The Dawson Valley Branch Railway was a railway line in
Central Queensland
Central Queensland is an ambiguous geographical division of Queensland ( a state in Australia) that centres on the eastern coast, around the Tropic of Capricorn. Its major regional centre is Rockhampton. The region extends from the Capricorn Coas ...
, Australia. It branched from the
Central Western railway line at
Kabra in the
Rockhampton Region
The Rockhampton Region is a local government area (LGA) in Central Queensland, Australia, located on the Tropic of Capricorn about north of Brisbane. Rockhampton is the region's major city; the region also includes the Fitzroy River, Mount ...
and went via
Mount Morgan to
Theodore
Theodore may refer to:
Places
* Theodore, Alabama, United States
* Theodore, Australian Capital Territory
* Theodore, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Banana, Australia
* Theodore, Saskatchewan, Canada
* Theodore Reservoir, a lake in Sask ...
in the
Shire of Banana
The Shire of Banana is a local government area located in the Capricorn region of Queensland, Australia, inland from the regional city of Gladstone. The shire was named after the first township in the region (Banana), which in turn was named ...
. It opened in a series of sections between 1898 and 1927, and featured a
rack railway
A rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway, cog railway, or cogwheel railway) is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with th ...
section, one of only 3 such systems in Australia.
History
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...
was discovered in the
Mount Morgan region of Central Queensland in 1882. The
Mount Morgan Gold Mining Company
Mount Morgan Mine was a copper, gold and silver mine in Queensland, Australia. Mining began at Mount Morgan in 1882 and continued until 1981.
Over its lifespan, the mine yielded approximately of gold, of silver and of copper. The mine was ...
was authorised by government in 1890 to build a railway link to
Rockhampton but it did not proceed.
Revised plans were approved by
Queensland Parliament
The Parliament of Queensland is the legislature of Queensland, Australia. As provided under the Constitution of Queensland, the Parliament consists of the Monarch of Australia and the Legislative Assembly. It has been the only unicameral st ...
in December 1896 for a government-built line. The 1890 proposal had involved a conventional line with 1 in 50 (2%) grades and a tunnel at the crest of the
Razorback Range. Its cost and the risk of the mine having a short life deterred both the government and the company. By adopting a rack railway section the cost of building the line was 52% of the 1890 proposal.
The
branch line
A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line.
Industrial spur
An industr ...
commenced at
Kabra about 15 kilometres west of Rockhampton on the
Central West line and headed south towards Mount Morgan. The first stage opened on 15 June 1898 and reached
Moonmera at the foot of a steep climb to Mount Morgan. A siding was located enroute at
Boongary.
Abt rack section
The next stage to
Moongan was a
Abt rack system
A rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway, cog railway, or cogwheel railway) is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with ...
to negotiate grades as steep as 1 in 16.5 (6%). The rack system consisted of 2 parallel toothed vertical bars fixed between the rails which connected with specially built
locomotives. The rack locomotive pushed from the rear of the train during ascent to prevent runaways if a coupling broke, and the front during descent, as the rack provided part of the braking force.
Kirkhall,
Baree and
Walterhall (which was the junction for the branch to the mine itself) were stops above the rack section. The line to
Mount Morgan railway station
Mount Morgan railway station is a heritage-listed railway station at Railway Parade, Mount Morgan, Rockhampton Region, Queensland, Australia. It is on the Mount Morgan - Wowan railway line. The station was constructed in 1898 to service the f ...
was officially opened on Friday 2 December 1898.
After opening, three
mixed train
A mixed train or mixed consist is a train that contains both passenger and freight cars or wagons. Although common in the early days of railways, by the 20th century they were largely confined to branch lines with little traffic. Typically, service ...
s ran daily to and from
Rockhampton railway station
Rockhampton railway station is located on the North Coast line in Queensland, Australia. It serves the city of Rockhampton.
It is the terminus of the electrified section of line from Brisbane. The line north of the station runs along the mid ...
. Two trains ran each way on Sundays thus enabling visitors to conveniently travel the short distance between Mount Morgan and Rockhampton. Despite the high cost of operating the rack section, the line proved very profitable due to the volume of traffic created by, and for the mine. 'Suburban' services ran from
Moongan to
Mount Morgan and return to cater for mine workers.
Southwest extension
The discovery of
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when ...
in the
Dawson Valley in 1900 generated interest in extending the line from Mount Morgan. Parliament approved a south-west extension in late 1909 to take the line as far as
Baralaba
Baralaba is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Banana in central Queensland, Australia. In the , Baralaba had a population of 314 people.
Geography
The Dawson River forms the western boundary of the locality. The town is located in the ...
. It opened in three stages. Terminating at
Wowan, the first stage opened on 16 October 1912 and en route sidings appeared at
Talban,
Kenbula,
Ulogie,
Muranu,
Walmul,
Konara,
Gelobera,
Wura,
Dululu and
Littles Crossing. The second stage took the line via
Buneru,
Cooneel and
Muruguran to
Rannes and opened on 2 February 1915. The third stage opened on 30 July 1917 and terminated at
Baralaba
Baralaba is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Banana in central Queensland, Australia. In the , Baralaba had a population of 314 people.
Geography
The Dawson River forms the western boundary of the locality. The town is located in the ...
after passing through
Kokotungo and
Kalewa
Kalewa is a town at the confluence of the Chindwin River and the Myittha River in Kale District, Sagaing Region of north-western Myanmar. It is the administrative seat of Kalewa Township.
Climate
Kalewa has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen ...
.
The
Callide Valley line junctioned at
Rannes when it opened in 1924.
The transport of coal to Mount Morgan and for the Railways Department was a major contributor to the extended service.
The proposed
Dawson Valley Irrigation Scheme was to open up agricultural land for close settlement along the
Dawson River and was expected to create 5 irrigation zones with 5000 farms and a total population of 50,000 on its farms and towns. The first of these irrigation zone towns was to be
Theodore
Theodore may refer to:
Places
* Theodore, Alabama, United States
* Theodore, Australian Capital Territory
* Theodore, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Banana, Australia
* Theodore, Saskatchewan, Canada
* Theodore Reservoir, a lake in Sask ...
. This prompted approval of a extension further south from Baralaba along the Dawson Valley in 1922. It was completed in two stages – via
Harcourt,
Mungi,
Moura and
Gibihi terminating at
Nipan on 21 June 1926, and then via
Willawa terminating at
Theodore
Theodore may refer to:
Places
* Theodore, Alabama, United States
* Theodore, Australian Capital Territory
* Theodore, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Banana, Australia
* Theodore, Saskatchewan, Canada
* Theodore Reservoir, a lake in Sask ...
(previously called Castle Creek) on 7 May 1927. In its original conception, the line was to be subsequently extended from Theodore to Delusion Creek in
Isla
Isla or ISLA may refer to:
Organizations
* International Securities Lending Association, a trade association
* International School of Los Angeles
* International Bilingual School, later named International School of Los Angeles
People
* Isla ...
to support the Isla irrigation zone. However, the
Nathan Dam, the centrepiece of the Dawson Valley Irrigation Scheme, was never built, and the extension to Delusion Creek was never required.
The service to Theodore was laborious. A mixed train arrived at 4.30am twice a week and departed at 7.30am. The journey to Mount Morgan took almost 8 hours. A weekly rail motor service introduced in 1952 reduced the journey to Rockhampton to some 6 ½ hours.
Bypassing the rack
The
rack railway
A rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway, cog railway, or cogwheel railway) is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with th ...
section near Mount Morgan was closed in 1952 after a conventional line was built to bypass it, with grades of 1 in 50 (2%). This occurred because the rack locomotives were due for replacement and the rack section was becoming a bottleneck in the haulage of coal from Callide Coalfields.
In 1961 a new coal mine (now known as the Dawson mine) was opened south-east of the town of Moura. Initially coal was loaded at a siding at Kianga, 15 km south of Moura. In 1963 a 12 km line was built from Moura to the new mine. At that time the most powerful steam locomotive owned by QR known as the
Beyer-Garratt could haul a 750-ton coal load.
Partial closure
Sections from Kabra to Mount Morgan and Wowan (69 km) and from Baralaba to Moura (47 km) were closed from 1 August 1987 and the lines were taken up, except for a short section at Mt Morgan.
The
Goolara-Theodore section (5 km) closed in 1993, and the Wowan-Rannes (25 km) and
Kooemba-Baralaba (12 km) sections closed in 1995. Goolara is the site of a
grain terminal, and the Goolara-Moura section is now effectively part of the
Moura railway line
The Moura railway line is a railway in central Queensland, connecting several coal mines to the port of Gladstone. It connects the remnants of several lines that previously connected to Rockhampton, originally by a rack railway.
History
The ...
.
Since 1968 Moura coal has been hauled to
Gladstone via the
Moura Short Line. When it opened, triple header diesel hauled trains took 4000 ton coal loads direct to Gladstone.
Route
Gallery
See also
*
Rail transport in Queensland
The rail network in Queensland, Australia, was the first in the world to adopt narrow gauge for a main line, and now the second largest narrow gauge network in the world, consists of:
*the North Coast Line (NCL) extending from Brisbane to R ...
References
External links
1925 map of the Queensland railway system{{Railway lines in Queensland , state=expanded
Closed railway lines in Queensland
Railway lines opened in 1898
Buildings and structures in Central Queensland
Rack railways in Australia