When Ken Fairbairn drove the Tin Hare Gulflander railmotor on its scheduled run at 8.30am on July 20, he rode it into history.
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The ride represented a replica of the motor’s first trip, exactly 125 years ago.
Fairbairn dressed up for the occasion, ironing his white shirt and putting on his black pants and vest in the traditional way of rail motor drivers, different from his usual Queensland Rail garb of drill slacks and a shirt. The railmotor was full with 111 passengers, including QR historian Greg Hallam and Executive General Manager Marty Ryan and Fairbairn’s second in charge Simon Hill.
The 125th anniversary celebrations included breakfast in Normanton before the trip, a birthday cake at Blackbull siding during the journey and an evening community barbecue at Croydon.
“A trip on the Normanton to Croydon Railway is on the bucket list of many rail enthusiasts and tourists to the outback. The Gulflander railmotor is a piece of living history,” Mr Ryan said.
The 66-year-old Gulflander is the only one its kind left and has been running the 94-mile (150km) track for the past 34 years. The Gulflander has a 102-horsepower Gardner diesel engine and was built at Ipswich Railway Workshops in 1950. There is a lot unique about both motor and its line, with the Gulflander running on an isolated section of line from Normanton to Croydon.
“Essentially, it’s a bus on railway wheels. There are three carriages and the passengers sit with me,” he said.
Fairbairn said the railmotor has run continuously for 125 years, despite its original purpose expiring about 100 years ago. The first sleeper was laid in 1888 and the rail opened in 1891. Most of its metal sleepers remain original and are buried in the sand so that the flood waters run over the top. The innovative design has stood the test of time and its harsh environmental challenges.
Initially intended to run between Normanton and Cloncurry, the discovery of gold in Croydon changed that and what was allocated for Cloncurry was allocated to Croydon instead. The line is still measured in miles. “It was almost by accident and here we are 125 years later, isolated in the middle of nowhere.” For Fairbairn “nowhere” is very much his “somewhere” place.
Originally from the Blue Mountains, this trained tool maker and mechanical engineer took leave from his job, bought an old red Toyota and did a trip around Australia.
“When I pulled into town (Normanton), I met an old timer at the railway station and he told me they were after someone with mechanical experience to work as station assistant,” he said.
That was eight years ago and Fairbairn, age 36, moved from second-in-charge to officer-in-charge, keeping the top position for the past six years. He met his partner Tara, a school teacher in Normanton and quickly became entrenched in the community.
“I love the job, but what I love most is being engrossed in the community. This is beef cattle country and it’s nothing for someone to phone and ask for help in the yards. I knew nothing about cattle, but you learn quickly. It seems strange to say it, but I am busier here than I ever was in Sydney. You have no choice but to get involved. Once people learn you have a skill, you are put to work,” he said.
“I have a good circle of people – including some of those old timers – and run a beautiful train. It’s a lifestyle thing and I get paid to do it.”
Fairbairn has become involved in the heritage committee and local Arts Council in a bid to foster the history and heritage to the area. His work as officer-in-charge involves being station master, fitter, booking clerk and train driver. He works with five track workers (one ganger and fitters), a station assistant, gardener and second-in-charge. His home forms part of the station grounds.
“The station is all original with exposed stud work and a corrugated iron pitched roof with an arched carriage shade. There’s the goods shed and lots of old trains and carriages which add to the atmosphere. Burke and Wills' most northerly camp is just 30 kilometres south west of Normanton and then there is Croydon’s gold mining history.
“This is just a small part of the bigger picture that has kept this train line going. Many of the original tools for the old trains are within the Normanton Railway Station museum and I’ve borrowed them at times to use on the Gulflander.
“The old blacksmith forge is still workable and I had to use it once on an engine component. I use the old copper irons for soldering the brass windows of the Gulflander.”
Passengers pay $69 for a one-way trip, a trip that takes five hours travelling at an average speed of 20 miles (35km) an hour. The Gulflander runs from mid-February to mid-November, with about 2,000 passengers making the famous journey every year.
“These days it’s a lot about tourism with tour companies value adding to the trip and running tours at either end. But it is still a scheduled service delivering mail to the cattle stations (there are letter boxes on the side of the track) and it doesn’t seem long ago that it was filled with mail and hay and molasses.”
The train, a deep Indian red and yellow, clacks along the age old tracks. Its passengers look out on savannah plains, low scrubby woodland and wetlands. The brolgas dance and the jabirus soar overhead.
“There’s a rich and diverse beauty to this country. With wetlands and grasslands through to arid Savannah, the Gulflander rattles through an area full of pioneering history. Who wouldn’t want to stay?” Mr Fairbairn said.