The Pichi Richi Railway Preservation Society has kept SA’s heritage railway operational for 50 years.
Story Kate Newsome Photo Italo Vardaro
A tractor tows a railway carriage. Not exactly an everyday sight, but the carriage needed moving from its residence in the back farm paddock and it seemed the simplest thing to do.
Jeremy Browne was driving near Terowie, in SA’s Mid North, when he spotted the prize train carriage, ‘Car 5’. It was the mid-70s, and Jeremy struck up a deal with the farmer: $300 for the carriage (which was being used as a toolshed) and $200 for the tractor freight delivery.
Car 5 was destined to join the growing fleet of the Pichi Richi Railway (PRR) Preservation Society. Based in the railhead town Quorn, SA, this not-for-profit organisation run entirely by volunteers is celebrating half a century of operating this heritage train line and museum.
There are more than 300 members of the PRR Preservation Society, hailing from all corners of the country. Volunteers work as drivers, guards, conductors, car captains, traffic controllers and firemen. There are restoration and building teams, track and carriage crews, roles in the museum, operations, governance, ticketing or catering – any jobs required to keep Pichi Richi on the rails.
The Pichi Richi team offers half- and full-day train rides for visitors from March through to November (with a break during the fire season). They also operate work trains, which haul ballast or replacement sleepers, and spray weeds encroaching on the tracks. In 2023, the distance travelled by society-operated track vehicles and passenger trains totalled 7,400km.
This story excerpt is from Issue #158
Outback Magazine: December/January 2025
