A MUST SEE! Australia’s only TRIPLE gauge railway! Train ride at NRM Port Adelaide!

Join us as we ride along Australia’s only triple gauge operating railway line! The National Railway Museum in Port Adelaide, South Australia, boasts a triple gauge running track once a common sight on the old South Australian Railways network at places like Gladstone and Peterborough in the Mid North of the state.

A extremely rare track setup and one that caused havoc on the old network close to half a century ago. It really brought home the lacklustre rep of the railway planners and the bickering that continued for close to a century in deciding which gauge should be used in Australian states.

South Australia had three major railway gauges, broad (5’ 3” - 1600mm), standard gauge (4’ 8 1/2” - 1435mm) and narrow gauge (3’ 6” - 1067mm).

Although no longer interrupted (e.g no dual gauge or triple gauge) all three are still in use in SA for intrastate and interstate operations.

The following lines in use in SA:

Our metro train network is broad gauge
Our metro tram network is standard gauge
Our interstate ARTC owned lines that run through Adelaide for long distance passenger and freight on their north, west, east and south are the national gauge of 4’ 8 1/2” or 1435mm.

Our gypsum line on the West Coast near Ceduna is narrow gauge.

Our steelworks mineral line to Whyalla from the mines at Iron Knob, Iron Baron and Iron Duke are narrow gauge.

Preserved lines:
SteamRanger between Mount Barker and Victor Harbor is broad gauge.
Pichi Richi Railway between Quorn and Port Augusta is narrow gauge.
The Milang Railway Museum has running exhibits on two foot narrow gauge and broad gauge.

Well worth a visit if you’re ever in town.

Links to the respective organisations are here:

https://www.pichirichirailway.org.au
https://www.steamrangerheritagerailwa...
https://milangrailway.org.au
https://nrm.org.au