# Australia's West Coast Wilderness Railway



## Ollie12 (Oct 12, 2020)

Hi All

Another trip report if anyone's interested - this one is a little random but a super interesting trip on Tasmania's West Coast Wilderness Railway between the tiny remote towns of Strahan and Queenstown. What makes this trip interesting is the historic 1896 built steam locomotives that pull the train up at one point a 1:15 (6.67%) grade - the steepest ascent in the Southern Hemisphere - on an ABT rack and pinion system.

Exploring Tasmania on the West Coast Wilderness Railway | TrainReview

I thought it may be of interest.

I hope everyone is safe and well!


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## 1976steve (Oct 12, 2020)

Ollie12 said:


> Hi All
> 
> Another trip report if anyone's interested - this one is a little random but a super interesting trip on Tasmania's West Coast Wilderness Railway between the tiny remote towns of Strahan and Queenstown. What makes this trip interesting is the historic 1896 built steam locomotives that pull the train up at one point a 1:15 (6.67%) grade - the steepest ascent in the Southern Hemisphere - on an ABT rack and pinion system.
> 
> ...


Nicely detailed trip report, Australia is on my bucket list of places to see, of course with multiple rail trips while there. Thank You


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## Ollie12 (Oct 12, 2020)

1976steve said:


> Nicely detailed trip report, Australia is on my bucket list of places to see, of course with multiple rail trips while there. Thank You


Thanks so much!
I really hope you make it down here. If you do and have any questions please message me - more than happy to help if I can!


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## WWW (Oct 14, 2020)

Comment on the railroad engineering feat in Western Australia -
The longest straight line that man has physically etched on the globe -
The 297 mile s-t-r-a-i-g-h-t stretch of tracks heading to Perth -
While not on the scale of the 7 wonders of the world still yet a remarkable feat !


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## caravanman (Oct 14, 2020)

An enjoyable read, yet another train trip to add to my wish list!


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## user 13230 (Oct 18, 2020)

Ollie12 said:


> Hi All
> 
> Another trip report if anyone's interested - this one is a little random but a super interesting trip on Tasmania's West Coast Wilderness Railway between the tiny remote towns of Strahan and Queenstown. What makes this trip interesting is the historic 1896 built steam locomotives that pull the train up at one point a 1:15 (6.67%) grade - the steepest ascent in the Southern Hemisphere - on an ABT rack and pinion system.
> 
> ...



Yes Ollie12, my wife and I enjoyed the experience and the TrainReview says it all,


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## Ollie12 (Oct 19, 2020)

WWW said:


> Comment on the railroad engineering feat in Western Australia -
> The longest straight line that man has physically etched on the globe -
> The 297 mile s-t-r-a-i-g-h-t stretch of tracks heading to Perth -
> While not on the scale of the 7 wonders of the world still yet a remarkable feat !



It's a great place to catch up on some sleep! I've done that trip a lot on the Indian Pacific (I'll find and post my most recent article on it) - they're not joking when they say its straight! One of the strangest things I've done is change trains out in the middle of the Nullarbor!


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## Bob Dylan (Oct 19, 2020)

Ollie12 said:


> It's a great place to catch up on some sleep! I've done that trip a lot on the Indian Pacific (I'll find and post my most recent article on it) - they're not joking when they say its straight! One of the strangest things I've done is change trains out in the middle of the Nullarbor!
> 
> View attachment 19339
> View attachment 19340


Looks like the Sunset Ltd. Route in West Texas!


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## Ollie12 (Oct 19, 2020)

On my list! I only made it from LA to Tucson on the Sunset Ltd unfortunately!


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## WWW (Oct 22, 2020)

Ollie12 said:


> It's a great place to catch up on some sleep! I've done that trip a lot on the Indian Pacific (I'll find and post my most recent article on it) - they're not joking when they say its straight! One of the strangest things I've done is change trains out in the middle of the Nullarbor!
> 
> View attachment 19339
> View attachment 19340




That change of trains - must simply be a crew (Engineer Conductor & other car attendants) change.
This so the Railroad company not having to pay overnight lodgings for that crew - All in a days work.
4 hours out - 4 hours back each crew returning back to its home domicile station.
Yet the guest customers suffer no inconvenience of the train change.

Similar situation on the Alaska railroad Denali Star (Anchorage to Fairbanks) with a crew change halfway in route
although the timing is 6 hours out and 6 back. Economics in favor of the RR company crew expenses.


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