Re: QR going national?

["Bill McNiven" <wmcniven@gunzel.ozemail.com.au>]

John McCandless wrote in message <38043e91.0@news.topend.com.au>...
>QR had a historical advantage in this area.  Whilst other colonies started
>their railways from their capital and worked out (Sydney-Parramatta,
>Melbourne-Pt Melbourne) Qld did things different (nothing much has changed,
>has it?)
>Lines started out from Ipswich, Maryborough, Bundaberg, Rockhampton,
>Townsville and Cairns, and prior to the building of the North Coast Line in
>the 1920's, QR lines were isolated port-to-inland affairs.
>Compare the WA system with QR.  My knowledge of WAGR history is fairly
>sketchy, but I would assume that WAGR
>radiated their lines out of Perth?  I wonder if a QR-style decentralised
>system would have worked?


The history is getting a bit rubbery here!

The first WAGR line was Northampton - Geraldton (1874?).  Guildford -
Fremantle, then the Great Southern Railway to Albany, then the Mildland
Railway from Midland to Walkaway near Geraldton were private.  The state
network grew later!

NSW had separate port-based systems from Sydney, Newcastle and Lismore /
Ballina.

S.A. had separate port-bsed systems, with Port Lincoln still isolated and
Darwin (yup!  S.A. when it opened) isolated forever.

I'm sure that QR is a fine system, but it doesn't need reconstruction of
history to support it!

Rgds

Bill