The PRRPS has completed a number of major projects since its inception in 1973. These include return to service of steam locomotives and heritage rolling stock, rebuilding large sections of railway line and permanent way and the restoration of historic buildings.
Rebuild of steam locomotive NM25 Former
Commonwealth Railways steam locomotive
NM25 was built in 1925 and was used on the narrow gauge train line between Port Augusta and Alice Springs. It is one of only two surviving examples of this class of steam locomotive. NM25 had remained static from 1965 until 1989, when PRRPS acquired it with the intention of restoring it to operational condition. An overhaul commenced in 2000. The locomotive was recommissioned on 26 April 2003.
Track extension to Port Augusta History of the project During the Commonwealth Railways era (from 1937 to 1957), the train line between Stirling North and Port Augusta was
dual gauge. Narrow gauge served the line to Quorn and the standard gauge, which branched at Stirling North, was for the line to
Port Pirie and also to
Marree. A new
standard gauge line to Marree was built in the 1950s on a new route west of the Pichi Richi Pass, with the purpose of bypassing the narrow gauge section of the Central Australia Railway to Marree, through Quorn and
Hawker. The narrow gauge component of the section dual gauge track between Stirling North and Port Augusta was removed once the standard gauge line to Marree was in full operation, and the narrow gauge route from Hawker to Marree had been closed and removed. This meant that the remaining narrow gauge line from Stirling North to Hawker via Quorn was now isolated. On the occasions that a narrow gauge train needed to travel to Port Augusta or to Marree, the train would need to utilise a
piggy back system. This arrangement saw the entire narrow gauge train loaded on top of a standard gauge train of
flatcars and transported via standard gauge, then unloaded at the destination on to the existing narrow gauge. The first stage of returning narrow gauge train services to Port Augusta was the completion of of track rehabilitation between Woolshed Flat and Stirling North. This work included the complete replacement of sleepers and rail, re-timbering of several bridges and the construction of a
turning triangle at Stirling North. Part of the $1.35 million Pichi Richi Railway Development Plan project, it was completed in 1999. The extension was opened on 24 October 1999 by former
Deputy Prime Minister of Australia Tim Fischer. It was announced in 2000 that funding was available through the State Government of South Australia, and the Port Augusta City Council to extend the train line from Stirling North in to Port Augusta railway station. However, there were significant works required for to complete this project.
Crossing the standard gauge Because the existing narrow gauge between Stirling North and Port Augusta had been removed many years earlier, the challenge for the PRRPS was to develop an effective means of reinstating the narrow gauge in to Port Augusta. The greatest aspect to this challenge was how to cross over what remained of the standard gauge line to Marree, which had since been truncated at
Telford Cut coal mine near
Leigh Creek with the opening of the newer standard gauge line from
Tarcoola to
Alice Springs in 1980. This line to Leigh Creek was exclusively used for transporting coal from Leigh Creek to
Northern Power Station, and branched off the main standard gauge network at Stirling North. Many options for crossing this line were investigated, including a draw bridge arrangement, diamond crossovers and an underpass. The final decision was an underpass, passing below the Leigh Creek coal train line, which greatly reduced the amount of safe working interfacing with the standard gauge line.
Project completion The remainder of the narrow gauge line was constructed parallel to the standard gauge, ending at platform 2 of Port Augusta station. The
South Australian Government donated rail for the project, which the Society lifted and transported from the abandoned
Cambrai to Apamurra railway line in South Australia's
Murray Mallee region. For Pichi Richi Railway operations originating at the station, a two-road locomotive and carriage storage shed and a run-around track were constructed, and an turntable donated by
Australian Southern Railroad, relocated from
Kapunda, was installed to turn steam locomotives and tenders.
Other route extension works Other works included: • earthworks requiring the excavation and placement of approximately of material • dismantling, transporting and relaying of 1300 lengths of long
rail totalling • constructing six
turnouts at Port Augusta to provide a run-around loop and access to the storage shed and
turntable • laying about 11,500 redgum and steel
sleepers • using 30,000 second-hand
dogspikes, 10,000
screwspikes and 5,200
fishbolts • transporting, distributing and tamping of
track ballast • designing, manufacturing, transporting and installing 13 large precast concrete culvert crowns and base sections for the underpass – achieved in 60 hours to avoid disrupting coal trains from Leigh Creek • installing about 1600 pieces of
pin-crib walling to the underpass at Stirling North. The extension was officially opened 15 September 2001 by the local state MP,
Graham Gunn, the then state Tourism Minister
Joan Hall, and Port Augusta Mayor
Joy Baluch. The extension to Port Augusta won the 2002 Permanent Way Institute (SA Section) Trackwork Achievement Award
Other projects Significant projects completed by Pichi Richi Railway in recent years include: at
Quorn station • overhaul and return to service of
WAGR steam locomotive W934 • overhaul and return to service of
WAGR steam locomotive W916 (rebuilt as
W22) • rebuild of several original Commonwealth Railways narrow-gauge carriages, including: • NABPA class passenger carriage, numbers 25, 26 and 27 • NIA class passenger carriage number 36 – distinguished as the vehicle that in World War II carried United States
General Douglas MacArthur, his wife, son and
amah from
Alice Springs to
Adelaide via Quorn after they had escaped the Japanese advance of the
Philippines (it was at
Terowie that MacArthur made his famous declaration, "I came through and I shall return" from the end platform of the car) • NSS class special service observation carriage number 34, used by the
Duke of Gloucester on a royal train during his 1934 visit to Australia • NYAB class composite
brake van carriage number 15 • restoration of SAR
Brill railcar trailer 305 • restoration and return to service of motor inspection car MIC 126, a 1937 Morris 25
Morris motor vehicle that runs on railway wheels • restoration of SAR refreshment carriage
Light • rebuild of SAR passenger carriage number 5 • tyre replacement and crank journal machining of loco W934 • cylinder profiling and new pistons NM25 • reroofing of the Quorn Railway Station building • New Point Of Sale system installed at Woolshed Flat Ongoing projects: • rebuild of SAR steam locomotive
Yx141 • acquisition and restoration of former SAR 830 class locomotives 843 & 846 • tyre repairs and bogie overhaul NT76 • rebuild of SAR Long Tom passenger carriage number 470. • restoration of the Quorn Goods Shed, located in the railway station precinct. • isolation of field excitation fault in locomotive NSU52 • track maintenance with replacement of approximately 2,000 timber sleepers per year Future projects: • tyre replacement on W22 (W916) • restoration of SAR locomotive T186 to working order • repair of spare boiler for T186 • construction of new W class tender tank ==Rolling stock==