More Monday Morning Photo, Wednesday Arvo 22/06/2011.

G'day all, the photo is a bit repetetive I know but I just thought I'd draw attention to the differing styles of accomodation available to the discerning traveller on the Queensland Government Railways in 1964. The airconditioned "Sunlander" set is stabled next to some passenger cars of an earlier era. That was the sort of basic accomodation you got if you chose to ride a mixed train, the first choice of any teenage railfan watching the world pass by the window at 20mph.

 

It is obvious from the photo that Cairns in 1964 was a very different town from today's mini metropolis. It seems from Google Earth[our friend!] that the station has moved too, am I right?

 

Regards,

 

Peter Bruce. 

Monday Morning Photo. Tuesday 21/06/2011.

G'day all, first thanks to Arthur Robinson and Geoff Kirton for their clarification of various points about the long North Coast railway, apart from the fact that there is a lot I can't remember, as well much has changed. I have posted their replies to http://teenagerailfan.blogger.com

 

We finally made it to Cairns and Kuranda but I think I must have been running low on film by this time, I set off from Melbourne with a pack of 12 rolls of Ilford FP3, 144 frames to last about four weeks and just enough money for necessaries so I couldn't count on being able to buy any more film.

 

I know we went to both the Victoria and Macknade sugar mills, whether on our way north or south I'm not sure but attached is a photo of a Victoria Mill cane train scuttling across the QGR main line at Ingham station. Of interest also is No.23 shunting in Cairns yard, I think it was built originally for the Chillagoe Railway and Mining Company up on the Atherton Tableland out west of Cairns. We had intended to hang around Cairns for a while but we were told that the train headed by 1029 was going to be the only southbound steam hauled goods for some time and as we had already been up the range to Kuranda we decided to take possession of the brake van and head for home.

 

I'll post some shots from the mills next time.

 

Regards,

 

Peter Bruce.

 

P.S. Arthur, can you tell me where the present day Townsville station is, I can't seem to find it on Google Earth although every pizza shop and tanning salon in town seems to be picked out!!    

Fw: Townsville

Forwarded from Geoff Kirton.

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Geoff Kirton"
> Thanks Peter and Rick for these,
>
> T'ville must have had the most complicated rail layout in Aust.
> Had the workshops, loco depot, railmotor depot & station north of Ross
> Creek.
> South of Ross Ck. was Townsville South Yard which had a diamond crossing
> of the main line to access the wharves, nickel loading facilities & sugar
> terminal.
> Also a yard which was roughly oriented north-south in the appropriately
> named suburb of Railway Estate.
>
> Have a feeling that South Yd may have been replaced by a park & a motor
> racing street circuit, after looking at a photo in a Qld travel supplement
> from a "Herald Sun" recently.
> Also that a new station was built on a bypass in the southern or western
> suburbs somewhere, like Mackay.
> Looking at this travel supplement, I could see the former station in the
> distance.
> Think there was a requirement that it had to be kept for heritage
> purposes, especially for the original GNR building.
> Townsville still has the carriage workshops.
> I think the original T'ville 'shops were that saw-toothed building in the
> background.
>
> The ancient looking railmotor was a Panhard, I think - the other bigger
> ones probably AEC's.
> One of those RM's was in your photo at Bowen, with the 2 trailers - & the
> bonus water & hills backdrop.
> Have a feeling that Bowen has been by-passed as well with a new station
> once again to the south or west.
>
> Cheers
>
> Geoff

Townsville

Forwarded from Arthur Robinson

 

Peter,

 

I am sending this to you only as i keep getting messages some of the adresses on your list are rejected.

 

See attached diagram.

Geoff is partially correct. See comments below.

Arthur R

----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Bruce" <pbruce1@optusnet.com.au>
Sent: Friday, June 17, 2011 1:22 PM
Subject: Fw: Townsville

> Thanks to Geoff for this clarification.
>
> Peter Bruce.
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "Geoff Kirton"
>> T'ville must have had the most complicated rail layout in Aust.
>> Had the workshops, loco depot, railmotor depot & station north of Ross Creek.

 

This is correct.

Passenger trains from the south travelling on to Cairns would diverge to the right at South Townsville enter the staion from the north.

They would then depart for Cairns direct.

 

Passenger train from or to the GNR would use the southern connection.

 

The train hauled by 1302 would have been heading south to Stuart and then most likely west to Mount Isa, probably with passenger acommodation thus leaving from the station area.

 

>> South of Ross Ck. was Townsville South Yard which had a diamond crossing of the main line to access the wharves, nickel loading facilities & sugar
>> terminal.
>> Also a yard which was roughly oriented north-south in the appropriately named suburb of Railway Estate.
>>
>> Have a feeling that South Yd may have been replaced by a park & a motor racing street circuit, after looking at a photo in a Qld travel supplement from a "Herald Sun" recently.

 

No! the South Yard is still there and is the main yard for the Townsville area.

 

There is a long term plan to provide a new line to the port and move the freight facilites to the Stuart area.

Long is the definitive work in this case.

>> Also that a new station was built on a bypass in the southern or western suburbs somewhere, like Mackay.
>> Looking at this travel supplement, I could see the former station in the distance.

 

The New station is just on the south side of Ross Creek, see attached diagram.

All tracks north of the blue line on the diagram have been or are to be removed.

>> Think there was a requirement that it had to be kept for heritage
>> purposes, especially for the original GNR building. Yes, but without a rail connection.
>> Townsville still has the carriage workshops.
>> I think the original T'ville 'shops were that saw-toothed building in the
>> background.
>>
>> The ancient looking railmotor was a Panhard, I think - the other bigger
>> ones probably AEC's.
>> One of those RM's was in your photo at Bowen, with the 2 trailers - & the
>> bonus water & hills backdrop.
>> Have a feeling that Bowen has been by-passed as well with a new station
>> once again to the south or west. Yes.
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> Geoff

Monday Morning Photo. Tuesday 14/06/2011.

G'day All, only just got around to scanning these photos taken at Townsville. The area around the loco depot and the railmotor depot was probably the most ramshackle major rail installation I've ever seen.

I've realised that there has been a substantial re-organisation of the railway at Townsville, the original station has been abandoned by the looks of things on Google maps so it is a bit hard to imagine what the layout was back in '64.

My guess is that GE diesel 1302 is heading west with those early freight containers behind the loco but perhaps someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

I think that the Great Northern Railway railmotor was somewhere near the old station, it seemed not to have turned a wheel for quite some time. Every railmotor I saw in Queensland during this trip seemed to be different. Can anyone enlighten us about this elderly luxury chariot? It looks like the Northern Division's breakdown crane is in the background of the earlier pic of 1302.

We were in Townsville on a Sunday so the joint wasn't really jumpin', I think 1302's train was the only movement we saw between the departure of the northbound "Sunlander" and whatever slow roadside goods it was that we left town on...... later that night I think it was, it would have been our sleeping accomodation anyway.

I'm going to have to do some serious recollecting about the trip north to Cairns, I know we took in a sugar mill or two and I know that at either Ingham or Innisfail we were bailed up by a zealous guard who demanded that we pay for the privilege of riding his particular length of the old QGR, most unreasonable! We couldn't really complain though, we probably only paid for 150-200 miles of the 1043 from Brisbane to Cairns and probably less on the return. I'm using the 1962 Timetables so I'll leave it to the readers to do the metric conversion. According to this timetable it would have cost us 253 shillings for a return 2nd class fare Brisbane-Cairns, $25.30. No wonder we tried to avoid paying!!

Cliff Olds, I've really enjoyed the account and photos of your Nullabor saga.

Regards to all,

Peter Bruce.

All postings can be found at http://teenagerailfan.blogger.com