Kuranda Scenic Railway                                Railway Pages Index

Australia hosts many narrow gauge tourist trains as well, as some mainlines that were never converted to standard gauge. One is shown here from a vacation in 1993. The Kuranda Scenic Railway runs from Cairns (Queensland) to Kuranda and return, about 34 kilometers each way.

Purple and cream coaches pulled by diesel power carry a large audience over the spectacular eastern coastline of northern Queensland. Numerous spindly bridges, short tunnels, water falls, and tropical rain forest keep the camera clicking.

Tracks are three-foot six-inch gauge on immaculate mainline right-of-way. At one time there were thousands of miles of 42" gauge railways in Australia.

There is now a cable car, known as the Kuranda Skyrail, to view the rain forest from above, not present in 1993 during my visit. A short side trip to the aboriginal theater and art gallery at Kuranda are must-see cultural attractions.

Photos by the author, except as noted

Photo from the website - Barron Falls

http://www.kurandascenicrailway.com.au/

http://www.cairnsattractions.com/a_kuranda-railway.html
 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

E. R. (Ross) Crain, P.Eng. is a Consulting Petrophysicist and a Professional Engineer with over 40 years of experience in reservoir description, petrophysical analysis, and management. He has been a specialist in the integration of well log analysis and petrophysics with geophysical, geological, engineering, and simulation phases of oil and gas exploration and exploitation, with widespread Canadian and Overseas experience.

"I am a life-long model railroader and have modeled in O27, HO, HOn3, and N Scales. Failing eyesight brought me to G Scale. My father started me in model railroading as a tiny tot in 1944 - he scratch built his first locomotive in 1940, the year I was born, and I still have this loco on my mantle-piece. I am a Life Member (#517) of NMRA, a member of the Rocky Mountain Garden Railroaders (Calgary, Alberta), and have toured a lot of model railways, railway shows, and garden railways. I have never seen a model railway I didn’t like. An extensive library of railway magazines and books, covering topics that appeal to me, sit behind my office desk, ready to be put to use at a moments notice. I hope these pages can communicate to you some of my accumulated experience, my successes and failures, and my love of model railways."