TAR opening > was GM1 and 80 years of the Trans
Terry Burton (telljb@ozemail.com.au)
Sun, 26 Oct 1997 13:47:02 GMT
My apologies if this post appears twice, my ISP news servers
seem to have their nuts in a knot. I posted this slightly
modified to the original post but it did not appear some 12
hours after.
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Further to my previous, with all facetiousness aside, allow
me to quote from some latter day publications.
In the Nov 1977 The Recorder it was stated that the GG Sir
Ronald Ferguson officially declared the Trans Australia
Railway open on 12/11/1917 and a souvenir booklet was
distributed to guests at the opening.
In his book Standard Gauge across Australia W.A. Bayley a
fellow of the Royal Australian Historical Society mentioned
that a fine booklet titled "Trans Australia Railway" was
prepared and printed for the official opening by the GG on
12th Nov, but wartime conditions and political difficulties
caused the ceremony to be cancelled.
In the book Locomotives of the Commonwealth Railways the
authors state "when the TAR was opened on the 22nd Oct, G22
hauled the first Westbound express". The book in its
historical preamble notes the joining at Ooldea on the 17th
Oct.
Pichi Richi in their history publication note the joining at
Ooldea but because of their interest they noted a "special"
narrow gauge "East West" express rolled through Pichi Richi
Pass on the 22nd Oct with an entourage which included Sir
John and Lady Forrest who then transferred to the first
Westbound express. The book states there was no ceremony
due to wartime conditions.
The rails were joined near Ooldea on the 17th, and the first
through passenger working was on the 22nd, but the lack of
an official Commonwealth response to those two dates is
intriguing. Wartime conditions or not it seems incredible
that a simple ceremony was not arranged on one or the other
of those two historic days, considering it was one of the
great railway projects in Australian history, their half
hearted attempt several weeks after is puzzling.
Railway publications generally take the 22nd as the opening
whereas most non railway take the joining of the rails near
Ooldea, and jokers like me toss in the third scenario. ;-)
----Tell
Alice Springs NT