Re: Woomera -

["Roy Wilke" <roywilke@notabitlikeanisp.net.au>]

"Rod [comtrain]" <freight_man@hotmail.com> wrote in message
3aa4f0ee$0$25488$7f31c96c@news01.syd.optusnet.com.au">news:3aa4f0ee$0$25488$7f31c96c@news01.syd.optusnet.com.au...

(snipping of political comments regarding Australian Government policy
towards refugees)

In an attempt to answer the original question regarding the rail spur from
Pimba to Woomera, a quick look at the book "Fire in the Desert" gives the
information that a passenger rail service between Woomera and Adelaide
started in 1951 using a Commonwealth Railways Budd RDC.

However, a rail service that departed at three in the morning wasn't exactly
popular, and it wasn't long before an Ansett subsidiary (Guinea
Airways/Airlines of South Australia) was the predominant passenger link
between Woomera and Adelaide.

One of the major considerations for siting Woomera in the 1940s was its
remoteness (the place was originally planned to be a facility for testing
the UK's Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles and other advanced weaponry,
and hence a remote location was necessary for 'security'), because it was
relatively close to the Weapons Research Establishment in Salisbury,
Adelaide and because it was about five miles away from the Trans-Australia
Railway, which meant that large objects (e.g. multi-stage rocket segments)
could be transported to Woomera by rail.

The last large-scale rocket program at Woomera was disbanded in the early
1970s, and the main reason for use of the Woomera branch line finished at
that time.

During the era of the JDFN (Joint Defense Facility Nurrungar), most resupply
into Woomera was done using USAF Starlifter transport aircraft operating out
of Guam.

Parts of the Woomera Rocket are used occasionally by the Australian Defence
Forces for live-firing and weapons testing. Most of their transport
requirments, however, are met by either Army road transport or by RAAF
airlift.

Although the railway branch to Woomera might be used occasionally, it would
probably be an extremely occasional use, and it is most likely that the line
would have been effectively abandoned since the disbanding of the Joint
Project in the 1970s.

Further information, if the original poster is really interested in
following this up, would probably be available from the Woomera Regional
Board or from whichever authority is now responsible for track maintenance
on the Trans-Australia Railway.

Roy Wilke