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Darwin, different rail gauges and other Australian issues
The ability to build out of Darwin is indeed thematic. Historically, the original attempt to build a railway between Adelaide and Darwin started at both ends and then fizzled out in the middle. It remained unfinished for most of the 20th century, the stuff of regular promises at elections. It was completed only a few years ago.
I'm surprised that the game doesn't include the most famous problem with Australia's rail system: the different rail gauges. Before 1901, Australia was a collection of colonies and they all managed to pick different rail gauges. New South Wales used standard gauge; Queensland used narrow gauge; Victoria and South Australia used the wide gauge of the Great Western Railway in England. It led to scenes of indescribable chaos at the border crossings, to put it mildly.
Successive Australian Governments have steadily worked to eliminate the different gauges, and today it's possible to run a train from Perth to Brisbane without changing gauge. North of Brisbane, however, the Queensland Government's railway system is resolutely narrow gauge (but generally very well engineered -- it carries a huge amount of coal traffic).
To my mind, it's a shame the game does not reflect this colonial confusion and the problems it has created for the Australian Federation ever since.
Cheers
Sir Harrok
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