The presentation Orange to Broken Hill Line Pt1 covered passenger and freight train operation on the section of track between Orange and Parkes (with an excursion beyond Parkes to Bogan Gate and thence on the wheat branch line to Tottenham). This presentation, Orange to Broken Hill Line Pt2, covers passenger and freight operations on the main line between Parkes and Broken Hill.
The main line from Orange reached Parkes (and beyond to Forbes) in 1893. The section of track of interest to us, namely Parkes to Broken Hill, opened progressively from each end. The Parkes end was extended to Bogan Gate, Condobolin, Trida, Ivanhoe and then Menindee in 1896, 1898, 1919, 1921 and 1923 respectively. At this location, it met up with track laid from Broken Hill to Menindee in 1919, the latter necessitated by the need to ship large quantities of water from Menindee, on the Darling River, for both industrial and domestic use in Broken Hill.
We will start our journey at Parkes and work our way west to Broken Hill. Locomotive classes seen include 2100 (422), 81, DL, L, MZ and NR in the liveries of ARG, Freight Corp, Independent Rail (ex LVRR), National Rail and Pacific National. We also view passenger equipment operated by CountryLink (Explorers) and Great Southern Railways (Indian-Pacific).
Approximate run time: 85 minutes.