return service to Woolshed Flat departing from Quorn (32 kilometres return). Travel on this train is either in South Australian Railway carriages circa 1900 to 1915 hauled by a steam locomotive, or in a 1928 SAR diesel railcar. The use of older SAR rolling stock on this train replicates what it was like to travel by country rail in South Australia in the very early 1900s to the 1960s. Much of this rolling stock was in service until the end of narrow gauge passenger operations by the South Australian Railways.[7]
Steam Motor Coach No. 1, also known affectionately as the "Coffee Pot" is a unique railcar and the last operating example of its type worldwide. Built in 1906, this ornate Edwardian-era steam railcar has been restored by PRR volunteers. It is used for selected services during the train running season, the SMC carries a small number of passengers (in first and second class) on board for a Coffee Pot Heritage Rail Experience day trip from Quorn to Woolshed Flat and return.[8]
Pichi Richi Railway offers other special services including the occasional "double header" steam trains and the trains and carriages are available for private hire, suiting a range of different occasions from weddings to tour groups.[9][10]
Major projects
The PRRPS has completed a number of major projects since its inception in 1973. These include return to service of steam locomotives and heritage rolling stock, rebuilding large sections of railway line and permanent way and the restoration of historic buildings.
Rebuild of steam locomotive NM25
Former Commonwealth Railways steam locomotive NM25 was built in 1925 and was used on the narrow gauge train line between Port Augusta and Alice Springs. It is one of only two surviving examples of this class of steam locomotive. NM25 had remained static from 1965 until 1989, when PRRPS acquired it with the intention of restoring it to operational condition. An overhaul commenced in 2000. The locomotive was recommissioned on 26 April 2003.[11][12]
During the Commonwealth Railways era (from 1937 to 1957), the train line between Stirling North and Port Augusta was dual gauge. Narrow gauge served the line to Quorn and the standard gauge, which branched at Stirling North, was for the line to Port Pirie and also to Marree. A new standard gauge line to Marree was built in the 1950s on a new route west of the Pichi Richi Pass, with the purpose of bypassing the narrow gauge section of the Central Australia Railway to Marree, through Quorn and Hawker. The narrow gauge component of the section dual gauge track between Stirling North and Port Augusta was removed once the standard gauge line to Marree was in full operation, and the narrow gauge route from Hawker to Marree had been closed and removed. This meant that the remaining narrow gauge line from Stirling North to Hawker via Quorn was now isolated. On the occasions that a narrow gauge train needed to travel to Port Augusta or to Marree, the train would need to utilise a piggy back system. This arrangement saw the entire narrow gauge train loaded on top of a standard gauge train of flatcars and transported via standard gauge, then unloaded at the destination on to the existing narrow gauge.[13]
The first stage of returning narrow gauge train services to Port Augusta was the completion of 16 kilometres (9.9mi) of track rehabilitation between Woolshed Flat and Stirling North. This work included the complete replacement of sleepers and rail, re-timbering of several bridges and the construction of a turning triangle at Stirling North. Part of the $1.35 million Pichi Richi Railway Development Plan project, it was completed in 1999. The extension was opened on 24 October 1999 by former Deputy Prime Minister of AustraliaTim Fischer.[14][15][16]
It was announced in 2000 that funding was available through the State Government of South Australia, and the Port Augusta City Council to extend the train line from Stirling North in to Port Augusta railway station. However, there were significant works required for to complete this project.
Crossing the standard gauge
Because the existing narrow gauge between Stirling North and Port Augusta had been removed many years earlier, the challenge for the PRRPS was to develop an effective means of reinstating the narrow gauge in to Port Augusta. The greatest aspect to this challenge was how to cross over what remained of the standard gauge line to Marree, which had since been truncated at Telford Cut coal mine near Leigh Creek with the opening of the newer standard gauge line from Tarcoola to Alice Springs in 1980. This line to Leigh Creek was exclusively used for transporting coal from Leigh Creek to Northern Power Station, and branched off the main standard gauge network at Stirling North. Many options for crossing this line were investigated, including a draw bridge arrangement, diamond crossovers and an underpass. The final decision was an underpass, passing below the Leigh Creek coal train line, which greatly reduced the amount of safe working interfacing with the standard gauge line.[13] Diagram.[17][18]
Project completion
The remainder of the narrow gauge line was constructed parallel to the standard gauge into Port Augusta, arriving at Platform 2 at Port Augusta station. The rail for this project was sourced from the dismantled Cambrai to Apamurra railway line in South Australia's Murray Mallee region.[19] A turntable relocated from Kapunda was installed near the station, and a depot and sheds were constructed next to the Port Augusta station for housing a locomotive and rolling stock for Pichi Richi Railway operations originating at Port Augusta.
transporting, distributing and tamping 8,000 tonnes (7,900 long tons; 8,800 short tons) of track ballast
designing, manufacturing, transporting and installing 13 large precast concrete culvert crowns and base sections for the underpass – achieved in 60 hours to avoid disrupting coal trains from Leigh Creek
The extension was officially opened 15 September 2001 by the local state MP, Graham Gunn, the then state Tourism Minister Joan Hall, and Port Augusta Mayor Joy Baluch.[23]
The extension to Port Augusta won the 2002 Permanent Way Institute (SA Section) Trackwork Achievement Award[13][24]
Other projects
This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(May 2023)
Significant projects completed by Pichi Richi Railway in recent years[when?] include:
rebuild of several original Commonwealth Railways narrow-gauge carriages, including:
NABPA class passenger carriage, numbers 25, 26 and 27
NIA class passenger carriage number 36 – distinguished as the vehicle that in World WarII carried United States GeneralDouglas MacArthur, his wife, son and amah from Alice Springs to Adelaide via Quorn after they had escaped the Japanese advance of the Philippines (it was at Terowie that MacArthur made his famous declaration, "I came through and I shall return"[25] from the end platform of the car)
NSS class special service observation carriage number 34, used by the Duke of Gloucester on a royal train during his 1934 visit to Australia[26]
acquisition and restoration of former SAR 830 class locomotives 843 & 846
tyre repairs and bogie overhaul NT76
rebuild of SAR Long Tom passenger carriage number 470.
restoration of the Quorn Goods Shed, located in the railway station precinct.
isolation of field excitation fault in locomotive NSU52
track maintenance with replacement of approximately 2,000 timber sleepers per year
Future projects:
tyre replacement on W22 (W916)
restoration of SAR locomotive T186 to working order
repair of spare boiler for T186
construction of new W class tender tank
Rolling stock
Motive power
As of June2022[update], the society's operational motive power was three steam locomotives, two diesel locomotives, a diesel railcar and a steam motor coach, among a total fleet as follows:[27]
Commissioner's carriage named "Flinders" by SAR 1929 or 1930
169
SAR
Short Tom (157 type)
Officers' sleeping carriage named "Sturt" by SAR 1929 or 1930
170
SAR
Short Tom (157 type)
Officers' kitchen and dining carriage named "Light" by SAR 1929 or 1930
175
SAR
Short Tom (157 type)
Officers' sleeping carriage named "Lincoln" by SAR 1929 or 1930
207
SAR
Long Tom
209
SAR
Long Tom
Named "Wandana" by PRRPS after rebuild, guards unit.
305
SAR
Brill Model 75 railcar trailer
Formerly numbered 219 on broad gauge, numbered 305 by PRRPS
4891
SAR
Composite bogie brake van
4894
SAR
Composite bogie brake van
Power brake van
Alberga
SAR
Broken Hill Express carriage
Sleeping carriage
Coonatto
SAR
Broken Hill Express carriage
Sleeping carriage
Nilpena
SAR
Broken Hill Express carriage
Sleeping carriage
NYAB
15
CR
Composite brake van
Rebuilt by PRRPS in a different layout from the original
NABPa
25
CR
Composite sitting
NABPa
26
CR
Composite sitting
NABPa
27
CR
Composite sitting
NSS
34
CR
Special Service Car No. 3
First-class sleeping, dining and observation carriage; used for special hires
NIA
36
CR
Composite first-class sleeping
Includes kitchen and dining area
Awards
Pichi Richi Railway has received many significant awards, including the following:[29]
Year
Award
1984
South Australian Association of Regional Tourist Organisations Inc, Harry Dowling Award for Tourism Excellence
1984
Flinders Ranges Regional Tourist Association Inc, Tourism Award Winner for the Most Significant Tourism Enterprise
1987
State Bank South Australian Tourism Awards, Tourist Attractions category
1987
Flinders Ranges Regional Tourist Association Inc, Tourism Award Winner for the Most Significant Tourist Enterprise
1992
State Bank South Australian Tourism Awards, Judges' Commendation - Significant Local Attractions category
1997
Yellow Pages South Australian Tourism Awards, Award of Distinction - Heritage and Cultural Tourism category
2002
Permanent Way Institution SA Section, Trackwork Achievement Award
2014
South Australian Regional Awards, StatewideSuper Tourism Award
2019
Nominated Finalist in South Australian Tourism Awards
2021
Winner of the Tourist Attraction category in the South Australian Tourism Awards
2023
Awarded the SA Premier's Certificate of Recognition for outstanding volunteering service
2023
Nominated as finalist in South Australian Tourism Awards
Visiting operators
PRRPS has hosted vehicles of other heritage railway operators.
The first occasion, in October 1981, was when the Steamtown Peterborough Railway Preservation Society ran a train to Quorn. Although the Quorn station yard and line to Peterborough was still under the control of Australian National at this time, the Steamtown trip became the last steam-hauled train and last passenger train to travel the entire Peterborough–Quorn railway line. Steamtown's ex-WAGR Pmr720 was the only Pacific type steam locomotive to ever visit Quorn.[30]
The Australian Society of Section Car Operators negotiated an access agreement with PRRPS and subsequently its members used the railway between Quorn and Stirling North to operate their section cars on the weekend of 22 and 23 March 2003.[31]
Former BHAS locomotive "Peronne" and Short Tom carriage 144 from the National Railway Museum have operated on Pichi Richi Railway.
Related Research Articles
The Ghan is an experiential tourism-oriented passenger train service that operates between the northern and southern coasts of Australia, through the cities of Adelaide, Alice Springs and Darwin on the Adelaide–Darwin rail corridor. Operated by Journey Beyond Rail Expeditions, its scheduled travelling time, including extended stops for passengers to do off-train tours, is 53 hours 15 minutes to travel the 2,979 kilometres (1,851 mi). The Ghan has been described as one of the world's great passenger trains.
Quorn is a small town and railhead in the Flinders Ranges in the north of South Australia, 39 kilometres (24 mi) northeast of Port Augusta.
The former Central Australia Railway, which was built between 1878 and 1929 and closed in 1980, was a 1241 km (771 mi) 1067 mm narrow gauge railway between Port Augusta and Alice Springs. A standard gauge line duplicated the southern section from Port Augusta to Maree in 1957 on a new nearby alignment. The entire Central Australia Railway was superseded in 1980 after the standard gauge Tarcoola–Alice Springs Railway was opened, using a new route up to 200 km to the west. A small southern section of the original line between Port Augusta and Quorn has been preserved as the Pichi Richi Tourist Railway.
The first railway in colonial South Australia was a line from the port of Goolwa on the River Murray to an ocean harbour at Port Elliot, which first operated in December 1853, before its completion in May 1854.
The Commonwealth Railways were established in 1917 by the Government of Australia with the Commonwealth Railways Act to administer the Trans-Australia and Port Augusta to Darwin railways. In 1975, all assets were acquired by the Australian National Railways Commission, branded as Australian National Railways and subsequently Australian National, trademarked as AN.
The Steamtown Peterborough Railway Preservation Society Inc. was a not-for-profit incorporated society that operated a heritage steam railway from Peterborough, South Australia, north along a section of the Peterborough to Quorn railway line, between 1977 and 2002. The society based its operations on the former South Australian Railways roundhouse at Peterborough and purpose-built sheds and yard at Peterborough West.
Railmotor is a term used in the United Kingdom and elsewhere for a railway lightweight railcar, usually consisting of a railway carriage with a steam traction unit, or a diesel or petrol engine, integrated into it.
The Commonwealth Railways NC class consisted of two diesel-hydraulic locomotives built by Clyde Engineering, Granville, New South Wales in 1956. The Lakewood Firewood Company, Kalgoorlie was the first owner; the Commonwealth Railways purchased them in 1965. They ceased revenue service in the early 1980s.
The Commonwealth Railways NSU class was a class of diesel-electric locomotives built in 1954 and 1955 by the Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company, England, for the Commonwealth Railways to be deployed on the narrow-gauge Central Australia Railway and North Australia Railway.
The NT class were a class of diesel-electric locomotives built between 1965 and 1968 by Tulloch Limited, Rhodes for the Commonwealth Railways. They saw service on the Central Australia Railway and North Australia Railway, and on the Port Lincoln Division of Australian National.
The Commonwealth Railways NB class originated in a shipment of four 0-6-0, 1067 millimetres gauge, saddle tank steam locomotives built by the Vulcan Iron Works of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. They were imported to Australia in 1916 for construction work at the naval base at Henderson, Western Australia. Their tractive effort was 9500 pounds.
The South Australian Railways T class was a class of 4-8-0 steam locomotives operated by the South Australian Railways. Several were sold to the Tasmanian Government Railways; some others operated on the Commonwealth Railways.
Two models of South Australian Railways Brill railcar operated by the South Australian Railways between 1925 and 1971. Introduced to run on country rail services, the "Barwell Bulls" serviced most of the state's railway lines until they were eventually replaced by both the Bluebird and Redhen railcars. The last units were withdrawn in 1971.
The South Australian Railways W and Wx class was a class of 2-6-0 steam locomotives operated by the South Australian Railways. Some were used by the Commonwealth Railways in the Northern Territory and by contractors.
Port Augusta railway station is a rail station located on the Adelaide-Port Augusta railway line in Port Augusta, South Australia.
Quorn railway station was located on the Central Australia Railway, and also the Peterborough-Quorn railway line serving the South Australian town of Quorn.
The Sedan railway line branched off from the South Australian Railways' Adelaide to Wolseley line at Monarto South running 70 kilometres north to Sedan.
The NDH class railcars are a class of self propelled diesel-hydraulic railcars designed by Commonwealth Engineering and built by the Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Company in England for the Commonwealth Railways, Australia in 1954. They were known as Gloucester railcars.
Farina railway station, in the South Australian outback, was completed in 1882 when the narrow-gauge Central Australia Railway progressed towards Marree. In 1957, a new standard-gauge line, called the Marree railway line, was constructed in parallel with the narrow-gauge line, which was closed in 1981; traffic ceased on the standard-gauge line in 2019.
Copley railway station was located on the Central Australia Railway, and later the Marree railway line serving the small South Australian outback town of Copley.
References
1 2 3 Babbage, Jack; Barrington, Rodney (1984). The history of the Pichi Richi railway (2nded.). Quorn, South Australia: Pichi Richi Railway Preservation Society Inc. ISBN0959850961.
1 2 3 Anchen, Nick (2019). Outback railwaymen: life on the Commonwealth Railways. Melbourne: Sierra Publishing. ISBN9780992538880.
↑ "Pichi Richi Railway". Pichi Richi Railway Preservation Society. 2022. Archived from the original on 25 June 2022. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
↑ "I came through; I shall return". The Advertiser (Adelaide). Vol.LXXXIV, no.26, 040. (Original, Adelaide. Digital reproduction, Canberra: National Library of Australia – Trove digital newspaper archive). 21 March 1942. p.1. Archived from the original on 6 November 2020. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
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