Passengers were stranded at Zanthus in 1948 when a train was delayed resulting from floodwaters causing washaways along the tracks between Zanthus and Kalgoorlie. Several passengers completed the journey to Kalgoorlie via a Goldfield Airways airplane while over 50 men worked to fix the two big washaways.
A derailment of a train occurred in 1953 when five coaches of the transcontinental eastbound express left the tracks near the town tearing up a section of the line. Repair crews worked throughout the night and built a deviation by the following day.
In 1975, large amounts of rain had inundated inland Western Australia from the remnants of Cyclone Trixie. A large washaway close to Zanthus had resulted in the closure of the line. A new bridge was constructed as part of the repairs in just two weeks.
The Zanthus cabin now at the Bassendean Rail Museum:
Zanthus has a crossing loop on the line. On 8 August, 1999 the Indian Pacific passenger train collided with a stationary steel train in the area.
The locality also has notoriety due to its position in place names lists of Western Australia. There is also a postcode for Zuytdorp in WA but I think this relates more to the place where a ship of that name was wrecked in 1711.
Now the thinking cap is on..what do I do next? I have one or two things lined up so hopefully whatever it is will be of interest at least to someone out there. Thanks to everyone who has followed my Western Australian towns (sorry about no X). I enjoyed researching and learning about them.
Again my thanks to Wikipedia for the info on Zanthus.
