Insight 8: The Railway

In the early days, as with many new countries, Australia prided itself on developing a railway system. Cities linked with cities, which linked with smaller towns, and it grew bigger and bigger. So what went wrong?

The motorcar! As cars and trucks grew increasingly more reliable, there were fewer passengers on the passenger trains, and most significantly, less goods to transport. It simply became cheaper to transport goods by road. And slowly, slowly, the railways began closing down. They simply weren’t economical. The 1950, 60, and 70s saw it all decline. But, as usual, there are quaint reminders.

The left photo is a disused country train station. The right photo is an equally disused ‘trestle’ bridge. Trains once rumbled past these places, but that was decades ago.