Floyd Bromley will present on the following subject:
Eyre Peninsula Railways, Then and Now
Please note that the start time is 8pm AEDT (UTC+_11.00)
In the years 1972, 1980, 1986 and 1990, Roderick Smith explored the Eyre peninsula using a combination of train, bus, RTA tour and Holden. After a lengthy gap and a new young keen generation emerging, Roderick Smith (now 75 years old) returned to the Eyre Peninsula by Subaru, driven by myself, Floyd Bromley (27 years old at the time). Taking advantage of the gap between Easter and Anzac Day in 2025, I could take only 3 days of annual leave, but take a 10 day holiday to explore what is left of the Eyre Peninsula. Rod and I have been friends for many years and have been on many adventures together, however this would be the ultimate test. Could we make it to day 10 without killing each other, all while camping out of my station wagon?
Along the way we would cover nearly the entirety of what was and still is the Eyre Peninsula railway system: an isolated narrow gauge system that despite being run by the government backed South Australian Railways, shared more similarities to what would traditionally be called a “tramway” or “light railway”. Indeed even the privately operated “tramways” in the area (principally run by BHP for their steelmaking production) often more closely resembled traditional “heavy rail” than the railways themselves!
Starting from Melbourne, we travelled as far north as Hawker (via many side interests), then to Port Augusta, west as far as Penong, south all the way to Port Lincoln, then north again to make our way home via Goolwa for the wooden boat festival. There truly was not a wasted moment!
Join me for a “then and now” comparison, featuring photos of Roderick Smith for “then” and myself for “now”!
