Whyalla Narrow Gauge Iron Ore Railway - Aurizon Empty & Loaded Iron Ore Trains

Operating for over a century, the Whyalla Iron Ore Railways, once known as the BHP Whyalla Tramway, has been a vital link from mines in the Middle Back Ranges to the Whyalla Steelworks and Port. Today under the ownership of Aurizon, the Narrow Gauge 1067mm railway is thriving with several return services daily from Simec Mining loading sites to the Steelworks and Port.
In early July, we spent the middle of the day on the busiest part of the line between Whyalla and 21KM Junction, where we saw all four operating train rakes and all nine active locomotives used on the railway. The railway's operations are now under the control of Aurizon after the sale of One Rail Australia in 2022 however no change's to liveries of locomotives or wagons has been undertaken yet.
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[@dieseldavetrains8988]

Great work, 1304 looks like it is trying to see over the roof of 2262 in the opening clip. In the good old days BHP built their own ships at Whyalla SA, I remember them building the IRON MONARCH, IRON CARPENTARIA and the IRON CURTIS, plus UNION ROTORUA and UNION ROTOITI for New Zealand all of which were gas turbine powered at the time. Very nice to see graffiti free wagons too. Very enjoyable, thank you.👌

[@MS_Trains]

Thanks, mate! Glad you enjoyed this one. It's cool to see the difference in shape between the 1300s and 2250s. Shame they don't still ship build in Whyalla.
Matt - M&S Trains

[@martinhanley23]

As being born and bred in Whyalla great to see a few of the ex DE class still earning their keep

[@MS_Trains]

They seem to be a reliable locomotive and have a few years left in them even now.
Matt - M&S Trains

[@avlisk]

I'm curious as to why they chose narrow gauge here. Usually, they do that when there are sharp curves, tight clearances, steep grades, low budgets and other reasons to forego standard gauge. Do any of you guys know? Thanks.

[@vsvnrg3263]

cost cutting. sa started with 5'3'' gauge then went to ng to save money. later it went to bg elsewhere in the state because those lines connected to victoria. they left the eyre peninsula lines at ng. these lines are and i think always were privately owned by the mining companies.

[@jimcrawford5039]

It was quite a remote area when it was built and it would have been unknown how much ore was there at the time. It was a lot cheaper to build a narrow guage railway.

[@MS_Trains]

As the other guys have said, cheaper startup costs and upkeep for the private mining company BHP at the time. Probably a smart move to use that gauge then but now Standard Gauge would've been a better option.
Matt - M&S Trains

[@martinhanley23]

@@vsvnrg3263 had nothing to do with cost cutting this was a private BHP tramway, it’s just the gauge they chose, BHP silverton line was also NG

[@aurelius2277]

Just a note -At 6.35 on the video the camera shows way off in the distance the line stretching away to the horizon to what looks like a hill or a mountain. Is that the Mine Site. Aurizon is very active in Regional WA whith several mineral operations going on.

[@MS_Trains]

Yeah mate, that's Iron Baron, which is one of the three mines on the line. Once the line reaches Iron Baron, it curves again towards Iron Knight and Iron Duke another 20 to 30 kilometres South.
SA's mining operation is nothing compared to whats going on in WA with Rail. Aurizon's footprint over there is massive! Hoping to get some shots over there at some point in the next couple of years!
Thanks for watching.
Matt - M&S Trains

[@NR31man]

Do you know how often these trains run ?

[@trainbuff1090]

Great video! You missed the line specs though of axle weights, line speeds and rail size which obviously dictates how this railway is operated.

[@MS_Trains]

Thanks mate.
Feel free to include that in YOUR video, I'll include what I want in mine. Cheers!
Matt - M&S Trains

[@GoldM4official]

Cool trains

[@Sebastian.Roberts367]

Good video

[@blueskyboys9855]

Great video... love the commentary and extra information about the line.

[@MS_Trains]

Thanks, mate! Glad you enjoyed the video.
Matt - M&S Trains

[@kanga1234567]

Very informative and interesting. Thanks for posting.

[@MS_Trains]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching.
Matt - M&S Trains

[@vsvnrg3263]

good video, thank you.

[@MS_Trains]

Our pleasure! Thanks for watching.
Matt - M&S Trains

[@trainsofgizeggy6195]

Great Video

[@MS_Trains]

Thanks mate!
Matt - M&S Trains