The 'Gulflander'

Our long fascination with trains, especially old ones, almost demanded that we take a trip on the ‘Gulflander’ from Normanton to Croydon. The official name for the line is; the Normanton to Croydon Railway, but a lot of people say it is a railway from nowhere to nowhere because it is totally isolated and not connected to any other part of the rail network. Construction of the line began in July 1888 and was completed in sections reaching Croydon on the 20^th July 1891. The line uses a unique form of construction using native earth and rock filled special steel sleepers that are then laid directly on the existing ground level with no embankments or ballast. This method was pioneered by a clever civil engineer named George Phillips (1843-1921), who designed the sleepers and the method of bolting the rails to them. There are three main reasons for this construction method, to keep construction costs down, to defeat the Gulf’s voracious termites and to prevent damage from the annual wet season floods. With the rails virtually at ground level the floodwaters simply pass straight over the top with very little disturbance. In fact of the 151 Km of line, side drains and culverts protect less than 4 KM. The efficiency and effectiveness of this design is borne out by the fact that most of the existing track and sleepers are the originals from the 1880’s. Back in 1891 steam locos hauled the train four times a week between the two towns but steam was discontinued in favour of less costly rail motors, with the last steam train running in 1929.

The 'Gulflander'

Today the Gulflander runs just once a week, leaving Normanton on Wednesdays and taking around five hours, including stops, to cover the 151 Km trip to Croydon. The train then stays in Croydon overnight and returns to Normanton on Thursday, again taking around five hours. For us this was a very memorable experience made even more special by the dedicated and friendly staff headed by Ken the officer-in-charge who is; the driver, mechanical engineer, tour guide and all round nice guy. He is very ably supported by Mark the porter/guard and of course Liz in the station gift shop and refreshment room who takes the bookings. The entire staff’s dedication is evident in the immaculately maintained train and station. It would have to be the cleanest and most well maintained train we have ever been on, even though the current rail motor was built in 1950 and the carriage of about the same vintage.