Central Australia Railway Road

outbacmac · Newbie

Central Australia Railway Road

Duh · Guru

Welcome to the forum Warren, I can't answer your questions but I am sure some here have done it and will be able too. biggrin

Give them time to see your post though, not everyone comes on every day, smile

Duh · Guru

One town that is on the railway line that both the Indian Pacific (east/west) and Ghan (north/south) goes through is Kingoonya,

I went through there once years ago in a 2WD van from Wirrula in SA (between the salt lakes) to Kingoonya and after refuelling across to Glendambo on the Stuart Highway. There was fuel available at at Kingoonya at that time. I can't remember the time of the year but it was dry and the road was sandy/limestone and you had to take your time going over it as it had some sharp rocks.

I met some backpackers in Wirrula who had just gone over it too fast and blew all their tyres and a farmer helped them pack them with grass to get to Wirruala. I only had a 2WD, but took it easy and had no problems. I see Kingoonya offers free camping near the town. See this link;

http://www.southaustralia.com/info.aspx?id=9002429

-- Edited by Duh on Thursday 9th of May 2013 05:32:44 PM

wendyv · Guru

I do not think that this would be a public road and so access may not be possible.

I do know that, for some of the iron ore railways in the Pilbara of WA, you can get permission after meeting their conditions, to travel on the maintenance roads alongside.

Great Southern Rail operates the Ghan, but I don't think they own the infrastructure - it may be a US company.

There is a dirt road from Coober Pedy to Manguri Siding, that I know of.

Guess you could try to find the track at one end or the other and see if there are no access signs etc. Google Earth might also be useful.

03_troopy · Guru

Have you had a look at this link? australiaforeveryone.com.au/journeys_originalghan

It does get a bit busy, between Finke and Alice around the 9th and 10th of June this year when the Finke Desert Race is held.

herbie · Guru

Have only done the Alice to fink stretch and returned back to Alice.Was hard going in places ,was with some mates as we went to the Fink Rally and it was five years ago. We only had 4x4x swags .A lot of stops and starts to let tyers down and corrogations that bad in places ,almost rattled the fillings out of our teeth. If i can find my journal regarding this tripi willpost more info regarding it. I remember we got lost in one spot thinking we would take a short cut, but turned out to be longer.

outbacmac · Newbie

Thank you to all who responded to my request. Its looking like it may be possible to travel part of the track. So further research will be needed, be before we attempt to do this. Thanks again Warren

herbie · Guru

Hope you are not thinking of taking any sort of caravan on that track.even a camper trailer would need to be off road, as i remember we noticed a lot of bits and pieces of vans/ trailers scattered along the section we did.

wendyv · Guru

Warren,

are you asking about travelling beside the current Port Augusta to Alice railway - the modern Ghan? Or about travelling on the route of the old, original Ghan train, which is a long way further east? There seems to be a bit of mixing up of the two in above posts.

outbacmac · Newbie

Thank You Wendyv, Yes the NEW Ghan line which is called the Central Australia Railway line Now. We have travelled the OLD Ghan line ( Where the Finke desert race is held ) a few times in the past. Looking at Google Earth shows ,there appears to be a good maintenance track alongside New the railway line. And crossing the Finke river bed could have its challenges? Best Regards Warren

wendyv · Guru

Resize of 02-17-2011 Ghan view Finke River & area 19.JPG Yep, the Finke could be interesting. We did Darwin to Adelaide on the train a couple of years ago. Don't think the river looked very "crossable" where the train went over it.