gone on the Ghan

Today The Ghan train trip in Australia is one of the world's great rail journeys. From Adelaide on standard 1435 mm gauge track you can sit in air-conditioned comfort in an armchair and watch the outback pass your window as you travel via Alice Springs, 2,979 km far as Darwin.

But the the old Ghan was rather different. Named after the Afghan cameliers who helped open up the outback, it began in 1879 when the first 40 km of 3'6" (1067 mm) gauge track were laid between Port Augusta and Quorn. Over the next 50 years, it was built in stages through the Flinders Ranges to Maree and then as far as Oodnadatta in 1891. Building the line from there to Alice Springs didn't begin until 1926 and reached that destination in 1929. Prior to completion, the final leg of the train journey was still completed by camel!

Just as building the track through to the centre was epic, maintaining it on the edge of Lake Eyre with its sandy soil and habit of flooding was arduous. Notorious for washouts and other delays, a flatcar immediately behind the locomotive tender carried spare sleepers and railway tools, so that if a washout was encountered the passengers and crew could work as a railway gang to repair the line and permit the train to continue! This was tolerated because steam trains needed water, and this route to Alice Springs was the only one that had available water. During World War 2 the service was greatly expanded, putting pressure on the limited water supplies and as a result, de-mineralisation towers were built along the track so that bore water could be used - some survive today. When steam was replaced by diesel, the need for locomotive water was eliminated, but the problems with the track continued.

Eventually a new standard gauge line was built and and opened in 1980. This line instead leaves the Trans-Continental line at Tarcoola and heads more or less due north. The old Ghan line was left to the elements and those keen can follow much of it in a 4x4.

A classic Aussie locomotive used for the Ghan were the 14 of the Commonwealth Railways NSU class diesel-electrics. They had an A1A-A1A axle arrangement to keep axle load to just 10 tons, fitted with a prime mover of only 840 hp (630 kW) output and they had a top speed of a mere 50 mph (80 km/h). The first run took place on 12 June 1954. They may have looked good when they first appeared on the tracks in their maroon and silver livery (first picture from 1955), but after a few years of exposure to the harsh desert they looked even better (second picture)! Today all have survived but only 2 are operational. We don't know what NSU stood for but assume/hope it had nothing to do with the std non-specific urethritus!