“Be Mindful of the gap” shows a more relaxed Aussie attitude to rail travel than the British commanding “Mind the Gap.” Or perhaps the mindfulness movement has just taken off more completely in Australia. But if the Kuranda Scenic Railway is anything, it is relaxed, especially about being on schedule. Alaskan railways have the same relaxed attitude. The White Pass and Yukon Route (YP&YR) out of Skagway has the local nickname “Wait Patiently and You’ll Ride.” We were to pick up the historic Kuranda train at the Sweetwater Station. It was over an hour late “for operational reasons” so we waited patiently at the historic railway station while enjoying a great macchiato.
The late train meant that we had no time to visit the historic town of Kuranda because we had a timed entry on Sky Rail, back to town and the time was now. While we missed the chance to visit any more of Kuranda than the railway station we had a fantastic ride up the mountain, past waterfalls and through the rainforest, returning on a cable gondola down the mountain, above the rainforest and over waterfalls, or through the canopy of the rainforest. More of that in the next post.
The narrow gauge railway began operation in 1891 to serve a mining district. It passes through fifteen hand hewn tunnels (dynamite, pick, shovel, and wheelbarrow) and over thirty-seven bridges. The carriages are more than a century old with two classes. We rode second. The carriage had padded bench seats, originally designed as four across but since COVID they were three across. The ceilings of the carriages were clad in that molded metal that was on the ceiling of my Great Grandfather’s general store in Jersey City. The carriages had “old fashioned” air conditioning. The windows opened. They gave each of us a map of the rail line that we could use as fans.
The engines are newer than that, but not too new, diesels with an aboriginal livery featuring Buda-dji, a carpet snake who in the dreamtime carved out the gorge through which the train now runs.
Peak operation for the line was during the Second World War with more than forty trains a day when the line carried materials to the mines and troops up and down the mountains, where there were convalescent hospitals and rest and recreation centers higher up from the coast.
The trip from Freshwater to Kuranda takes a little over an hour and a half (two hours from Cairns). Riding out of Fresh Water I noticed that Australian houses almost all had white or light gray roofs, many with solar panels facing in every direction but south. This took me a minute to comprehend. Dummy, it’s in the southern hemisphere. We had a stop at Barron Falls (Din Din in the local language) for pictures.
We loved the trip but on the bus back to the ship we heard a lot of complaints about missing Kuranda.
We had to go directly from the train to Sky Rail. I thought our guide, Trudy, managed it with grace and humor. We were not among those who complained. In fact, I told Shorex I thought the delay was handled well, but we got a letter of profuse apology, sixty five dollars and change in onboard credit and a plate of chocolate covered strawberries in compensation.
