- Albany Progress
The Albany Progress was a narrow gauge passenger train that was run by the
Western Australian Government Railways between1961 and December1978 . The train ran between Perth and Albany on the Great Southern Railway. Typically there were three overnight return services a week.In the late 1960's "Perth to Albany" services were on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, "Albany to Perth" on Monday, Wednesday and Friday [ WAGR Timetable book 1969 Table 41 and 42, p.86 ] The weekend run was known as the Albany Weekender, and it ceased operation on
1 August 1975 . The Albany Progress had its last run from Albany on the first of December 1978, hauled by the WAGR steam engine W 947. It was the last overnight regular passenger train to run on the WAGR system.The train consisted of passenger sleeping berths and sit-up facilities, as well as wagons for general freight which were often shunted off the train at various towns.
Some of the surplus coaches were purchased by the
Hotham Valley Railway and still run on the mainline today.Notes
References
* Affleck, Fred N. "On track : the making of Westrail, 1950 to 1976" . Perth : Westrail, 1978. ISBN 0-7244-7560-5
* May, Andrew and Gray, Bill. "A History of WAGR Passenger Carriages". Perth:The Author, 2006. ISBN 0-646-45902-3
* Quinlan, Howard & Newland, John R. "Australian Railway Routes 1854-2000" 2000. ISBN 0-909650-49-7External links
* [http://henrietta.liswa.wa.gov.au/search/d?SEARCH=Albany+Progress+Train+Photographs State Library of WA Photographs]
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