Marree dual gauge rail transfer Central Australia Railway

Marree dual gauge rail transfer + scenes of Marree and railyards in 1982:
Marree South Australia, and a video taken in December 1982 during the time the old Central Australia Railway was being pulled up. This video records the
transferring of recovered rails from old the Central Australia Railway, from a narrow gauge recovery train, to a standard gauge train for transfer further south. The standard gauge train and the narrow gauge train were coupled together on dual gauge track for this operation which was performed using NSU class diesel electric locomotive NSU55 The contractors had to transfer a certain amount of rail between trains when standard gauge trains were available for loading. Most rail however, had to be stockpiled at Marree and taken south later when standard gauge trains were later available. There are also some shots of Marree and of the dual gauge tracks at Marree as well as some of remaining NSU locomotives there at the time and the solitary NT class which remained there for shunting. Also, there are some pictures of the dual gauge passenger platform. At the end of the video, there is a scene of some narrow gauge cattle wagons which have been shunted onto standard gauge wagons via the special transfer ramp. It was in this way, that narrow gauge vehicles were transferred to Marree and from Marree to the south after Marree became a break of gauge location after the extension of the standard gauge to Marree. Also there is a shot of a pile up of narrow gauge cattle wagons at the end of the narrow gauge line to the south. While waiting to be loaded for transportation south, a strong wind came up, I was told, which started the wagons moving downhill until they reached the end of the
line. These had been removed by mid 1983 when I was there on another trip when the rail removal had reached Bopeechie, a video illustrating the pulling up of the track there is posted. Also posted is rail removal at William Creek which was at the time this video was taken.
Marree had two main transfer railyards The illustration for the video (the one initially which has to be clicked on), is at the 'V' junction. Part of one yard is seen ahead while the other is along the line to the left. These railyards were linked at the other ends by a huge dual gauge baloon loop on which entire trains could be revarsed or locomotives turned. Interestingly, in order for the inner rail for the narrow gauge to line up, it needed to change sides. Thus the inner rail for narrow gauge changed to the right side before the left hand yards were reached. One of the shots in the video gives a glimpse of the location at which the inner rail changed sides. Further: the loop location can still be made out on "google maps" if the Marree "satellite" map of Marree is viewed.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• trains
• central australia railway
• marree
• south australia
• rail
• recovery
• nsu
• nsu55
• dual gauge
• rail yards
• Rail Transport
• Train
• Railroad
• Station
• Line

[robertgift]

How interesting!

13:00 - does narrow gauge track shifto the left? Why?

Are narrow gauge passenger cars narrower than standard gauge?

What was wrong with the "defective" boggies?

Does the transisiton car have two couplers on each end?

Thank you.

RWG, Denver, Coldorado (Colorado) USA (cold and snow here.)

[reidgck]

@robertgift There were two main yards connected with a dual gauge balloon loop at the top on which standard and narrow gauge trains could be turned. The narrow gauge rail changed sides before the left yards so that it would be on the correct side once around the loop. The narrow gauge passenger cars were originally standard gauge thus were even higher than the locos. Bogies had defective motors and worn gears (lost lubricant). Couplers likely would have been off center so connected at an angle.

[robertgift]

@reidgck  Oh. Thank you. That explains it.

Yes. After posting I thoughthathe couplers need only reach (angle) 1/2 the difference between the two gauges which is, what, about 4-inch offset?

Thank you.

[reidgck]

@robertgift If you go to "google maps Marree Austraila" and select the satellite view, you can zoom in on the town and scene and see the former location of the old raiway yards and the loop. I have a page at - tripple w - nex. net. au / reidgck / marree.htm that shows the remains of the scene in late 2007 after the rails were removed if you are interested further.

[Organgrinder1010]

Was there still triple gauge track in Broken Hill in the early '90s?

[reidgck]

@Organgrinder1010 There would not have been tripple gauge at Broken Hill as only narrow and standard gauges met there. The standard gauge was government owned and the narrow gauge private so dual gauge was probably not constructed but am not sure The stations were well apart but don't know about the ore loading. There were a few locations in South Australia where three gauges met the best and most confusing track layout geometry was at Gladstone. Another interesting place was Peterborough

[TheJrisen99]

@reidgck Thanks for sharing this. Not much like that here in the States. Very interesting and enjoyed your video very much! Added to my favorites!

[JBofBrisbane]

@Organgrinder1010 - I think you're thinking of Port Pirie, not Broken Hill.

[InvasorEspacial007]

Good video, sad to see the line vanished so long ago.