Having returned from Australia I realized that I never managed to measure the gauges of the various tracks I saw. There were very narrow sugar-cane train tracks north of Cairns in Queensland, probably with a width of less than two feet. Then, the Ghan at Alice Springs looked like it had tracks that were either standard gauge or wider. Maybe it was only the rolling stock that is wider? And, finally, I rode on the train from Cairns to Kuranda, and that looked narrower again. But maybe ist was only the rolling stock itself? Anyway, is there someone who knows which gauges are found in Australia? I should add that trains were not the main purpose of the trip, that is why I did not get around to measure the tracks.
Different states have different guages. Queensland is 3'6" but the sugar cane system is 2' NSW is 4'8.5" as now is the National Network with lines connecting all Capital cities. Victoria is 5'3" Tasmania, Sth Aust and West Aust are 3'6"
Sten: Thanks. That is much more varied than I thought. There is some historical information in Wikipedia.
I wonder if that 3'-6" gauge is some sort of British legacy. We don't see that gauge too much in the US, but both Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island had 3'-6" gauge railways. Regards Ed .
I find Australia's gauges interesting because, in most places where Cape or broad gauge are used, they're the most common. In Australia, they both coexist with standard gauge.
Thank you all! This explains why I felt I could not really tie down those widths by just looking at them. I need to go into this a bit more, then.
