Queensland's railway construction commenced in 1864, with the turning of the first sod of the Main Line by Lady Diamantina Bowen, the wife of Queensland's first governor Sir George Bowen at Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. A narrow gauge of was selected due to cost savings in providing a rail link to Toowoomba. Despite being built with bridges wide enough for standard gauge, and the fact that most other lines did not require heavy earthworks, the gauge remained the Queensland system norm.
In 1890 there were 11 separate systems being operated by Queensland Railways. The duplications of workshops and other facilities and the inability to transfer locomotives and rolling stock to meet shifting traffic demands between lines created problems.
The North Coast railway line, roughly following the coast, and three inland routes now provide the core of the state's rail network. Numerous branch lines, many since closed, once serviced remote areas and provided transport to local industries, particularly mining.
History The pattern of early Queensland railway development was focused upon providing transport from inland areas to ports at the lowest possible cost. Coastal shipping provided adequate connections between the coastal communities and so priority was given to building railways which would facilitate development and immigration to the interior of the colony. This resulted in separate lines being constructed in isolation, rather than as extensions to a connected system.
Sections The 11 sections (as at 1 May 1890) were: 1: Brisbane – Charleville, Warwick & Yandina 2: Cooroy – Gympie – Maryborough – Bundaberg 3: North Bundaberg – Mount Perry 4: Rockhampton – Longreach, Clermont & Springsure 5: North Rockhampton – Emu Park 6: Mackay – Eton & Mirani 7: Bowen – Guthalungra 8: Townsville – Hughenden 9: Cairns – Mareeba 10: Cooktown – Laura 11: Normanton – Croydon
Time to connect In 1883 the Queensland government had decided to connect Brisbane to Gladstone, and by 1900 to extend that line north to Rockhampton. In 1910 the most significant scheme to connect all remaining significant systems was made with the passing of the North Coast Railway Act. Another scheme, the Great Western Railway proposal, was commenced but later abandoned.
Set out below are the opening dates of the linking sections, and the systems so linked using the above numbering. 15 June 1891: Bundaberg – North Bundaberg (2 & 3) 17 July 1891: Yandina – Cooroy (1 & 2) 1 October 1897: Rosedale – Iveragh links Gladstone to Brisbane 6 November 1899: Rockhampton – North Rockhampton (4 & 5) 18 December 1903: Gladstone – Rockhampton (3 & 4) 1 September 1913: Home Hill – Carstairs (7 & 8) 24 September 1921: St Lawrence – Carmila (5 & 6) 1 December 1923: Farleigh – Proserpine (6 & 7) 10 December 1924: Lily Pond – Feluga, Innisfail – Daradgee (8 & 9)
The remote Cooktown to Laura line closed in 1961. The Normanton to Croydon line remains the sole isolated line operated by Queensland Rail.
Thematic
Thematically, the rationale for railway construction could be divided into the following categories: Access from port to interior 1865–1932 Access to mining areas (or 1st era mine lines) 1881–1929 Traditional branch lines 1882–1930 System integration 1883–ongoing Contemporary heavy haulage (or 2nd era mine lines) 1952–ongoing Urban passenger service 1882–ongoing
Access to the interior When the colony of Queensland separated from New South Wales in 1859, it was a vast undeveloped area with a non-indigenous population of ~30,000. With land as its only significant asset and revenue source, the Queensland government gave priority to facilitating access to and development of any area which showed promise.
The first priority was a line to provide the fertile Darling Downs region with reliable land transport to a river port,Kerr, J. 'Triumph of Narrow Gauge' Boolarong Publications 1990 and the Main Line was opened from Ipswich to Dalby between 1865–1868, and extended to Cunnamulla over the next 30 years, providing access to significant areas of country used predominantly for livestock grazing. The line was extended east to Brisbane in 1876 to improve port access.
The Southern line from Toowoomba was opened to Warwick in 1871, and extended to the NSW border at Wallangarra in 1887, providing a rail link (with changes of gauge) to Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.
The Central West line from Rockhampton to Longreach was opened between 1867–1892, again servicing significant areas of grazing land. The Great Northern line from Charters Towers to Hughenden was opened between 1884 and 1887, and to Winton in 1899 in order to serve significant areas of grazing land. The Hughenden – Julia Creek section opened between 1903–1907 was for the same purpose.
The Atherton Tablelands rail network was built to service productive agricultural areas once the line reached Mareeba.
The South Western line was built to prevent freight, especially wool, being shipped via NSW, explaining why the line never serviced St George, the largest town in the region.
The North Coast line was the last trunk line built, serving many agricultural areas.
The last section of traditional line opened in Queensland, from Thangool – Lawgi in 1932 was part of a scheme to link the town of Monto to Rockhampton, although by then Monto was already connected to two other ports, and so its abandonment as a result of the depression is not surprising.
The first branch line to close in Queensland was built to improve Rockhampton's access to a port, but the Broadmount line was opened in 1898 before other major port facilities were built, and became a redundant line once the NCL from Gladstone was opened in 1903. The fact it remained open until 1929 is a testament to hope over reality.
1st era mine lines Mining has always been a significant part of the Queensland economy, and railways were built to facilitate mine development, though some of the early lines were as notable for being opened as the mining field declined, and one line didn't make it to the mining field before it petered out.
The first lines built primarily for mining were Townsville–Charters Towers, Warwick–Stanthorpe, Maryborough–Gympie and the Mount Perry line. The latter is an example of a line that was open for only a short period before the mining field declined, leaving it serving relatively poor quality agricultural land.
The Emerald-Clermont line was built to a copper mine, but it served good quality grazing land and was not affected by the closure of the mine. It returned to being a mining line when the Blair Athol coal extension opened in 1910.
A line to facilitate coal exports that probably should have been built sooner was the Corinda–Stanley Street wharf line at south Brisbane. The extension of the Main Line railway from Ipswich towards Brisbane was originally proposed to assist transport of coal, but the approval didn't include a connection to Brisbane's river port, and it opened in 1875 serving the city centre. The line to Stanley Street finally opened 9 years later, serving the coal wharves for 80 years.
In contrast the lines to Ravenswood and Croydon served largely to assist miners to leave the areas, each opening as the fields were in decline. The Ravenswood line became the first rural branch line to close in 1930, and the Normanton to Croydon line survives largely due to its isolation, it never being connected to the QR network.
The other line that was never connected to the network never even made it to the mining field it was built to serve. The Cooktown line was opened about halfway to the Palmer goldfield when construction was abandoned, and remained open until 1961 to serve a small population in a remote area, having only a weekly railmotor for the last 34 years it operated.
The Cairns line was commenced to serve the Herberton tin field, though by the time it reached the Tableland that field was also in decline. However, the line went on to be a vital connection for the Chillagoe and Etheridge mining fields, which were developed privately as by that time the government had become averse to risking construction of a line primarily for mining purposes.
Ironically, with the benefit of hindsight the line to Cloncurry could have been built years earlier with no risk to the government. The Croydon line was intended for Cloncurry until it was diverted in 1890, and Cloncurry waited 20 years for a railway. Today the Mount Isa line continues to serve this major mining centre.
Another line that suffered from the lack of geological knowledge of the era was the branch to Mount Morgan, built including Queensland's only rack railway in order to minimise cost as insurance in case the Mount Morgan mine had a short life. The mine in fact turned out to be one of the richest in Australia, and lasted nearly a century. The rack section may have saved on construction cost, but added significantly to ongoing operating costs, and was bypassed in 1952.
The last line in this section, from Bowen to Collinsville foreshadowed the post 1950 expansion of mineral lines, being one of the first lines serving the Bowen Basin coalfields.
Traditional branch lines Every community within a reasonable distance of a railway line benefited once it had opened, and the calls for new lines to service any community without access was a dominant political issue until the 1930s.
The first branch line opened was from Ipswich south to Harrisville in 1882, serving a fertile valley. The constant pressure to minimise expenditure resulted in adoption of 1 in 30 (~3.3%) grades and alignments beside roads. The problems caused by such steep grades was soon realised, and subsequent sections adopted 1 in 50 (2%) grades, but the light level of traffic meant the original section was never upgraded.
The early branch lines served areas with good quality agricultural land (or the potential for it), including around Emerald, Toowoomba and Warwick. Later lines served more marginal agricultural land, and the cost-benefit equation became more subjective in such areas, especially after better road transport became available from 1920 or so.
The last traditional branch line opened (as opposed to an extension of an existing line) was from Inglewood to Texas in 1930. Some branch lines were linked, others had proposals for links, but few remained open once the electorate put more importance on roads for transport after WW2.
System integration Arguably the first decision of the Queensland government towards system integration was in 1883, when the linking of the Brisbane and Maryborough rail systems, plus the construction of a line to Gladstone was approved, being the genesis of the North Coast line (NCL). When completed in 1897, it linked three (or four if you count the section built south of Gladstone) of the 11 separate railway systems that had existed in 1890.
The Park line was connected to the Central Western line with the opening of the Alexandra Railway Bridge across the Fitzroy River in 1899, potentially anticipating the opening of the Gladstone-Rockhampton section of the NCL in 1903.
The most significant system integration decision was the passage of the North Coast Railway and the Great Western Railway Acts in 1910. Whilst the latter proposed system was effectively abandoned in 1917, the construction of the NCL north of Rockhampton was undertaken intermittently until in 1924 Cairns and the Tablelands network were connected to the remainder of the QR system (with the exception of the Cooktown and Normanton railways, which were never connected).
Opening of the link between German Creek, then part of the Blackwater coal network, and Norwich Park on the Goonyella coal network in 1983 provided a contingency connection rather than further system integration, as the two networks continue to operate independently.