Australian Railways
Northern Queensland - The Gulf Country
The Gulflander
Delivering the goods - a wayside farm entrance gets it's delivery by the "Tin Hare" en route from Normanton to Croydon in the Gulf country of outback Queensland seen here on the 13th December 2000. The 152 km (95 miles) was built in 1889-91 to serve the gold fields near Croydon and remained open long after the goldfield closed down to serve the rural communities during the wet season when it was the only reliable means of transport in this desolate country. It now operates once a week mainly for tourists from February to December, this is the only piece of the Queensland State Railways (QR) which is not connected to the main system, and never has been.
From the footplate en route to Croydon we see floods ahead which fortell that this will be the last train before the end of the rainy season. The patent "Phillips" steel sleepers which have been in place for over 100 years shown here in Normanton yard. In Normanton's main street there is a "statue" to a crocodile (only in Australia!) caught in 1957 at 28 foot 4 inches it was then the largest in the world that had been caught. The Norman river is at the end of the street and you do not want to walk to close! The town council at Croydon are having a "rebuild" made of one of the original steam locomotives an A10 2-4-0 of 1877. Steam loco's last ran on this line in 1929 but bit's of most still lie at Croydon and Normanton where they were left abandoned.
The Savannahlander
Crossing one of the many timber trestle bridges with the rivers rapidly filling up as the rainy season begins to bight. This was the last train of the year (14-15th December 2000) from Forsyth to Cairns taking 2 days for the 263 miles of 3'6" narrow gauge track running under the state railway "Queensland Railways". This named train operates one trip a week between February and December, the gap is due to the rainy season which can cause chaos with all modes of land transport in the north of Queensland. This journey is a real adventure as the driver will stop and allow you to take photos, look at the wild life and even go fishing as the picture on the right show's Driver Alan catching a fish and even I managed to catch one! Picking ripe mangoes at old station gardens and tracing where the old branches ran were other distractions on this amazing journey.
Crossing the last of many trestles the Savannahlander approaches Forsayth station some 263 miles, and 2 days travel, from Cairns on the coast. On the right we see Almaden station still with it's water tower and all signals and station buildings and the branch to the right going to Chillagoe. The "Chillagoe Railway & Mining Co." owned the railways in this area until 1919 when the QR State took them over.
The Tablelands
Atherton - Herberton Line
Ex QGR C17 4-8-0 No 812 built in 1927 by Armstrong Whitworth about to depart Atherton on 24th December 2000 for Herberton with the "Tableland Express". With long grades of 1:33 and double horseshoe bends and a 181 meter tunnel this is a spectacular line. The lines 14 miles (22km) to Herberton was constructed between 1905 and 1915 and is on the Australian Register of the National Estate for it's outstanding railway engineering - a must for any one interested in railway heritage. This line is operated by RAILCO a volunteer operation who also run the Ravenshoe section.
Ravenshoe - Tumoulin Line
Millstream Express
Loco D17 4-6-4 "Capella" stopped short of the summit near Tumoulin on the highest railway in Queensland (980m) with it's train on 23rd December 2000. Leaking tubes proved too much of a problem on this occasion and we all had to thumb a lift back after a scramble through the bush! This loco was a Brisbane suburban tank built in 1925 and as can be seen is now minus it's tanks, but plus a "tender", to allow it to run over a weight restricted timber bridge on this line.
To visit the Queensland Rail official site Click here This includes a map of the system they operate.
© Brian Tucker 2003
Updated 30-12-2001