[Music]
G'day rail fans. Before we get into this video, I'd like
to correct a mistake I made in the previous one.
Towards the end of the last video, I said the Commonwealth Railways wound up on
the same day as the old N.A.R. services ceased. That wasn't correct.
The Commonwealth Railways were restructured into the Australian
National Railway Commission the previous year on the 1st of July 1975.
Now back to the video. [ Music ]
This is part one of two videos on Adelaide River.
It is still the 28th of August 2007 and our group has just made it to the Stuart
Highway overpass south of Adelaide River as we continue
chasing the train we caught at Katherine in the last video.
In that video we also covered the N.A.R. rail head at Larrimah. If you haven't seen
it check it out.
[The locomotive horn sounds]
This portion of the standard gauge line approximately follows the route of the
old narrow gauge line, although there are sections where it
deviates a fair bit.
[ Music ]
In this video we will have a look at the Adelaide River Railway Precinct;
and the now disused railway bridge over the Adelaide River.
But first we have a train to catch.
We're at the Coach Road level crossing on the north side of Adelaide River.
Locomotives are FQ-02 CLP-14 and GM-44.
[ Level Crossing Bell sounds ]
[ Loco Horns ]
We've camped overnight at Adelaide River and have returned south to the
overbridge to catch an empty southbound ore train heading to Francis Creek
Locomotives are VL352 and 351
[ Loco horns ]
After the southbound train passed we explored the area for some other photo
locations and came across the remains of a small cottage,
probably a fetler's home, near the former Goodilla crossing loop.
Goodilla was originally called Number One Depot.
It suffered from mixed fortunes. It opened as a siding with the railway but
was abandoned in 1918. It was restored again as a crossing loop
during World War Two, but after the war the turnouts (points) were removed.
In 1967 the railway was upgraded to cope
with new ore traffic. As part of that work the Goodilla loop
was reinstated and extended to enable ore trains to cross.
After looking around we headed back to Adelaide River.
The Adelaide River bridge was the largest on the N.A.R., being 155 metres long.
It was fabricated by James Martin and Co of Gawler, South Australia
and was erected in 1888 as part of the original
Palmerston to Pine Creek railway.
[ Music ]
During World War Two, wooden decking was added so that road vehicles could use
the bridge during the wet season when the low level bridge became impassable.
The road decking was improved again in 1952
and continued to be used as a road bridge during the wet season until 1980,
four years after the railway closed.
[ Music ]
Adelaide River Railway Station was
opened in 1989, when the completion of the bridge
permitted the station to be built on the south side of the river.
In the 1920s and 30s a triangle and cattle dock were added.
Adelaide River became an important military base during World War Two.
This led to a further expansion of the station facilities as well as the
development of the Snake Creek area as a major naval munitions store.
We'll cover the Snake Creek area in our next video.
NSU-63 is now a memorial to the old North Australian Railway.
The loco was manufactured by the Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon
Company in England and entered service in 1955.
It initially worked on the N.A.R. before being transferred to the Central
Australian Railway. After withdrawal in 1981 it passed
through several owners before being moved to Adelaide River in 2003.
We've returned to the Stuart Highway
overbridge near Goodilla to catch a southbound intermodal freight.
locomotives are FQ-02 and CLP-14.
These are two of the three locos we followed northbound from Katherine to
Adelaide River.
[ Loco horns ] [ Approaching train noise ]
[ Loco horn - Doppler effect ]
[ Train noise ]
This is the same train we saw earlier in the video heading to Francis Creek
the previous day, now loaded for the ore stacker for the
Port of Darwin. [Train Horn - faint]
[ Crossing bell ringing ]
[ Train Horn ]
[ Happy Train Horn sounds ]
[ Music starts playing ]
[ Music ]
We raced ahead of the train to a location
known as Ginger's Cutting just south of the Crater Lake Road.
The road leads to the old World War Two
RAAF airfield at Batchelor.
[ Train Horn ]
In the next video we'll continue our exploration of the Adelaide River area
and nearby Snake Creek sidings and have a look at its wartime history.
Until then bye for now. [ Music ]
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