The Commonwealth's Trans-Australian Railway

[@monikasaringer1152]

These films should be shown in all schools, so the kids of today can actually see what hard work & sweat really is, most will never get a sweat up in their lifetime.

[@PichiRichiRailway]

Still is when you come and volunteer to do track, buildings, bridges and loco tasks at Pichi Richi Railway. All necessary to keep our nationally significant railway operating.

[@shadowweaver3693]

I work for Sydney Trains and this gives me so much more pride to work for them. Seeing all this hard work and so much man power.

[@philcheney9624]

Wow -all that Jarrah, all that rock and all that steel manhandled and not a glove in sight!

[@elizabethrowe7262]

Its amazing achievement how the railway was all constructed back over 100 yrs ago. Lots of man power and in a environment miles from anywhere and so much dedication to get the rail built too. Makes one proud to have the East meet the West and how it all began so long ago.

[@thedave7760]

The ballast they layed back then will always provide a good bed for future rails.

[@PichiRichiRailway]

Built to last even in the Flinders Ranges where Pichi Richi Railway is still running, 51 years after the Preservation Society was established!

[@Fe7Ace]

It seems they had just as many supervisors back then as they do today, haha. Plenty of clean-looking blokes standing around watching in this film.

[@edwardsouth1711]

Glad to see someone else noticed, though I dare say; it looks like this part of the railroad at least, was built with prison labour.

[@noelroberts8199]

The men in suits will never know what a hard days work is........

[@RolandElliottFirstG]

Good recollection.

[@tjcesq]

Great film thank you....

[@stephenfitzpatrick9189]

Much admiration for our ancestors. Love my country . And have great respect for those that survived in this great land for thousands of years. We are what we are now , let's respect each other .

[@bigears4426]

Now that was a achievement, back breaking work, for man and animal

[@CalebsRailFilms]

Great old footage of the TAR and yet it’s still, 100 years later, a major part of our rail freight system. Cannot say the same for our poor old CAR though. But the CAR is still operating through the most scenic and the very first section of the line on the famous Pichi Richi Railway between Quorn & Port Augusta. I am privileged to be apart of the Pichi Richi Railway of which my father and mother as well as me are members and volunteers on the railway. Makes me so proud to be a volunteer on the railway and line through Quorn had played a major role up until the 1950s as a link to Port Augusta and indeed across the Nullarbor. Thanks for sharing this with us.

[@NFSAFilms]

Thanks for the feedback.

[@PichiRichiRailway]

Well said Caleb, us too!

[@rd4in37]

Thanks loved it..

[@oswaldthree]

Great film - and great achievement - just who were the men building this, in the middle of nowhere?! RjB

[@gusman37]

Wow 👏

[@JoshPhoenix11]

How could track be laid without first impacting all that freshly raised dirt, wouldn't it have to settle? I can understand the sleeper machine contributing to it but how can they be laying at the same time the ground is sinking and leveling?

[@markissboi3583]

i didnt hear a thing - :) nice old video 👍👨‍💻

[@michaelhosking8150]

Very interesting film, and great history too, A shame the film had degraded in a couple of places, otherwise it was very good indeed.

[@zanelindsay1267]

Priceless historic vintage silent film. Unfortunately the film is badly degraded in places. Presumably the dual gauge tracks shown after 5:56 were in the Port Augusta area.

[@evd]

What happened at 6:06?

[@NFSAFilms]

Ha! Yes, looks like a spooky hurricane, but it is the degraded film frames from this very old film. That information is lost unfortunately and can't be recovered. Not uncommon in films of this age.

[@planetX15]

NFSA Films, How do you digitize Reel to Reel film?

[@NFSAFilms]

Hi PlanetX15. There have been telecine methods for going from film to tape and now film straight to digital files for many years. The modern scanners individually scan every frame and that output is reassembled into moving digital film files usually at the same frame rate at which the original film was shot, 24 frames per second for instance. The process is not to dissimilar to the way films were projected except that the image is captured as a file rather than projected on to a screen. This is a simplified explanation but gives you an idea of the process hopefully.

[@ClamTram96]

Evan Davis film deterioation, looks like was animated

[@jessesands9426]

Evan Davis film damage obviously!

hard yakka

[@ashleytidd-w9i]

All these old films will have to be destroyed so that the ABC and SBS can re-write our history .

[@ChinaAl]

Why do Aussies and UK persist in calling them sleepers? Nobody sleeps on them. They're correctly called Ties or Cross-ties trying 2 rails together. Nice old video.

[@NFSAFilms]

"I could care less" as an American might incorrectly say. ;) The local vagaries of language perhaps.

[@ChinaAl]

Thanks. 😃😃

[@robhampton4929]

You could say that during the construction the first thing done is to create a "Bed" for the railway. Then the "Sleepers" Lay on the "Bed" (like a person) then the rails are attached to the sleepers. Rob

[@ChinaAl]

Now this one is cool. Never thought of that answer. Thanks 😃

[@smitajky]

I could tie rails together with a rope or string but I cannot tie a piece of wood. US residents are crazy. AND they fill their cars with "GAS". But what is more they attach an old leather "BOOT" to their horseless carriages. Yes. And they put CREAM in their coffee. I was even asked if I wanted my coffee "WET" or "DRY". No wonder Americans struggle with English as a language.

[@gussyt1761]

Films pretty damaged

[@edwardsouth1711]

It looks like it was built with Prison labor.

[@AusLegoBoy]

What makes you think that