The Gulflander

The Normanton to Croydon railway was built between 1888 and 1891 to serve the Croydon goldfield, and when the gold ran out it was never connected to any other line, leaving 152 kilometres of isolated track that has been running ever since with no link to the rest of the network. The Gulflander, a 1950s railmotor, works it once a week in each direction, taking about five hours, stopping at sidings, a bush morning tea and points where the driver explains the line's peculiarities, including steel sleepers laid because termites ate the wooden ones and track that floods completely each wet season. Normanton station, built in 1889, is a corrugated iron survivor at the end of the line.

History

In 1867 William Landsborough chose the site of Normanton as a port for the pastoral stations south of the Gulf of Carpentaria, with George Phillips, who surveyed it, and a railway to Cloncurry was approved in 1886; but a gold strike reported in November 1885 at Belmore station, 145 kilometres east, drew 6,000 people to the Croydon field within two years, and the line was turned towards Croydon. Phillips had patented in 1884 a system of U-section steel sleepers laid directly on the ground, so that the track could be flooded without washing out and resist termites, and the line, built under his supervision, opened to Haydon on 7 May 1889 and to Croydon on 20 July 1891 (Wikipedia, Normanton to Croydon railway line).

The main sights

• The isolated line - 152 kilometres of track connected to no other railway.
• The 1950s railmotor - the small self-propelled vehicle that works the route.
• Normanton station - the 1889 iron station building at the terminus.
• The Gulf savannah - flat termite-mound country and floodplain along the line.

When to go

April to October; the wet season floods the line and services stop entirely. The train runs weekly, usually departing Normanton on a Wednesday, so travel must be planned around it. Booking well ahead is necessary in the peak dry season.

Practical notes

The service is weekly, not daily, and the schedule dictates the whole itinerary. The journey is slow and the scenery flat and repetitive. Normanton and Croydon are small remote towns with limited accommodation.

Nearby

Karumba and the Gulf coast lie north; Croydon is at the far end of the line.

Key facts