June 30 this year saw the official closure of a number of Queensland branch lines including the Theebine – Kingaroy line and the Colton – Takura line.
While some of the branches that were closed on that day had seen traffic in recent years and were still in reasonable condition it’s been quite a few years since the line from Colton to Takura – the line that originally ran through to Hervey Bay … has seen a train and it shows.
On 19 June this is what the terminus at Takura looked like and, while I couldn’t see any track in all that grass others did find some a few weeks later.
Further back towards Colton though no matter how hard you looked you couldn’t see any track. This is the scene looking west at the Churchill Mine Road level crossing. Yes, that is a large tree growing right in the middle of the where the track should be.
You can find the report and more photos from one intrepid explorer who recently surveyed the Colton – Takura Branch here
Railway administrations all over the world have always been interested in cutting costs and those who were in charge of the railways in Tasmania were no different.
So when it came to moving small numbers of passengers around the state both the government railways and the private railway companies were early adopters of railmotors and railcars.
One of the earliest railcars to be seen in Tasmania was this Berliot four-wheeler bought by the Emu Bay Railway for use on its private line that ran southwest from Burnie. By 1960 it had been sold to a sawmiller in Zeehan who was still using it to transport workers to his mill.
One of the earliest railmotors operated by the Tasmanian Government Railways was this unit … note the unusual wheel arrangement.
When it had outlived its usefulness as a people carrier it was converted to this maintenance vehicle. The Australian Standard Garratt in the background is an indication that this this unit was still in service well into the 1940s.
Most Tasmanian Government Railmotors were classified ‘DP’ and DP7 was another unusual design. Once again, notice the unusual wheel arrangement on a railmotor that was obviously intended for more busier lines than the earlier railmotor.
All images are used with the permission of the National Archives and come from negatives held in the Archives.
It’s sugar cane season in Queensland … in fact cane cutting starts in May and runs right through to December every year although the start of the season is staggered and the further south you go the later the season starts.
This year though the cutting season in the southern part of the state has started earlier than usual. The cutting and crushing season usually starts sometime in July but this year Bingera Mill near Bundaberg began crushing cane in the last full week in June, the Isis Mill near Childers began crushing shortly after that and the Maryborough Mill began crushing around the second week in July.
While crushing at the Bingera Mill might have commenced late in June cutting didn’t commence at the same time in all localities served by the Mill.
On Saturday June 28 the cane lines in the eastern part of Bingera’s extensive rail network were showing signs of use but at Wallaville … the mill’s western out-depot … the rust was still thick on the rails even though Rubyanna and Burnett were locked in the compound.
A week later the western end of Bingera’s network was still not operating seven days a week although there were clear signs that the lines had seen some use during the week. On that day there were two locos locked in the compound but by this time Rubyanna had been replaced by Invicta.
The following week saw more action on the western end of Bingera’s rail network with a number of locos being heard calling Control as they collected full bins that had been brought into Wallaville by the locos assigned to the out-depot.
Invicta is an 0-6-0 and was originally built by Comeng in 1956 (b/n A1513) as a diesel-mechanical loco and was rebuilt as a diesel hydraulic by Bundaberg Foundary Engineers Ltd in 2001. Here we see it in the compound at Wallaville on 3rd July 2010
Rubyanna is an 0-6-0 diesel hydraulic and was built by E M Baldwin & Sons P/L of Castle Hill in Sydney (b/n 3406.17.70) in 1970 for the Fairymead Mill. When Fairymead closed Rubyanna was transferred to Bingera in 2002. Here we see Rubyanna in the Wallaville compound on 28 June 2010.
Burnett is an 0-6-0 diesel hydraulic built for Bingera Mill in 1963 by Comeng (b/n AH2967). In 1980 Burnett was transferred to Qunaba Mill and in 1986 when that mill closed it was transferred to Millaquin Mill. Sometime after the 2007 it was transferred back to Bingera and here we see it in the compound at Wallaville on 28th June 2010.
If you want to hear what has to be some of the most intense narrow-gauge action anywhere in the world you can tune in to the Bingera Mill’s radio network by heading over to RailroadRadio.net and drilling down to the Bundaberg Sugar Cane Operations channel.
It’s an epic battle of man and steam engine trying to shift tonnage up a steep grade and it used to happen every day in Nambour Queensland during cane season on a 2 foot cane railway that ran up the centre of the main street in town.
Sadly it’s all gone now … steam was phased out many years ago but one loco came back to make it all happen in 1999. Turn the volume up because this loco wants to be heard.
Commonwealth Engineering – also known as Comeng was once a major manufacturer of railway locos, rollingstock and equipment here in Australia. Sadly it faded away during the 1970s and after it’s demise a mate … who was an engineer there … gave me a copy of their catalogue.
The company was long gone, there appears to be no copyright on the catalogue and so a couple of years ago I started to scan photos and drawings from the book and post them on another of my websites. I didn’t get very far with the project before I misplaced the book and everything came to a grinding halt.
However I discovered the book this morning as I started packing up my office for yet another move and now the project is back on track. Today I posted images and details of the WAGR B class diesel hydraulic locomotive that Comeng built back in the 1960s. Follow the link and you’ll get the big picture, the line drawing and the technical details of this interesting little locomotive.
Over the last couple of years Queensland Railways have been slowly abandoning a number of their cross-country branchlines. In a world where road transport costs are increasing the wisdom of abandoning those branchlines is questionable and in 50 years time the Government of the day could be regretting the short-sightedness of their predecessors.
Here, looming out of the winter fog that was around a couple of weeks ago is Biggenden station located on one of those recently abandoned branchlines. There are some quite large (in Queensland terms) towns along the same line as Biggenden and you have to wonder the difficulties those towns will face without a rail link to the seaboard.
Queensland is a vast state and as late 1960 the railways provided the only all-weather route to many towns. Scattered along the railway lines between the major towns were many small communities that relied almost entirely on the railway for all their transport requirements … even the transport of injured people to the nearest hospital.
That’s an existence that many of us would find it hard to comprehend for we have all-weather roads and ambulances to rush us to hospital if we’re injured. But before those all-weather roads and fast ambulance services all they had were the railways … and the railway ambulances.
The driver’s “cab” of one Queensland Railway ambulance
It’s possible that no two ambulances were the same and this one was built by Norman Parker in the early 1940s. It’s powered by a V Twin J.A.P.otore cycle engine and gearbox. It originally served the Dimbulah and Mt. Mulligan mining districts before being transfered to Gayndah in 1960.
It was presented to the Gayndah Historical Society in 1981 by the Gayndah Q.A.T.B. and it was restored by the Society in 1986 with the help of a Queensland Museum Grant. The rail ambulance is presently on display at the Gayndah Museum along with many other historical vehicles.
The interior of the driver’s “cab” – definitely spartan by today’s standards
The interior of the Gayndah rail ambulance
The 2 cylinder motor cycle engine that powers the rail ambulance
Unfortunately space at the Museum is rather limited the the area where the rail ambulance is displayed is quite cramped and it’s hard to get some decent photos of the front of the vehicle.
Museum staff tell me that the engine is still in working order and they could take it out, put it on the tracks and it run as well as the day it came to Gayndah.
Here’s a link for some better photos and some history of this interesting vehicle.
Working on a railway is a very dangerous affair and there are always safety procedures in place to ensure that railway workers are protected as much as possible from those dangers. What you’re about to see here would never be allowed in most countries but in some poorer countries workers are prepared to take risks just to keep their jobs.
On this electrified mine railway the loco’s pantograph is hand-held
It’s sad to note that Cyril Freezer passed away yesterday. Although many thousands of model railway enthusiasts – including me - never met Cyril personally he was very well known to us and had a great influence on us.
Cyril was the editor of Railway Modeller for many years and the magazine contained much of his work. He was a prolific layout designer and he will be sadly missed.
However I discovered the book this morning as I started packing up my office for yet another move and now the project is back on track. Today I posted images and details of the 
