Darwins first Railroad. The North Australia Railway (NAR), also known as the Palmerston to Pine Creek railway, was a 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) narrow gauge railway which ran from Darwin, once known as Palmerston, to Birdum, just south of Larrimah. Below In the nineteenth century the Northern Territory was administered by South Australia. The John Cox Bray Government in South Australia introduced the Palmerston and Pine Creek Railway Bill in 1883. The £959,300 contract went to C & E Millar of Melbourne on the proviso that they could use coolie labour. The line reached Pine Creek in 1888 and was officially opened on 30 September 1889.Singhalese and Indian gangs did the grubbing and earthwork and 3,000 Chinese labourers laid over 1 km of track per day. A total of 310 bridges and flood openings were built. The Federal Government promulgated an order to close the narrow gauge North Australia Railway line on 20 May 1976, with services ceasing on 30 June of that year,[13] as result of the loss of iron ore traffic originating from the Frances Creek operation. Maintenance gangs were withdrawn in December 1977. Heavy floods in 1978 destroyed significant parts of the railway, effectively eliminating any hope of the railway re-opening. Nearly 20 years later, the AustralAsia Rail Corporation a consortium was formed to build the standard gauge link between Alice Springs and Darwin. Construction on the new standard gauge line from Alice Springs started in July 2001 and was finally completed on 17 September 2003. The first freight train reached Darwin on 17 January 2004 and the first Ghan passenger service ran from Adelaide via Alice Springs to Darwin in early February 2004. The line runs near the route of the North Australia Railway in places but uses very little of the old infrastructure. The Pine Creek Railway Station is on the National List of Significant Places at the National Trust of Australia.Below you can see the old Station house located near St.Johns College Stuart Highway.The film clip is of the train departing Stokes Hill Wharf heading for the station house.early 1920s.
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 20:47:41 +0000
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