Townsville to Mt Isa on the ‘Inlander’

TOWNSVILLE TO MT ISA ON THE ‘INLANDER’

‘Townsville’ is the third name this settlement has had.  It was originally called Cleveland Bay, then Castle Town, after Castle Hill which dominates the central part of town, and now Townsville.

Many Colonial buildings survive in the CBD   P1080175    DY  of  ‘jtdytravels’

We drove along the foreshore and its Strand and a climb up Castle Hill for an overall view of the city and surrounds, ended up at a very derelict set of sheds which housed the North Queensland Branch of the Australian Railway Historical Society.  Their collection of bits and pieces was most uninspiring but they put on a good morning tea, which in most cases, doubled up as lunch.  Medium sized home-made pies, cakes, scones with jam and cream, various cakes and a good cup of tea.  It was then off to the station which was just around the corner to await the arrival of the ‘Inlander’ from the marshalling yards.

The old Great Northern Railway station in Townsville    P1080189     DY  of  ‘jtdytravels’

‘Inlander’ at the new Townsville Station    P1080199    DY   of  ‘jtdytravels’

There was a technical hitch with the locomotive which resulted in us not leaving until some 50 minutes late.

The ‘Inlander’ consists of 6 carriages and a single diesel loco.  The Queensland Railways (QR) runs on track which is 3 foot 6 inch gauge.  I have a single berth cabin which is quite cosy but manageable.  All the couples have three berth cabins but there is nobody allocated to the upper berth!  I’m very lucky having drawn the straw that put me in the last cabin in the carriage – the one closest to the opening doors, the shower and right on top of the squeaking bogie and carriage buffers.  What more could I possibly want.

QR, like British Rail, is not known for good food.  Whilst waiting on the station to board our train, we saw dinner go past.  It consisted of aluminium food trays with shapes that contained our dinner in separate depressions.  Talk about depression!  We found out after leaving that these ‘nasty’ shapes contained chicken and veg, corned beef and veg or bangers and mash.  Which one would you choose?  If we’d known what they contained we may not have boarded.  The other horrible thought is, was it the microwave to heat our dinners that was the technical problem which caused our delay?!

The road journey from Townsville to Mt Isa is a distance of 906km.  The railway line parallels the road for all but the last 120 or so kilometres into The Isa.  At that point, instead of continuing pretty much due west from Cloncurry, the line dips SW for 180km to a mining area called Duchess before heading NW to its destination.  This adds an extra 75 kilometres to the journey which takes 22 hours all up.

There is quite a bit of road traffic on the highway which parallels the tracks.  The roadway must be all of 100 metres from the track for many kilometres at a time, and dead straight.  Many cattle ‘road-trains’ use this road.  Most are a semi-trailer prime mover with two semi-trailer sized ‘dogs’ behind.  Overtaking must be a formidable task for all but the most powerful of cars.

Since leaving Townsville we have slowed to 25km/h many times to traverse passing loops with the odd complete stop for reasons totally unknown to the train’s passengers but obviously for good railway reasons.  That works out to be an average speed for the complete journey of a bit under 60km/h.  Not bad for QR!

Passing freight train at Duchess   P1080204 DY of ‘jtdytravels’

The whole area traversed so far is through relatively flat savannah grasslands with eucalypts and wattles.  There is the odd chain of little hills and rocky outcrops scattered across the broad landscape.  It is very good grazing country for Brahman and Brahman/cross cattle.

It is half past 5, the sun is about to drop below the horizon so it must be time to break out the cashews and wash them down with some of that ‘medicinal’ whisky I’m carrying around.  Anything to lighten the load, and to mask the thought of dinner.  I’m foregoing the strawberry or mango cheesecake or Black Forest cake for dessert.

More anon   D

Townsville, Queensland

TOWNSVILLE, QUEENSLAND

This is the first time I’ve returned to Townsville in 44 years.  The place has changed a bit – so much in fact that I only recognise Castle Hill and the names of some of the main streets.  Perhaps the memory has let me down a bit too.

 I went shopping in the CBD shortly after my arrival.  It was a bit after 5pm and a couple of pubs had loud bands playing to entertain their Saturday afternoon guests – I wondered what I was in for as the night wore on.  I was heading for a Woolies which was just up the street from the Holiday Inn where I was staying to get some nibbles to have with my ‘medicinal’ whisky.  I selected some unsalted cashews and some dates.  On paying for these, they were put into a plastic carry-bag.  How quickly we forget something that was once such common practise.  We gave up using plastic bags in Canberra less than 12 months ago for environmental reasons – a distance memory until the reminder.

A handful of cashews went down very easily with a quick whisky before dinner.

We are an 18 strong group of people on this tour.  I’m very much at the lower end of the age range, one guy having been born in 1924.  Apart from being a bit hard of hearing he gets along very well.  His wife must be of similar vintage.

Dinner was in a local restaurant some 4-500 metres from the hotel.  It had a three option alternative drop menu, all good options too.  Now this caused some of the group some difficulties!  What was a drop down menu and how did it work?  But, ‘I want that option’, and so on, was heard from around the tables.  Eventually everything worked out and everybody got what they wanted including some of us who shared a third of our allocation with those on either side – the best possible solution.

More anon D

Queensland Outback Railway Adventure

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Canberra View P1000056    JT  of  ‘jtdytravels’

I have long held dream to travel one of the unsung great railway journeys of the world – to outback Queensland in Australia.

Leaving the cold of Canberra’s winter behind was no great hardship – although it’s a delightful city to live in at any time of the year – but then I just may be a wee bit biased!