| Marree, 1928, was the head of the Northern Railway | | | | the surface from the "Great Artesian Basin", and was |
| line from Adelaide and when the extension to Alice | | | | a watering point for the camels, also |
| Springs began, Camels and Camel Drivers were | | | | - Coward Springs Hotel with the "Bubbler", a pool of |
| imported from Afghanistan to do the carrying of | | | | Cool, Clear, Water, always an attraction to early days |
| supplies up to the line workers. The large numbers of | | | | rail travellers, and |
| Afghan workers gave the still popular name "The | | | | - The Neales River with the 580 metre Algebuckina |
| Ghan" to the train that eventually travelled the line | | | | Railway Bridge, built in 1889, sometimes used by early |
| when it was finished in 1930. | | | | motorists when the Neales was flooded. |
| Truck haulage was not an option as the only road | | | | The Bridge that Disappeared: One of the big rivers to |
| was a very rough, ungraded dirt track that more or | | | | cross was the Finke River, usually dry, but when it did |
| less followed the proposed route which was mapped | | | | run it was in a hurry, and the Brand New Bridge which |
| out by Francis Birtles, who was hired by the Australian | | | | had never had a passenger train over it sunk into the |
| Government to do the survey due to his impressive | | | | sand and the rushing water took everything away. |
| record of 70 crossings of the Australian Continent by | | | | The Engineers had driven the Piles into the bottomless |
| car. | | | | sand until the skin friction stopped them, but when the |
| Birtles used a Bean sports type car initially, and | | | | water wet the sand the Piles just kept sinking. |
| eventually finished the survey by air. | | | | The Last Rails were laid in "The Alice" in 1930 and |
| The Camel Trains consisted of 10 to 15 camels | | | | there the Railway stopped for the next 70 odd years, |
| carrying almost unbelievable loads, 6 timber railway | | | | until the extension to Darwin began in 2001 and was |
| sleepers on one side balanced by crates of fishplates, | | | | completed in 2004. |
| dog-spikes, nuts & bolts, the others with up to 6 lengths | | | | Alice Springs, 1930 and after, the new railway brought |
| of rail, balanced by more hardware, and some with | | | | a new life to the town, the Shell Company built a Bulk |
| water barrels and rations. Altogether their combined | | | | Fuel depot with underground tanks, tourists started |
| load could have been as high as 10 Imperial tons. | | | | arriving, groceries and other goods were plentiful and |
| The Route took in some striking features | | | | priced OK, but the Camel was still doing his job, albeit in |
| - Mound Springs at Beresford, where water bubbled to | | | | a smaller capacity. |