QANTAS Founders Museum - Longreach - Queensland - Australia

 

While travelling in Queensland few years ago, I visited the QANTAS Founders Museum in Longreach. If you are driving here, it will take about 12 hours and 50 minutes to travel the 1177 kilometers from Brisbane.

101 years ago QANTAS or else Queensland And Northern Territory Aerial Services limited was actually started here in Longreach when it was registered on 16^th of November 1920. This museum was started on June 1996.

Site offers plenty of free parking, there is a gift shop and a café available and all the facilities are wheelchair accessible.

There are several tours you can do to explore the different aircrafts available like Boeing 707, 747, DC3, etc. Some of the tours will give you access to areas of the plane where you normally would not see in an airport. This is the Boeing 747-238B with the registration number VH-EBQ City of Bunbury. This used to fly for Qantas and Air Pacific from 10^th December 1979 to 2002.

Do you know what is the longest non stop airborne commercial passenger flight is, is it the Singapore Airlines flight 23 from New York to Singapore using Airbus A350-900ULR aircraft which takes 18 hours and 50 minutes?

No, it is something you will not believe, the longest flight airborne time is 32 hours and 9 minutes and was the Double Sunrise Service operated by Qantas which got the name because the passengers saw sunrise twice while airborne. It was the only regular air service to Australia across the Indian ocean. These flew between Koggala lake in Ceylon now Sri Lanka and Swan River in Perth Australia and used a plane called Catalina flying boats. The record holder longest flight took place on 30^th of August in 1943, I feel this flight which flew from Sri Lanka to Australia will hold the record for many years to come until we start inter planet commercial passenger flights. I am proud that this record is between my motherland and my homeland. Let this video be a tribute to Qantas for their 101 years of service.

			Score out of 5
1	Parking Availability	Adequate	4
2	Wheelchair Access	Easy	4
3	Accessibility	Sealed roads and easy walks.	5
4	Facilities	Toilets – Yes Barbecue – No Restaurant - Yes	4
5	Scenery	NA	-

For more details and pricing visit the Museum Web Site.

Hope you enjoy the video.

Map

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Denuwara Manike Train - Sri Lanka (දෙනුවර මැණිකේ දුම්රිය - ශ්‍රී ලංකාව)

This video is about Denuwara Manike train, which is the newest addition to Sri Lanka railways on late 2019 and was put to service on 1st of November 2019. Currently it is the fastest way to go to Badulla by train. This intercity express train known by train number 1001 will depart Colombo Fort railway station every other day at 6:45 AM and reach Badulla station at 3:30 PM after stopping at 11 stations on the main line. On the next day it will be train number 1002 and will return at 7:20 AM from Badulla station and reach Colombo Fort station at 4:30 PM, after stopping at 12 stations, making a journey of 294.3 kilometres in about 9 hours. Train will stop at Polgahawela, Peradeneya Junction, Gampola, Nawalapitiya, Hatton, Thalawakaelae, Nanuoya, Haputalae, Diyathalawa, Bandarawela, Ella. On the way back it will stop at Maradhana additionally.

Train consists of 2 Air Conditioned first class compartments with adjustable seats, adjustable arm rests, individual tables, television screens, audio jack ports, foot rests, cup holders, seat back pockets, 240 volts power outlets for some seats. 2 second class compartments with adjustable seats, adjustable arm rests, individual tables, foot rests, cup holders, seat back pockets, openable windows, 3 third class compartments, a restaurant car with disabled toilet facilities and 2 identical engines in the front and back with fully air conditioned driver and guard rooms. All compartments are having train information display screens, music, fans, luggage holders and toilets with sinks.
Denuwara Manike has a spacious disabled toilet in the restaurant compartment. Normally the door of this is locked and the restaurant staff got a key for this. It is having automatic door and hand rails for easy access. Good size sink and a mirror is also available. There is a small cubicle with a mirror and a sink near the disabled toilet for public use.

These types of trains are called DMUs which stands for Diesel Multiple Units. This S14 type powerset was manufactured by China Railway Rollingstock Corporation and was purchased for 1845 million rupees. Each of the two 11-cylinder engines can supply 1500 kilowatts to the train through AC – DC power transmission system and they are connected using the train’s electricity system. They are numbered as engine 971 and engine 972 by Sri Lanka railways department. In an engine failure, the train can reach its destination with one operating engine.

For the first time in Sri Lanka this train has a camera system and a Blackbox similar to aircraft Blackbox and records and stores all the operational data with the front camera view. The train information display screen, on this train is made out of LED panel which will display train running information in all 3 languages Sinhala, Tamil and English. It will display information such as train name, number, start and end station names, speed, next stopping station. Engines also got fuel tanks capable of storing 3500 litres of Diesel. Maximum possible speed of the train is 120 kilometres per hour. In the daily run between Colombo and Badulla it reaches 90 kilometres per hour in some sections of the route. To make the ride extra smooth, these carriages are fitted with air suspension system rather than the conventional suspension systems.

Train’s braking system is made by a German company named Knorr-Bremse, who are renowned for manufacturing reliable braking systems especially suited for hill country trains.

Since the train got 2 engines in the front and back, it doesn’t have an observation compartment.

Full route fair for first class is 1700 Sri Lankan rupees, second class is 1000 rupees and 700 rupees for third class. This train will only accept passengers who have booked tickets prior, so you cannot just buy a ticket from a railway station and get in. Tickets can be booked from most of the major railway stations like Colombo Fort, Maradhana, Badulla, Ella, Kandy, Hatton, Mathara, Galle, Anuradhapura, Jaffna. For more information visit Sri Lanka Railways website www.railway.gov.lk.

In the video you can see,

• Denuwara Manike train passing Uduwara reservoir.
• Train parked at Badulla station.
• Denuwara Manike going to Badulla yard to rest for the night.
• Train passing the famous nine arches bridge.
• Denuwara Manike passing the highest point in Sri Lanka railway line. This place is about 1898 metres or 6227 feet above mean sea level.
• Train passing iron bridges and tunnels.

Cheap Direct Flights From Australia to Sri Lanka

Have you heard the good news that SriLankan Airlines is going to restart their direct flights to Australia. Yes it is true, SriLankan is going to start direct services between Sri Lanka and Australia from November 2017. They have decided to do this after acquiring brand new aircrafts from Airbus Industries. So when compared to other airlines, you will fly in more recently built modern aircraft with SriLankan.

With this new competition I think we will see better fairs to more Asian destinations. Introductory prices for the month of November 2017 from SriLankan seems very good as you see from some of the screenshots I have taken from the web site. Reserve your seats quickly by visiting SriLankan web site.