All Manner Of Trains 

Very cool video! Great historical perspective. As a Yank I'm very interested in Australian railways, and this footage is priceless, seeing the various ways that breaks in gauge were handled. Also loved seeing the Magnetic Signal Co. wig-wags around 28:20. I have a copy of a Magnetic Signal Co.(based in Los Angeles) wig-wag brochure from the 1920's that states that their products were being purchased by Australian railways, and there is the evidence. Thanks for posting this.

Can you imagine if the railways were still operating to the same methods and processes today as they were when this film was put together, absolutely mind blowing film this one, great stuff.

Pity no mention is made in summary above of the the "Tasman Limited" passing through farmland near Deloraine in northern Tasmania featuring briefly at 1m 33s mark. It ran for 24 years 1954-78 from Hobart to Western Junction with a feeder service into nearby Launceston. It continued west to Deloraine and onto Devonport then along Bass Strait coast terminating on North West coast at Wynyard. Is sadly missed by passenger rail fans here in Tassie.

a large bit of nostalgia absolutly brilliant looking at how the railways worked then and now

I wouldn't say the narration was "corny", actually it was quite straight-forward and simple. It was a good example of how narration should be done for films or videos on any subject.

Malcolm Otton had an exceptional eye for a vivid image. When retired, a painter in naive style.

How I’d love to step back to that time in Australia’s history

This, my Australian friends, is why I love trains more than trucks. Hard work, brothers, hard work is what shaped this country, not drugs and stupidity.

@PanAm812 Hi - Glad you enjoyed the nostalgia express. It's great when people connect to our old films like that. We still have some train videos to post so please keep watching. This video is available on DVD by contacting us at on the FAC library link on the channel page. Just tell them what you are after and they will make it up for you.

I've seen some comb-overs in my time, but George's is on another level.

Thanks for your comments. We are glad you enjoyed it. Please have a look at our other great railway films in our On The Rails playlist. We have more to come as well. So please keep watching.

Great documentary on the Commonwealth Railways of Australia very informative on a bygone era of Railway travel!🙂🚂🚇🚆🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🛤️🏜️🐰🐇🐪🇦🇺

This has to be the best video I have seen of what rail travel used to be I however think the video does not give any indication ot the length of time each journey takes my grandpa used to travel Melbourne to Sydney and he always complained how long the trip took and cursed the break at about 3AM to wake up get all his stuff together cross over to the other side of the platform at Albury and then try to get back to sleep on the Sydney train

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it. Please have a look at our On The Rails playlist for more train and railway films.

Glad to see WA's Australind train from Perth to Bunbury got a brief exposure. A very enjoyable service still running, travelling thorough nice farmland.

You are welcome, glad you enjoyed it. See our Railways playlist for more trains. More to come too.

Interesting to see the footage of the track maintenence towards the end before the days of modern OH&S. No hearing protection or high visibility clothing, and much more manual labour

You can certainly get a taste of what train travel was like before the Indian Pacific, XPT and many other modern services were introduced, in the old days, you had to do it tough and change trains wherever was the break of gauge point, but it shows now what a clever move it was to standardize track gauge and eliminate changing trains anymore. Great stuff.

At 9 minutes and 56 seconds a flim is showing the Overland being hauled by a 900 hundred class diesel then it cuts to a driver blowing his whistle but the driver shown is at the controls of a "Red Hen " not a "900 " No its not a Blue Bird, as you can see there is a door frame in the frame. Still a gem this video, a begone era sadly .

A good film showing some of Australia's Rail History!

Me and my Dad used to watch this when I was little. Those memories. 😌

Visited the Thirlmere rail museum last weekend, what a wonderful rail time warp the museum is. I’m sure some of these old girls are there.

Oh Boy , this brings back old memories of a by gone age, enjoyed it very much for sure

Adelaide's metro network (or Not-work, as seems to be the case) is still broad guage and the main line through is standard. Of course all of the country lines have been closed. Great to see classic Locos such as the GM class operating neraly new. Several are still operating 50 years later. Built for longevity!

'a new rail future for Australia' It didn't last long. Look at the trains we have running between capital cities these days. The government should really invest in high speed rail. Great video anyway

WOW! Interesting how the world looked at itself at that time.

Australian trains and railways used to have so much character! What a shame all that character is gone now.

I watched this when I was kid long ago

Hi, thanks for the positive comment. We are glad you enjoyed the film. Please check out our On The Rails playlist for more great train and railway footage from the archive. We will be adding more too so please keep watching.

Beautiful high-quality footage. Love it.

What great memories. My 1st train ride was from Syd to Bris on a steam Brisbane 1st divvy . Hauled by steam loco's What a great ride.

THANK YOU FOR VIDEO OF HISTORY IN AUSTRALIA RAILWAYS

the commentary is somewhat 'corny' by todays standards, but it is VERY enjoyable viewing with many trains now LONG GONE!

He also remembered being stuck on the Ghan for a week due to a line fault

Just watched this at the QVMAG Museum in Launceston and thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks for posting it!

22:15 Nice Garratt. 28:19 A wigwag.

Great video. It is a historical and geographical documents. Thank you very much. ARIGATOU.

A great historical Australian rail film. Unfortunately they were a bit optimistic in some of their predictions. Well worth viewing.

if any one is interested in our rail history please visit the NSW Rail Museum in Thirlmere NSW, a lot of old carriages and locomotives too see

A great piece of history.....better known as "the good old days".....and that they were...life was simple back then......oops....I'm starting to sound like my parents!...lol Thanks for uploading this, it was great to see.

this service spirit of progress stopped running in 1986

I think the horn at the beginning was a Wabco AA-2

This is quite an interesting video, I enjoyed watching this.

ah memories

That train referred to at the end of this video is called the *Indian Pacific* and begins its trip from Sydney.

Love the trains

Ah, the good old days of Australian transport long before I was even born.

Loved it.

20:08 A linked set of 60/70-class rail motors led by 607/707. 607 had the engine, 707 was the trailer. There are two more behind these but we may not get to see them or their numbers.

@gedebage Hi glad you enjoyed the film. Contact details on the front page of our channel for DVD sales. Let me know if there is a problem.

In the beginning, the Chief Engineer for NSW was Irish, and decided that the gauge should be 5'3". Given the distances involved, an entirely reasonable choice. SA and Victoria agreed. Then there was a dispute, and he resigned. His successor was English, and changed the gauge to 4'8". No one told the governments of the other states. I wonder if the change was discovered before the railways reached state borders...

What an excellent way to show your beautiful country through it's Rail System, even though it's the 1960's era, it still applies in 2013, the only difference being everything is now of the same gage, and modern technology has been vastly changed and improved. Really a great video!

Rail should never have been changed to road traffic. How quickly our once great rail system was ripped apart.

Upper deck open to sky On the east facing the sea On the west facing ......the ...... Furniture factory ........with luxelon ceiling lit in the evening ........on the north ........the road towards the one lane traffic ................. Red elephant

See if I can get this Documentary on DVD!🤨🚆🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🛤️🏜️🐪🇦🇺🎞️🎬📽️🎥

@gedebage Hi glad you enjoyed the film. Contact mandy.mullen@nfsa.gov.au if you would like to get a DVD copy. If she can't help let me know.

What nostalgia 😢😭

Interesting film

Footage was filmed in 1960 or early 1961

Correct me if I am wrong, but didn’t trains stop running from Leigh Creek to Port Augusta following the closeure of the power station just outside Port Augusta?

can i just say that railways thru out Australia are NOT standardised. Queenslad still has a narrow gauge with a duel gauge line (only a single track) from the border to Roma Street in the CBD i also belive Perth railways are also the same Gauge as QR.

That’s interesting filmed in 1975 Darwin should have been flattened after cyclone Tracy which hit 25.1.74

Not one, but two.

Who is the narrator in this film?

K W P A shot footage of the CountryLink [as it was then called] Brisbane-Sydney XPT service at Cowan Bank in the Hawkesbury with the rebuilt 3-film Kinopanorama® widescreen camera in 1995. Some of this footage, which is being restored to 4K, will be transferred to blu-ray and DVD for release in late 2020 or early 2021. Our website is www.the-kinopanorama-widescreen-preservation-association.asn.au.

I know theres been plenty of talk about standardising all of Australia to the standard gauge, Dont see it happening in my life time (take into account I'm only 25)

7:05 what is the name of the tunnel he mentioned?

Ohhhhh, don't we all remember the State Electricity Commission of Victoria, until the Government sold/privatised it!!!!!! Electricity was so cheap back then....... (like everything else they privatised) LOL

Thanks to government for selling of our railways ,I trying to think if Australia owns anything.

'I took the Overland. Run jointly by the Victorian and South Australian railways' South Australia no longer want it. It's chiefly run by Victoria now.

0:46 is that Brisbane waters right before Gosford station?!

2:32 old school and 2:56

a ciggy on the train lol

I thought the traveller was Norman Gunston!

great video, and of course Queensland still uses diesel trains on most of its long distance trains, welcome to 1915 Queensland, QR is 2015 bring your trains up to the current.......

Is ATN Access a subcompany for American railroad Wisconsin Central?

A trip thats no longer possible. Shame I would love to do a trip like this and not spend an arm and leg on one train in particular

and Nothing has changed in 50 years Since talk about slow

14:30

The town is called Tennant Creek, not Tennants Creek. And it's a town, not a city. There are no cities in the Northern Territory, only towns and small villages.

Great film, such a shame that over the 60 or so years since this was made the railways of this country have been decimated by governments that are so short sighted and have no taste for infrastructure that actually supports the people of this great nation.

Enough coal for at least 4000years they say!? Compare that to what they are telling us today.

I find the music in the film is hard to dance to? It doesn't help that I am 78 years old but the people who made this film should have realized that some old kook like me would want to dance! What's the world coming to with music like that? Why I otta.......

It's so odd, many of the trains look American and others look British, sometimes both, it's odd

LOL a pair of golliwogs at 18:51.

boy were they wrong hahahah

V

Modern day Australia could learn a lot from this. Our networks have been degraded and left to rot. Instead of dismantling and closing lines, we should have upgraded and electrified the whole country. We have enough uranium for Safe nuclear power stations ( AKA the pebble bed reactor) to power the whole length and breadth of the country. This would eliminate costly and polluting long distance road transport. The degradation of our infrastructure can be tracked to one entity - The U.N and its flawed sciences. We need to leave the U.N immediately, and nationalise key industries. Australia has Been sold out thanks to the U.Ns globalist agenda. Only a few countries resists its nefarious infiltration and they have booming economies. The whole world needs to dump the U.N, it has grown into an evil global dominating and dictatorial monster, bent on destruction and obeying the whims of its masters - the military industrial complex. President Eisenhower warned us of this, and Kennedy was assassinated because he learned what was really going on.

Thanks for liberal politicians, and lets see what we got left here…

"The Federal Government's "One Nation" project resulted in the broad gauge between Melbourne and Adelaide being standardised in June 1995. All mainland State capitals were directly connected by standard gauge! Ironically, this section was the first with a common gauge across a State border - opened in 1887." So much for the claimed linking all capitals by 1967....