[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Mt Gambier




Terry Burton wrote in message
<692apj$ub5$1@reader1.reader.news.ozemail.net>...
>Adelaide to Mount Gambier was doomed years ago, way
>back when Webb's magnificent 600 class Pacific's were
>still running.  (What a pity one of them did not
>survive, just to show the young "experts" from NSW and
>Vic what a real Pacific Loco was.) ;-)
>
>The game was called road transport and the name was
>Scott, this ambitious chap spelt the end of railways in
>the South East of South Australia long before ANR took
>over the old SAR, never mind the Road Coaches which
>could get you down to the "Mount" quicker and cheaper
>than rail.!
>
>Problem was, ANR had to make all the hard decisions
>like it did with all the other closed lines in SA, they
>are still being shit-canned for it.  Interesting now to
>speculate what would be left of the old SAR if Premier
>Don Dunstan had not "sold" it to the Commonwealth.!
>
>Me thinks the State with real problems would have
>hardly been in a position to keep lines open that AN
>closed.  ;-(
>
>----Tell
>Alice Springs NT
>

Yes that is not surprising - my map shows that there is a road from Adelaide
to Mt G but not a railway line. There *is* a line from Adelaide to Melbourne
and a (fromerly) connecting line from Wolsley to Mt G but none direct. AN
certainly could not compete for passengers and probably not for general
freight. However, why would you want to send much to and from a redundant
city like Adelaide. Melbourne is much more useful as it is still one of the
2 commercial hubs of Australia. What about the Heywood to Mt G line. I would
have thought this would have some potential.

Incidentally, Scotts are not just road transport operators these days, they
do use rail in some circumstances and they have a stake in the Port of
Portland.


Barry Campbell