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What Quorn is known for
Quorn is a Flinders Ranges town of 1,150 people that once moved more than fifty trains a day. It was routed around twice, and it got its railway back only because unpaid members rebuilt it. Volunteers now run steam and diesel trains through the Pichi Richi Pass.
A junction the traffic left
Quorn was surveyed in 1878 in the Flinders Ranges, and named by J.H.B. Warner for the village in Leicestershire his family came from. The narrow gauge line from Port Augusta opened in 1879 and pushed north, and the town became the hinge of it. During and just after the Second World War more than fifty trains a day ran through Quorn.
A junction is only a junction while the traffic needs it. In 1937 a standard gauge connection between Port Pirie Junction and Port Augusta sent the east and west traffic around the town. In 1957 a new standard gauge line was completed on the western side of the ranges, taking the last major freight with it. The rails through the pass went quiet.
Volunteers relay the line
On 22 July 1973 the Pichi Richi Railway Preservation Society was incorporated, and about twelve months later it ran its first trains up to Summit. Members worked a 40 kilometre line through the Pichi Richi Pass, restoring steam locomotives, diesels, a railcar and a steam motor coach, and running them between March and November.
What the volunteers earn
The society is still completely managed and staffed by its volunteer members. The town holds 1,150 residents at the 2021 census, and the ranges around it have carried film crews for decades, including The Shiralee in 1957, The Sundowners in 1960, Gallipoli in 1981 and The Water Diviner in 2014.
Why it worked
Quorn did not get its railway back by arguing for it. Two reroutings, in 1937 and again in 1957, proved the line had no freight case left, and no campaign was going to invent one. What the society did instead was change what the railway was for.
The same track through the pass that had carried wheat and troops became the thing people pay to sit on, and the steep, awkward alignment that made it obsolete as freight is exactly what makes it worth riding. Unpaid labour is the whole margin.
Questions people ask about Quorn
What happened to the railway at Quorn, South Australia?
Quorn once moved more than fifty trains a day. Two reroutings, in 1937 and 1957, left it without freight, and unpaid members of the Pichi Richi Railway Preservation Society relaid a 40 kilometre line through the pass.
When did the Pichi Richi Railway Preservation Society start in Quorn?
On 22 July 1973 the Pichi Richi Railway Preservation Society was incorporated, and about twelve months later it ran its first trains up to Summit. It is still completely managed and staffed by its volunteer members.
Why were trains rerouted around Quorn?
In 1937 a standard gauge connection between Port Pirie Junction and Port Augusta sent east and west traffic around Quorn. In 1957 a new standard gauge line on the western side of the ranges took the last major freight.
What films were shot around Quorn?
The ranges around Quorn have carried film crews for decades, including The Shiralee in 1957, The Sundowners in 1960, Gallipoli in 1981 and The Water Diviner in 2014. The town holds 1,150 residents at the 2021 census.