Railways and Tramways of Australia

Work in progress

 

Passenger train the Albany Progress began running in Western Australia on 31 May 1961.

 

Following the Second World War, Western Australian Government Railways implemented a regeneration program, which included locomotives and rolling stock. Long-distance passenger trains were upgraded and several new trains introduced.

 

A new overnight sleeper train was introduced between Perth and Albany in 1961. The train had four refurbished carriages and a luggage van. Its passenger cars were a First Class sleeper with 16 berths, a Second Class sleeper with 18 berths, a lounge/buffet car, and a composite car for sitting passengers making short journeys. It provided a high standard of luxury and comfort. First Class carriages had a shower at one end, and the berths were larger than those in Second Class.

 

A ceremony was held to launch the new train at Albany on 31 May 1961. Commissioner for Railways Cyril Wayne presented a plaque to Albany Mayor John Barnesby. The train departed immediately afterwards on its inaugural overnight run to Perth. From its introduction the Albany Progress made three journeys each way per week.

 

Although it was advertised as a passenger train, the Albany Progress generally ran as a mixed train. The passenger carriages were attached to express freight trains that carried a range of goods, including livestock and perishables.

 

Low passenger numbers, financial losses and the high cost of replacing or upgrading outdated carriages eventually brought the train’s cancellation. Its final journey departed from Albany on 1 December 1978, arriving in Perth the next morning.

 

The last Albany Progress also brought the demise of regular passenger train services between Perth and Albany, and the end of narrow gauge sleeping trains in Western Australia.

 

The work of the Albany Progress was over.

 

View

A short video of the Albany Progress in 1961:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eugfoz3J1DQ

 

Bibliography

G Higham, Marble Bar to Mandurah: a history of passenger rail services in Western Australia, Rail Heritage WA, 2007.

‘Luxury travel in new rail and coach services’, Railway Transportation, November 1961, vol. 10, no. 11, pp 27–9.

‘The last “Albany Progress”’, Newsletter of the Western Australian Government Railways, vol. 4, no. 2, January 1979, p 12.

D Whiteford, ‘Vale ‘The Albany Progress’’, Western Rails, vol. 2, no. 3, Summer 1978/79, pp 10–16.