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The "Ghan" 3 hours of Slow TV


melmerby
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I like the format of this programme, as I did with others - they did one about a rural bus route IIRC.  My interest is, of course, that of a future passenger, albeit in the opposite direction.  I now have more of a feel for what the train is like and the territory through which it passes.  It is good to know, for instance, that passengers are not confined to their cabins for the whole trip [where did I get that idea from?] but not so good to know that I will be eating crocodile!

 

Chris

Don’t worry about the crocodile, Chris: it will be dead. Seriously, taste and texture a bit like fish/pork/ chicken mix.
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Eating the crocodile in the dining car is, I'm sure, optional (but surely also worth being adventurous about?)

 

I declined the option when we travelled from Alice Springs to Darwin 12 months ago.

Had I chosen it though I would have told the waitress to "make it snappy".

Edited by Nick Gough
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I watched some of this; I struggled to work out what the two people in the cab were doing; one was obviously the driver, but the other? Spotting items of lineside interest to relay to the Train Manager?

Given that the length of the journey requires more than one crew and the length of time between stops can exceed the permitted continuous driving hours it is normal to have two on the loco and the relief crew travelling in the crew car.

 

The second man, sometimes known as the hostler in Australia, is responsible for sharing safety-critical duties with the driver. And often for brewing up and cooking on the move. Most Australian locos have in-cab cooking facilities and all have an on-board toilet.

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Given that the length of the journey requires more than one crew and the length of time between stops can exceed the permitted continuous driving hours it is normal to have two on the loco and the relief crew travelling in the crew car.

 

The second man, sometimes known as the hostler in Australia, is responsible for sharing safety-critical duties with the driver. And often for brewing up and cooking on the move. Most Australian locos have in-cab cooking facilities and all have an on-board toilet.

 

They may possibly all have on board toilets, but the crews don't necessarily always use them, especially when on freight workings.

 

A good friend was videoing in country Central Queensland when a short freight approached from behind a hill. As it swept around the curve, one of the crew became visible having  leak over the side of the running boards. He spotted the camera on the hill and hastily put everything away and scuttled back into the cab. :D

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Didn't this slow train business all start with that video of the train from Bergen to Oslo from the front cab....and I did watch that. The glories of being retired and single. I just flew London to San Francisco and that was 11 long daylight hours of boredom (11 AM to 2 PM but with 8 time zones in between). We must have spent 4 hours crossing Hudson's Bay. 

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I'm lucky enough to have travelled on the IP in each direction (Adelaide - Perth. Perth - Adelaide)..but a few years apart.

The first time, hauled by a couple of Commonwealth Railways GM's, it stopped quite a few times meaning you got to stretch your legs a bit - second time (in 2009) it was Kalgoorlie and Cook, oh & Port Augusta in the middle of the night for a crew change.

 

It stops in Kalgoorlie long enough to allow a midnight bus tour of the town - highly recommended. Cook is for a shorter while - interesting but the place is all but a ghost town now.

 

My dad rode the old 3' 6" gauge Ghan from Adelaide to Alice Springs -  http://www.australiaforeveryone.com.au/nt/search-old-ghan.htm - its was a real adventure! Its a shame it had to go in a way. Some of the old carriages where wonderfully decorated and quite a few railway towns effectively disappeared overnight when it closed.

 

Another great train was "The Overland" (Adelaide - Melbourne)  - http://www.railpictures.net/photo/264258/ - often with a couple of beautiful maroon and silver 930s up front. Hearing them climb the Adelaide hills is a great memory. It still runs but its a shadow of its former glory.

 

The east coast had "The Southern Aurora" (Sydney - Melbourne) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Aurora - being an Adelaide resident I never had reason to use it - it sadly stopped running in 1986.

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One thing that amused me was when the driver picked up the train intercom when they were approaching the South Australia/Northern Territory border and told Bruce they were 10 minutes off.  Its a mercy he didn't say "G'day Bruce"!

Ittttttt's ...............................................

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNBy1D1Y0h4

Edited by Southernman46
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The "Old Ghan" was a trial by endurance, an eternity of narrow-gauge uncertainty.  There were washouts a-plenty because the route was unknowingly built through flood channels.  And the original steam locomotives were both under-powered and over-thirsty meaning that somehow a supply of water had to be available at numerous intermediate locations not all of which were towns.  You can only haul so much in the train consist before that too becomes a futile effort.  Basil Fuller's history "The Ghan : The story of the Alice Springs railway" is worth a read for those interested.  The line only reach Alice after some considerable time ending at a "temporary" terminus in the one-horse town of Marree.  The present-day standard gauge route lies well to the west and follows higher ground from a junction at Tarcoola with the Interstate Main Line (i.e. Adelaide - Perth).

 

The Overland is indeed a shadow of its one-time self.  Nowadays hauled (as are all of the Ghan, IP and Overland trains) by hired-in NR-class freight locos, often (on the Overland at least) in indifferent condition externally and sometimes internally, it consists of only five or six coaches and makes just two return trips a week.  When I first knew it in 1998 it ran five days, loaded to as many as 15 coaches and 20 at Christmas, and was hauled by ex-South Australian Railways BL-class locos.  One of those very occasionally still deputises for an NR.

 

The Southern Aurora was a much-loved train and was one of those replaced by the XPT.  It and the Spirit of Progress (nicknamed the "Lack of Progress") were positively lethargic about getting their customers from Sydney to Melbourne.  A change of train was required at Albury since the Victorian State Railways were built to Irish broad gauge and met the New South Wales standard gauge line end-on at this border city.  Today there is a standard gauge line through to Melbourne with broad gauge confined to a handful of intra-state workings between Melbourne and Shepparton running on a paralel alignment south of the divergence (the former junction with the Albury route) at Mangalore, north of the town of Seymour.

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I can remember an earlier TV programme (BBC probably) on the original Ghan route just to Alice.

They mentioned all the washouts that were regularly had along the route.

 

There has also been (on Travel Channel, UK) a series of programmes about different Australian railway routes.

 

Keith

 

EDIT

 

Some years ago I bought some DVD collections called "The World's Greatest Railway Journeys"

Each collection is 8 DVDs and there are three in the series.

One of them covers the "Ghan" going south from Alice Springs to Adelaide.

It takes over 5 minutes of introduction, showing Alice and it's surroundings including camels, to show the actual train arriving at the station, then after an aerial shot showing the car transporters on the tail, a look in the cab, a visit to the restauarant car and one view out of the window we are in Adelaide.

Total time including intro 11 mins!

Pathetic. Mind you each set of the 8 DVDs only cost £5, so what do you expect?

Edited by melmerby
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I declined the option when we travelled from Alice Springs to Darwin 12 months ago.

Had I chosen it though I would have told the waitress to "make it snappy".

 

Ad they would have replied that you have to wait awhile...........

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