Trains in Australia Trivia Quiz

Answer: Melbourne to Port Melbourne (Victoria)

Victoria had just undergone a huge expansion because of the Gold Rush, and grew very quickly. The rest of Australia followed suit, with the population increasing tenfold in just two decades.

In 1855 a line between Sydney to Parramatta opened, with another service opening between Adelaide to Port Adelaide the following year. Sydney and North Sydney had to wait until the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge to be connected, and that did not happen until 1932.

Answer: Sugar cane

Most of the lines run on 610mm (2 feet) gauge, which is cheaper to build and upkeep. The trains have small engines, but they are capable of towing over a kilometre of rolling-stock carrying over 2000 tonnes of cane, directly from plantation to mill.

Answer: Puffing Billy

The Puffing Billy is in the picturesque Dandenong Ranges, and is a great place for families. As with most heritage railways, it is mostly operated by volunteers and train buffs.

Pichi Richi is in South Australia, a couple of hours north of the capital, Adelaide. The Zig Zag Railway was a tourist line that closed in 2010 for safety reasons and was further damaged by the 2013 bushfires. It is a switchback line at the foot of the western side of the Blue Mountains.

Talyllyn Railway is in Wales.

Answer: Different rail gauges in each state

Communication mixups, stubborn officials and just plain bad luck led to a multitude of gauges throughout the new colony. There were up to eight gauges operating at one stage in the 1850s, ranging from 2' to 4' 8.5".

The rivalry has created many problems between the two states almost since Melbourne was founded in 1835. It even led to a neutral national capital, Canberra, having to be constructed in 1927, midway between the two state capitals.

The whole rail shemozzle was not resolved until 1962. Prior to that, it was 'all out, all change' from one platform to another at Albury station, usually in the middle of the night.

Answer: Longest straight stretch of track

478km of the track are dead straight - further than from London to Paris - and there is absolutely nothing to see other than a few tiny whistle-stop towns and a lot of kangaroos. The line runs from Port Augusta in South Australia and Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, over 1700km, and it is still 600kms to the coastline in Perth.

Answer: Camels

Before rail, the desert interior was mainly explored by Afghan camel drivers. When reliable transport slowly replaced the camels, most of the animals were released into the desert, where they continue to flourish. In fact, many are still being exported to Saudi Arabia!

Nightingales, elephants and vampire bats have never been released into the Australian wild, and would only be found in zoos.

Answer: No

Starting from Cairns in north Queensland, it would be possible to travel to Perth, in Western Australia, but it would take a lot of planning (and a lot of money, too!). There are five trains that would have to connect at the right times, and the minimum amount of time required would be seven days and five hours. Cairns to Brisbane alone is a 24-hour trip, and Adelaide to Perth is 39 hours!

There is no rail line around the northwest of the country, linking Perth with Darwin, and none between Darwin and north Queensland.

Answer: Granville

The train started at Mt Victoria, in the Blue Mountains, at 6:09am, and was full before it got to Sydney city limits. It was due to terminate at Central Station, the main terminus for country trains.

The stretch of track was a high-use line, and speed limits were normal. Investigations later found that track maintenance was partially to blame, with the rails having excess sidewards play. Track inspections are now conducted much more rigorously.

Violet Town in Victoria was the scene of a collision between a freight train and the Sydney-Melbourne express train. One of the train drivers suffered a fatal heart attack, and eight other people died in the smash, in 1969.

Answer: Southern Aurora

The Federal City Express ran between Sydney and Canberra, but ceased to exist in 1951. The Australind runs between Perth and Bunbury on the opposite side of the country and the Tasman Limited ran from the Tasmanian capital, Hobart, to Wynyard, on the northern coast of the island state.

The Spirit of Progress and the Southern Aurora were both phased out in 1986 and replaced by a single service titled the Sydney/Melbourne Express, which was in turn replaced five years later.

Answer: Southern Cross

There are eight lines and platform reserved for country and interstate trains, with a further six lines connected to the suburban and city underground systems. There is also an extensive bus and coach terminal under the same roof.

Salamanca is the restaurant and bar area in Hobart, whilst Flagstaff and Museum (now Melbourne Central) are two other stations on the Melbourne City Loop.