The Spirit of the Outback is a long-distance passenger rail service in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia, operated by

Queensland Rail Queensland Rail (QR) is a railway operator in Queensland, Australia. Queensland Rail is owned by the Queensland Government, and operates both Commuter rail, suburban and Regional rail, interurban rail services in South East Queensland, as well ...

's Traveltrain division.

Route

Debuting in November 1993 by combining the former ''

Capricornian The Capricornian was a passenger train that operated in Queensland, Australia between 1970 and 1993. It travelled on the North Coast line between Brisbane and Rockhampton. History When the '' Sunlander'' air-conditioned express train to Cair ...

'' and '' Midlander'' trains, this 1,325 km rail journey operates between

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

and

Longreach Longreach is a rural town and locality in the Longreach Region, Queensland, Australia. It is the administrative centre of the Longreach Regional Council, which was established in 2008 as a merger of the former Longreach, Ilfracombe, and I ...

. The ''Spirit of the Outback'' travels along the east coast of

, from Brisbane to

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. In the , the population of Rockhampton was 79,293. A common nickname for Rockhampton is "Rocky", and the demonym of Rockhampton is Rockhamptonite. The Scottish- ...

, where it heads west through Blackwater,

Emerald Emerald is a gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl (Be3Al2(SiO3)6) colored green by trace amounts of chromium or sometimes vanadium.Hurlbut, Cornelius S. Jr., and Kammerling, Robert C. (1991). ''Gemology'', John Wiley & Sons, New York ...

and Barcaldine, to Longreach. The ''Spirit of the Outback'' passes through coastal landscapes and then travels into the Outback, through mountain ranges, sunburnt plains and historic towns and to attractions such as the

Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame The Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame is a museum located in Longreach, Queensland, Australia, which pays tribute to pioneers of the Australian outback. The centre is also dedicated to Australian stockmen who have shown bravery and courage. ...

and

Qantas Founders Outback Museum The Qantas Founders Museum is a museum located in Longreach, Queensland, Australia. The museum was opened on 9 June 1996 in the heritage-listed Qantas Hangar, built by Qantas in 1922. Stage 2 of the Qantas Founders Museum was part of a 1999 A$ ...

. The train operates twice weekly. In January 2015, the service was upgraded with refurbished L series carriages. At this time the M series carriages and

Motorail A motorail train or accompanied car train (ACT) is a passenger train on which passengers can take their car or automobile along with them on their journey. Passengers are carried in normal passenger carriages or in sleeping carriages on longer ...

services were also withdrawn. While the Tuckerbox was retained, the Stockman's Bar and Captain Starlight Lounge (which were the original lounge cars) were withdrawn and since replaced with the Shearer's Rest Lounge.

Classes of travel

The Spirit of the Outback has two classes of travel: *Economy seats *First class sleeping berths: :*'First Class Single Sleeper' , with a seat and fold-down bed :*'First Class Twin Sleeper' , with two seats that convert into two lower single beds.

Incident with coal train

On 18 November 2000, 3W56 Longreach-bound ''Spirit of the Outback'' came within 50 metres of colliding head-on with a

Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British politican, starting as Conservative MP for Newark and later becoming the leader of the Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party. In a career lasting over 60 years, he ...

-bound coal train.Roberts, Tamara (21 November 2000), Passengers unaware of coal train hazard, ''The Blackwater Herald'',

APN News & Media ARN Media Ltd., formerly Here, There & Everywhere and APN News & Media, is an Australian media company. Divisions include broadcast radio and Out-of-home advertising. The company previously had assets in New Zealand, and previously owned Adsh ...

. Accessed 16 September 2020. The close call occurred 15 kilometres west of

Dingo The dingo (either included in the species ''Canis familiaris'', or considered one of the following independent taxa: ''Canis familiaris dingo'', ''Canis dingo'', or ''Canis lupus dingo'') is an ancient (basal (phylogenetics), basal) lineage ...

when the coal train proceeded through a red signal and entered the same section of track the Spirit of the Outback was travelling on. At the time of the incident, there were fifty passengers on board the ''Spirit of the Outback''. When the crew of the coal train realised the danger, they applied their emergency brakes and contacted the crew of the ''Spirit of the Outback'' who also applied their emergency brakes.(12 December 2000), Coal train missed signal, ''The Blackwater Herald'', APN News & Media. Accessed 16 September 2020. Both trains were able to stop in time before a head on collision occurred. The "Spirit" came to a stop first and the drivers vacated the lead locomotive as the coal train approached. There was much criticism that the drivers had abandoned the passengers with no warning to brace for an impending impact. The ''Spirit of the Outback'' was hauled back to Dingo where passengers were permitted to disembark and were given complimentary tea and coffee. The ''Spirit of the Outback'' was delayed for two and a half hours due to the incident. A Blackwater woman who was on board the ''Spirit of the Outback'' told a local newspaper that passengers were not given any details about what had happened or told why the train had returned to Dingo. She said she only realised the severity of what had occurred when she saw the incident reported on the television news that night. An investigation chaired by Queensland Transport concluded on 8 December 2000, which confirmed the crew of the

-bound coal train were at fault because they had passed a signal at danger and as a result were facing disciplinary action. A Queensland Rail spokesperson said the two drivers, who had excellent driving records prior to the incident, would undergo extensive re-training before being allowed to return to driving duties. The spokesperson also said the staff on board the ''Spirit of the Outback'' had acted properly by not discussing the severity of the incident with passengers at the time.

Today

The Spirit of the Outback is a popular service used by thousands of passengers each year despite its ageing rolling stock. On the 16 June 2021, the Queensland State Government announced ”$1 million for a business case to build replacement carriages for the iconic Westlander, Inlander and Spirit of the Outback long-distance services right here in Queensland.”

References

External links

Queensland Rail Travel website
{{Public transport in Queensland Named passenger trains of Queensland Night trains of Australia Railway services introduced in 1993 1993 establishments in Australia Australian outback Motorail