Day 13: 29/8/25, Forsayth to Mt Surprise and the Savannahlander.

 Day 13: 29/8/25,  Forsayth to Mt Surprise and the Savannahlander.

 Back on the truck/bus today for the trip to Einasleigh/ Copperfield Gorge and the beginning of the Savanahlander to Mt Surprise.

 

Copperfield Gorge, near Einasleigh.     

 

 

View up the gorge towards the rail bridge.

 

 

 

 From a short distance away you can’t even see the gorge.

 

Look closely, it says “GULP” country, not Gulf country.

 

 Gnomes are a little different up here.

 

Railway bridge is considered unsafe at the moment so we have to catch the train on the other side, however moves are afoot to repair it so soon the trip will be longer, perhaps even to Forsayth.

 

 View back over the Cobold Gorge bridge, bridge doesn't look to bad in this photo (see below).

 

 

It's not good up close though, perhaps with enough speed we'd make it.

 

The Savannahlander is another rail motor but somewhat more sophisticated than the Gulflander. It is a series of linked rail motors, each powered by a Cummins diesel linked to automatic transmissions. They can be rune singly, in pairs as all three (we had three on one day and two the next) depending on the  number of passengers. They are all controlled fro the drivers position in the front carriage and having all cars driving means they can traverse steeper grades and tighter corners than would normally be possible. The cars where built in the Ipswich, Queensland workshops in the 1950’s.

The line was originally built to service the beef and mining industries, then when freight dropped off became a passenger service and then finally it’s current form as a tourist train. When first envisaged the trains were driven by soon to retire Queensland Rail drivers (the lines are still owned and maintained by Queensland rail) but it was soon discovered that whilst the trip was fantastic, the drivers needed a different skill base. So, the idea was taken up by an independent tourism company to employ people with a hospitality or wildlife background and teach them how to drive the train, and it works superbly.

 

This bridge doesn’t look much better but it is, apparently

 

 

The line is a similar construction to the Gulflander except that due to costs wooden sleepers are used with a steel sleeper every about every 5 or 6. To cut costs further, to supply the timber they cut down the Iron ark trees along the track. This had the added advantage that the termites (more on these later) don’t like ironbark so most of the sleepers are still original.

 Whilst in In Mt Surprise we went out to the Lava Tubes at Undarra. This is a fascinating phenomenon that has only occurred in a couple of locations in the world.

 

The archway, where the lava tube on either side has collapsed leaving an arch of solid Basalt about 5 Metres thick.

Due to the recent floods, the tubes are currently flooded but you can still walk through them (I didn’t). The water is crystal clear. As the tubes don’t have an outlet, they are like a concrete pipe with a cap on the end and the only way for the water to get out is by evaporation.

 The water hear is about neck deep.