Re: Woomera -

[Tell <telljb@ozemail.com.au>]

I responded to the original question and instead of a
response to the subject matter ie: the Woomera spur
line, it turned into something else which should be run
over in aus.politics

....Tell
  


>"Roy Wilke" <roywilke@notabitlikeanisp.net.au> wrote:
> (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
>