PICHI RICHI RAILWAY

24^th April, 2015

Time to leave the Yorke Peninsula and head further north – following Spencer Gulf up to Port Augusta and then north east to Quorn where we are going to base ourselves while we explore the Flinders Ranges. Many films have been made in and around the small country hamlet of Quorn such as Sunday Too Far Away, The Shiralee, Gallipoli and The Water Diviner. The main reason people visit Quorn is to take a ride on the Pichi Richi Railway. Built in the 1870's, this narrow gauge railway is the last remaining portion of the original 'Old Ghan' railway line. A forward thinking bunch of railway enthusiasts got together and volunteered to try and save the section of line between Port Augusta and Quorn. They called their organisation the Pichi Richi Railway (after the pass and town that the line ran through) and it is through their efforts that this heritage railway was restored and has been in operation since 1974. We arrived in town in time for Anzac Day celebrations and the railway has organised a couple of special displays and tours for the day. Pulled up at the station is a steam engine with heritage carriages which transported troops and equipment during the war.

Vintage steam engine with carriages - just as it was for World War I

It was quite a step back in time to walk through the carriages and see names and identification numbers of soldiers carved into the woodwork Yes – graffitti isn't a new invention – except that this graffitti has become a history lesson in itself with the stories and lives of some of those men now able to be traced through ancestry and war records. Sadly many of those who left their names on the carriage walls never returned to these shores ... LEST WE FORGET …

There is a special shuttle train on today to take people on a tour through the Railway Workshop so we board the vintage carriage for our five minute ride to the yards.

Wok is ready to go on the shuttle train

When work first started on opening the railway line there was no workshop. The volunteers were met with a large area of concrete slabs, open pits, railway lines and discarded equipment. Today there are huge corrugated iron sheds housing all manner of railway paraphernalia. Outside of the sheds many engines, carriages and other equipment stand patiently – waiting for their turn to be restored. Our tour guide for the workshop is Ben and he explains the painstaking restoration work and ongoing maintenance that is required to keep the line running.

Ben (our workshop tour guide) inside one of the sheds

Ben explaining the work being undertaken on this bogie

An engine under restoration

This small engine with two carriages is called the Coffee Pot - too cute for words

Specially built for the rails and available for hire

Some of the outside storage area

Engine getting all fired up and ready for a run

We have to keep reminding ourselves that this whole operation is volunteer based.  From the lady in the ticket office to the conductor to the guard to the engine driver to the fettlers to the maintenance men to the ladies in the canteen – simply incredible!

The caravan park at Quorn is very handy to the Railway Station – right across the tracks to be precise. As the railway is right beside the shops and hotels it is only a short walk from the caravan park to everywhere. Don't get the wrong idea here. This is a small town where one can literally wander out onto the main road, stop to take a photo, stand there a little while longer to savour the ambience, and then casually stroll off up the street. Life is very peaceful here. On Sunday we head back to the railway station. We are going to take a steam train ride through Pichi Richi Pass to Woolshed Flat and back. The engine is all fired up and ready to go.

Ready to roll

It's a lovely sunny day and soon we are chugging along

Chugging down the track

Of course, there is always some idiot who just has to see if the 'emergency stop' button in the carriages actually works – so we wait patiently while the conductor checks to make sure everything is all right before signalling the driver to continue.

Our conductor checks to make sure all is OK

It does make for a good photo op though and NO! It wasn't us that pushed the button. It was someone in another carriage - well that's our story and we're sticking to it. We arrived at Woolshed Flat and had a hot drink and a muffin while the engine unhooked, turned around and re-hooked itself on the other end of the train. Pretty soon we were back on board and hurtling along at breakneck speed. Well we did manage to overtake a sheep that was keeping up with us for a while. Quorn was soon in sight and our train ride was at an end. We'd had a lovely morning riding the rails and this shot of Wok just about sums it up.