Read online book 30 Days on Australia's Railways : A Diary of September Journeys by David Burke EPUB, MOBI, DJV

9781925078398
English

1925078396
An entertaining look at railway events in Australia in the month of September - from 1848, when a meeting was called to start a railway company in New South Wales, to 2013, when the great Bayer-Garrett AD6029 steam engine was restored to working order. For some strange reason, September has been a month when particularly memorable railway events tend to occur. Author David Burke has crafted a 'diary' which documents, day by day, major happenings to do with railways in Australia - from the days of steam, to diesel, to diesel-electric and electrification, covering the first trains that ran between New South Wales and Queensland, and to Melbourne. It was in also September that the first sod was dug for the Trans-Australian Railway across the Nullarbor to Perth. The book is heavily illustrated with historic photographs, both black and white and colour, newspaper cuttings, sketches and maps, and features 13 paintings by renowned railway artist Phil Belbin. Names that leap to the fore among those who made railway history happen include Ben Chifley, the locomotive driver who became Prime Minister of Australia, engineer Dr John Bradfield, designer of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and responsible for putting Sydney's city trains underground, James Fraser, first Australian-born Chief Commissioner for Railways, and Harold Young, the Scotsman who designed the C38 engine and the Silver City Comet. Cover picture shows: Climbing the steep Fassifern Grade with a heavy coal train maakes for plenty of Bayer-Garrett action in Phil Belbin's painting of the AD60 class at work on the Shorty North line to Newcastle New South Wales Australia., Our diary of September journeys explores moments in the history of Australia's biggest railway and, beyond State borders, tells of its influence on tracks, trains and travel. Standard gauge figures as the common thread. Starting with Federation's great achievement, the gauge of New South Wales is chosen for the Trans-Australian Railway, while NSWGR designs are adopted for its first locomotives. A hesitant beginning to the unification plan later allows the Brisbane Express to travel on the same set of wheels from Sydney into south-east Queensland where, ironically, many years before New South Wales politicians had resisted having their railway cross the border at Tweed Heads. Bill Wentworth's plan for a national standard gauge network finally unlocks Federal money to permit freight and passenger trains from Sydney and beyond to reach Melbourne, Adelaide and beyond eventually to Perth and Darwin. As if to remind observers of the big railway's long arm of influence, the magnificent 3801, a product of New South Wales workshops, steams across the continent. All these events have a connection with the days of September, the month when railway history seems to happen. Read of Ben Chifley, the locomotive driver who became Prime Minister of Australia, of Dr John Job Crew Bradfield, the visionary engineer responsible for the Sydney Harbour Bridge and trains to the city underground; of James Fraser, the first Australian-born Chief Commissioner who presided over a remaking of the New South Wales railway system and harsh confrontation in the 1917 strike; of Harold Young, the man from Scotland who designed big engines, especially the C38 and also the sleek Silver City Comet; of William Randle, builder of the 1855 line to Parramatta, who ran the colony's first trains; of Orlando Brain and a youthful ADJ Forster, assistant commissioner engineers in an exciting age of railway electrification and sharp political knives; of the forgotten Northern Line guard whose failure to find a simple metal pin led to a night of death and destruction at Murulla. Their names reside in those 30 eventful days when railways and history intertwine. Yes, September's to remember along the iron way., Over the years in Australia, September has been considered a month when particularly memorable railway events tend to occur. This book is a 'diary' that documents, day by day, major happenings to do with railways in Australia: from the days of steam, to diesel, to diesel-electric and electrification. It offers an entertaining look at railway events, from 1848, when a meeting was called to start a railway company in New South Wales, to 2013, when the great Bayer-Garrett AD6029 steam engine was restored to working order. Among those in the book who made Australian railway history are Ben Chifley, the locomotive driver who became Prime Minister of Australia; engineer John Bradfield, designer of the Sydney Harbor Bridge and responsible for putting Sydney's city trains underground; James Fraser, the first Australian-born Chief Commissioner for Railways; and Harold Young, the Scotsman who designed the C38 engine and the Silver City Comet. 30 Days on Australia's Railways is heavily illustrated with historic photographs, sketches, and maps. Additionally, the book features 13 paintings by renowned railway artist Phil Belbin.

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