Guest
I had travelled by train between Cairns and Kuranda on a previous visit to Queensland and was unaware that the railway line beyond Kuranda still operated or that it was possible to travel by train all the way to Forsayth. I had the pleasure of meeting Ian Welch whilst visiting Mainline Steam at Plimmerton, New Zealand where he showed me the progress being made on recently acquired ex KiwiRail Tranz Scenic railway carriages purchased to work with his impressive collection of stream and electric locomotives many of which once worked along the adjacent North Island Main Trunk Railway between Wellington and Auckland. Ian also mentioned that he had an interest in a company called “Cairns Kuranda Steam Railway”. After our meeting I looked the company up and this led me onto the Savannahlander. I'd have booked a trip there and then, but unfortunately the Covid pandemic made it all but impossible for me to visit either New Zealand or Australia for a couple of years, but the desire to ride the Savannahlander remained. With restrictions to New Zealand and Australia lifted I was free to start planning my Queensland rail adventure including the Ipswich Rail Museum, the Mary Valley Rattler, the Tilt Train, the Spirit of Queensland, the Gulflander and the Savannlander, before flying onto Wellington to continue my rail adventure in New Zealand. Trans North Bus & Coach deposited myself along with the small group of people who were also doing the Gulflander and Savannahlander tour at Mount Surprise where the Savannalander train was waiting. Here we met the two guys who were to make this tour way more than just a train ride, with their Australian sense of humour, commentary and a determination to make this tour one we'd remember for all the right reasons. William and Hamish, weren't just a couple of train driver's, they were baggage handlers, coffee makers, train cleaners, tour guides, to be honest they looked after our every need, nothing was too much trouble. Having loaded a mountain of baggage we were given a short talk about train etiquette and the guys were requested to sit like girls on the toilet because the ride could get a bit lively at times and no ones aim was that good. With the diesel engines now purring gently under the carriage floor we were ready to set off on the next leg of our North Queensland adventure. Here is a little information about the train, mostly courtesy of Wikipedia - The service was introduced on 3 April 1995 by Queensland Rail to replace the Forsayth Mixed (marketed as the 'Last Great Train Ride'). The line was closed from Mareeba to Mount Surprise at the same time. It was initially run with a 2000 class railmotor set that was refurbished at Townsville Workshops. Initially this service only ran on the Mount Surprise to Forsayth section of the Etheridge line. However, after an upgrade of the line for sugar syrup trains from Cairns to Arriga, and a limited restoration of the rest of the line, the railmotor started travelling from Cairns to Forsayth in September 1998. In 2004 it was decided to put the running of the train out to tender and the winning bid was submitted by “Cairns Kuranda Steam Pty Ltd”. Please listen to the commentary to hear more about “Cairns Kuranda Steam” and how it came to be running the Savannahlander. The information at the end of the video should read as shown below (Forsayth, not Rorsayth) - Look out for the full series of videos covering the complete journey from Forsayth to Cairns To learn more about the “Savannahlander” or to book your own outback adventure, please click on this link - Savannahlander Facebook Page - Map at 00:40 - Google Earth Map at 00:47 - Google Maps - Music - Track - Composer – Source 00:00 & 01:24:50 - ES_The Red Soil - Saira Ridley – This trip was filmed – Track Gauge - 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm)
