The Ghan is going - 1980
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- čas přidán 26. 10. 2023
- The Ghan is going is a short railway film about the cessation of the 'old' Ghan service on the original, narrow gauge route to Alice Springs, before the introduction of the new standard gauge service.
I had the privilege to partake of the Ghan adventure as a young sailor during my first West Pac deployment in March of 1976. For my 20th birthday, my parents splurged for a plane ticket from Perth, where my ship had pulled in for a port-visit, to Alice Springs along with 1st Class passage to Adelaide on the Ghan. If all went as planned, my ship would arrive in Malborne for a second port-of-call in Australia and I would be waiting on the key to meet her. I boarded in Alice Springs with my 35mm Canon split-focus camera, dads Bell & Howell 8mm movie camera and a butt load of film for the journey south to Adelaide. The journey was nothing short of magical and after three days in the Outback I arrived safely in Malborne via Victoria Rail to catch my ship for the transit back to San Diego and home. Thank you for a wonderful video and rekindling old, cherished memories of my youth.
Thank you for uploading the full thing!
This is a wonderful film, so good to see Algibuckina Bridge & Mt Dutton, William Creek, Oodnadatta & Maree stations in their last throws as working railway infrastructure & the old Alice Springs aerial footage.
Very sadly with privatisation the Ghan is no longer an affordable means of transport but is now a grossly overpriced tourist experience, along with the Indian Pacific it is promoted and priced along the lines of a cruise ship. The line from Tarcoola was leased to what started as GWR Australia now known as 1Rail owned by Aurizon (Qld Rail) who are now responsible for it's running & maintenance.
I worked as an electrical apprentice and later tradesman in Port Augusta at the workshops, before the NJ engines were introduced. There is a very good chance that I did maintenance on the carriages in this video, I certainly worked on GM six.
The original Ghan - when late running - was calculated in how many days late, due to washouts and bad weather. One day a young lady asked the conductor "how long will it be before we get to the Alice as I am going to give birth shortly." "You shouldn't have travelled so near to your confinement" said the conductor. "I wasn't even pregnant when we left Port Augusta" said the young lady. 😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁
🤣😂🤣
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but it's clear that the original line should never have been built where it was. It also took 3 gauges to get to Alice Springs, then there were floods, poor track conditions and perpetual delays.
"The more Ghan-a-fide you become"
Who wears short shorts?
We wear short shorts.