Australia’s first passenger steam engine train traveled a stretch of four kilometers between downtown Melbourne and the city’s harbor. The line was opened at the height of the Victorian gold rush when masses of people streamed into the city. In the following years, numerous private cooperative and state railroads built new lines. In Australia, steam-powered trains were used until the 1950s, when they were replaced by diesel-electric locomotives. Today, Australian railroads are used predominantly for freight and urban passenger networks.
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Further Readings:
- Harter, Jim. World Railways of the Nineteenth Century: A Pictorial History in Victorian Engravings. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005.
Day:
9
Month:
12
Year:
1854