In these times of economic rationalisation, it’s nice to see for a change, a piece of railway infrastructure, long abandoned, being restored and placed back into use. This rare event happened earlier in the year, when the old turning angle at Einasleigh was re-instated and opened to traffic. We’re not sure when this piece of track was last used, but during the weekend, it it finally got some use when a single car charter service from Mt Surprise Terminated at Einasleigh, and had to be turned for the return trip. In the past, a single car trip from Mt Surprise to Einasleigh would have required a further three hour run (each way) to Forsayth to turn.
Continue reading “A View from a Different Angle”
Tags: charter, Einasleigh, Turning Angle, wye
A confirmed sighting in Kuala Lumpur
Those of you who have been lucky enough to travel from Cairns to Forsayth on the Savannahlander may have had the pleasure of having morning tea at the Bullock Creek Cafe. For those of you who haven’t been on the Savannahlander, Bullock Creek is located on the Etheridge Branch about halfway between Almaden and Mount Surprise. The Bullock Creek Cafe offers train passenegrs morning tea on Thursday and Saturday mornings during the Savannahlander season. Recently the cafe has had a lot of cups going missing and some of the thieves have been cheeky enough to send trophy shots of their misappropriated drinking vessels in exotic locations. There is a gallery of these photos on the Savannahlander web site and a photo album of these mischievous mug marauders on board the train. If you have a photo of a missing cup you can send it to us by email:
cuptheft@savannahlander.com.au
or snail mail us a hard copy:
Cup Constabulary
PO Box 718
Edge Hill QLD 4870
Australia
In the interest of standardising the Savannahlander experience we have been working very hard to introduce some new robotic train drivers. No, not really! The staff changes out west have been of the railway safeworking variety. In March this year, the first of a number of “staff stations” to be re-introduced on the Etheridge and Chillagoe lines was opened for business.
Continue reading “Staff changes!”
Our favourite Forsayth four-legged mate has gone missing. Boof is a black, male dog with white paws and chest. He was last seen near the train station in Forsayth on Friday the 25th of June. It is believed that someone may have taken Boof. If you’ve seen him please call the Goldfields Hotel on 07 4062 5374 or email matt@savannahlander.com.au
Yes, the updates are coming think and fast tonight, but we’re making up for a slack couple of weeks. There is also a post or two from previous trips that are coming real soon now, or so I keep getting told.
Anyway, as the heading suggests, we are back to full operations, after the unexpected landslide halted operations on the Range for a period. This post describes the first revenue run down the ‘hill’, and todays departure closes out that part of our operational history. This morning, 5A98 departed Cairns for its trip to Forsayth with a load of very relieved passengers, who had been warned that the run to Kuranda might be by bus. Happily this was not the case.
Some images from the run out to Redlynch…
Tags: Kuranda Range, Revenue Services
Prior to the Kuranda Range being reopened after the landslide, there was a risk assessment workshop attended by the various interested parties, whose purpose was to fully examine the safety implications of the incident. The hazards and risks to public and operator safety were analysed and a range of controls were suggested to manage those risks down to the lowest possible level.
While it is all very well theorizing over a range of scenarios and controls, they need to be given exposure to the real world to see if they are actually going to work. So once the controls were agreed upon, a set of field testing was planned, where different types of trains were run up and down the range to determine the merits of what was proposed. The Savannahlander was invited to attend.
Continue reading “Savannahlander Goes for a Spin!”
Tags: Kuranda, Savannahlander, Turntable
Tourism Australia are running a competition where you can upload your favourite holiday photos, add a caption and be in the running for some great prizes. The photos will be used for a new international advertising campaign. We here at The Savannahlander believe that there’s nothing like free publicity so reckon everyone who’s been on the Savannahlander should upload a photo! You can find out more and enter on the competition web site.
The Savannahlander in Forsayth
It looks like our finger crossing worked and the lucky travellers on the Savannahlander will get to have a Guinness or two in Chillagoe for St Patrick’s day. What that really means is this week (trip departing 17th of March) the Savannahlander will travel all the way to Forsayth.
Tags: Forsayth, Savannahlander, Track
You too will be able to take photos at this location real soon now
Word from the Infrastructure people is that kind weather, and less than expected damage means that the Savannahlander should get right through to Forsayth next week (Trip Departing 17 March). Fingers crossed than any rain that comes through from now on, is only moderate, and only enough to keep the country green and the rivers flowing.
Tags: Forsayth, Savannahlander, Track
As mentioned in the previous post, we only had track as far as Almaden this week, and Mike and Matt crewed the first train for the truncated journey. The trip was shortened to a two day journey, with an overnight stop at Almaden for the train, and Chillagoe for the crew. The first part of the trip was purely a staff run, where our ‘occasional’ drivers came along to re-familiarise themselves with operations and procedures. At Mareeba, we got rid of the surplus staff, and picked up our first passengers for the year, a local couple taking advantage of the short trip for a quick overnighter to Almaden. There was also a group of senior citizens out for a day excursion and luncheon at Almaden. For this, they took advantage of our DDA Facilities in car 2053. Matt was interviewed by a local reporter, as this was being done as a low cost community service for the old people. We’ve not seen the article yet, but it must have been published, because we received a query from an Atherton based aged care centre for a similar trip for their residents, on the morning of publication.
Continue reading “2010 First Trip – We’re Back Early!”
Tags: Almaden, chillagoe, Lappa, Savannahlander
In these times of economic rationalisation, it’s nice to see for a change, a piece of railway infrastructure, long abandoned, being restored and placed back into use. This rare event happened earlier in the year, when the old turning angle at Einasleigh was re-instated and opened to traffic. We’re not sure when this piece of track was last used, but during the weekend, it it finally got some use when a single car charter service from Mt Surprise Terminated at Einasleigh, and had to be turned for the return trip. In the past, a single car trip from Mt Surprise to Einasleigh would have required a further three hour run (each way) to Forsayth to turn.
