Over 120 Years to Cross a Continent/Blistering Heat, Sandstorms, and Flash Floods

 Despite the obstacles, the citizens of Adelaide were undeterred. In 1878 they started work on the line at Port Augusta.  Using only hand tools, horses, and camels, 900 railway workers pushed the line north along Aboriginal trails through the Flinders Ranges.  This route took advantage of the only water holes in the region, for steam trains need water to operate.

The first 60 miles of track took two and a half years to lay. Summer temperatures sometimes climbed to 120 degrees Fahrenheit.  In this dry heat, fingernails cracked, ink dried on pen nibs before it could be put to paper, and rail lines buckled.  Train derailments were common. After sandstorms, workers had to clear sand drifts from miles of track, some drifts being up to six feet deep.  Often, the workers stood helpless as more storms undid their work.

Then came the rains. Within minutes,  bleached riverbeds became raging torrents that twisted rail lines, swept away months of work, and stranded trains with their passengers.  One engine driver shot wild goats in order to feed the travelers. Many years later, food was dropped to a stranded train by parachute.

  Following the rains, desert plants sprang to life and beckoned  waves of locusts. During one plague, the tracks became so greasy with  squashed insects that an additional  locomotive was needed to push from the rear. Plagues of rats presented yet another problem.  The rodents devoured anything they considered edible-camp supplies, canvas, animal harnesses, and even boots. A lonely cemetery lies among the track-a reminder of a typhoid outbreak and testimony to the unsanitary conditions of camp life in the early stages of the project.  

For entertainment, train crews were not averse to the odd practical joke. Once when the Alice Springs area was experiencing a rabbit plague, crew members smuggled rabbits aboard The Ghan.  The next morning when passengers opened their cabin doors to go to breakfast, they stepped into corridors that were "alive with bewildered bunnies," says the book The Ghan-From Adelaide to Alice.  On another trip, someone let a joey,a young kangaroo, loose in the sleeping cars.  

Aborigines who lived in remote areas sometimes approached the line as the rain passed. From a safe distance, they saw people inside.  Understandably, the Aborigines were at first wary, if not afraid. In fact, some thought that "a giant devil-snake" had swallowed the passengers alive! 

Next time: Over 120 Years to Cross a Continent/ A Long Pause

From the Awake!  magazine