Bicentennial Steam Train

Press, 2 December 1987, Page 52

Bicentennial Steam Train

By

JOHN LESLIE

To mark the Australian bicentennial year, the Railways of Australia Committee, based in Melbourne, is promoting nine special railway tours using the Bicentennial Steam Train, powered by the venerable and legendary "3801,” a 38-class Pacific 4-6-2 steam locomotive which has been completely restored for the occasion.

This’ locomotive, originally commissioned in 1943, is the only steam locomotive to have crossed Australia from east to west, a feat accomplished in 1970. Railways of Australia, an asociation of five separate. Governmentowned rail systems, controls 40,000 kilometres of railway track in Australia, employs more than 110,000 people, paying them sAustlsoo million annually in wages, and supplies a national need for this vast country, which must have steel highways. The railways are, in fact, Australia’s biggest industry. Australia’s major trains such as the Indian Pacific (Sydney to Perth), the Queenslander (Brisbane to Cairns), and the Ghan (Adelaide to Alice Springs) are already known internationally, plus the modern, revolutionary XPT express trains, but the Bicentennial Steam Train will be something vastly different and certainly attractive to train lovers. It will not offer the glamour, luxury, and cuisine of the Indian Pacific, for example, but for true lovers of railway travel it will offer several memorable journeys ranging from Brisbane to Perth. The Bicentennial Steam Train will consist of eightcompartment, 64-seat carriages, non-air-condi-tioned. The standard of travel will simulate the conditions existing when the 38-class locomotives first came into service. Interestingly enough, Australia’s first steam locomotive made a journey between Sandridge (Port Melbourne) and Flinders Street, Melbourne, in 1854. Today, the Australian Commonealth’s urban, interurban and inter-state trains, Australian-built, are among the world’s best, as any regular longdistance commuter can vouch.

The nine centennial railway tours will range over a period from March

13, 1988, until October 29. They will run in this order:

No. 1, Sydney to Canberra.

No. 2, Canberra to Sydney.

No. 3, Sydney to Perth. No. 4, Perth to Adelaide.

No. 5, Adelaide to Sydney.

No. 6, Sydney to Brisbane.

No. 7, Brisbane to Sydney.

No. 8, Sydney to Melbourne.

No. 9, Melbourne to Sydney. Mr Wilbur Edgoose, advertising and public relations manager of Railways of Australia, says that many bookings are coming in, especially for Tour No. 3, Sydney to Perth, but great interest is also being shown in the other tours. The number of New Zealand people expressing interest will doubtless increase. Information may be obtained from the New Zealand Railways or, alternatively, travel agents. Timetables and relevant data, such as prices, are available as are lavish brochures.

Most meals (breakfasts and dinners) will be served off the train at the hotel/motel accommoda-

tion arranged as part of the tours. Lunches will be simple meals, mostly prepacked. Accommodation on long hauls will be of good standard on, a twin-share basis, and generally within easy walking distance of the station. The Bicentennial Steam Train will provide an unrivalled and certainly rare opportunity to enjoy inter-capital and interstate railway travel, even right across Australia including the Nullarbor Plain. Locomotive 3801 has been specialy prepared for this momentous task and should provide an ieal way for railway-

enthusiast groups and their families to celebrate the bicentennial year. The tours will range from one-day tours to eight-day tours, such as the transcontinental journey from Sydney to Perth.

For those who know this long-journey by the prestigious luxury train, Indian Pacific, the eightday tour is to be highly recommended. One of the amazing features of the Nullarbor Plain is the “long straight,” 476 kilometres without a bend in the line. The actual Nullarbor Plain is 676 kilometres in length. Broken Hill, Kalgoorlie, and other

places reek of history and more.

Australians have a strong, sentimental streak about steam engines and trains generally, conditioned no doubt by the huge areas they have to cover and the blood, toil, sweat and frustration which made them what they are today, a railway system equal to the world’s best.

There are plenty of New Zealanders who relish railway travel and speculate on its future in our land. They should find much to their liking if they make a journey on the Bicentennial Steam Train.