G'day all, I've been reading through the Queensland Railways timetable for long distance and country lines* issued on 1st September 1964 and it has brought back to me how the various State Railways in Australia handled the whole transport task. Reading this it is almost as if air and road transport were still somewhere in the future. The timetables themselves are fascinating enough but the intricate parcels rate scales not to mention the Rules and Regulations really take one back to another time. A time before 1900 very often when the railway was the only way.
The photos attached which were taken at Mount Morgan give some idea of railway life in the Central Queensland hinterland in the early 1960s. Everthing moved at a pretty leisurely pace much as it had done for decades and my guess is that the QR at Mount Morgan might have employed maybe 40 or 50 people if there were engine crews based there..... and it was only 25 miles from Rockhampton.
A change is coming though, 1400 class GM diesels are hauling coal up from the coalfields south of here, some of it even in bogie steel hoppers.
All this is gone and the Queensland Railways and their coal haulage are big time now.
I'll have to get up there sometime soon and have a look for myself.
It was hot, overcast and very humid and the flat light made for flat looking pictures but I suppose that's better than no pictures.
Regards,
Peter Bruce.
* Price. 1/-.
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