The Millmerran railway line is a 71 kilometre long

branch railway 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 ...

in the

Darling Downs The Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia. The Downs are to the west of South East Queensland and are one of the major regions of Queensland. The name was generall ...

region of

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia.

History

The

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 s ...

approved a railway line to link

Pittsworth Pittsworth is a rural town and locality in the Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Pittsworth had a population of 3,294 people. Geography Pittsworth township is south-west of Brisbane via the Warrego Highway, so ...

with the east via the

Southern railway line The Southern railway line serves the Darling Downs region of Queensland, Australia. The long line branches from the Western line at Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, and proceeds south through Warwick and Stanthorpe to the New South Wales/Queensl ...

from

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 C ...

in October 1885. The line branches off the Southern line in the township of Wyreema (then called Beauaraba) 17 km south of the major regional city of

and opened on 19 September 1887. The Southern line branched from

Gowrie Junction Gowrie Junction is a rural locality in the Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It is north-west of Toowoomba. In the , Gowrie Junction had a population of 2,030 people. The town of Gowrie is in the eastern part of the locality (). Geograp ...

until the opening of the Drayton Deviation from Toowoomba direct to Wyreema in 1915. Stops were constructed en route to Pittsworth at The Hollows, Umbiram, Southbrook, Greenhills and

Broxburn Broxburn ( gd, Srath Bhroc, IPA: �s̪ɾaˈvɾɔʰk is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, on the A89 road, from the West End of Edinburgh, from Edinburgh Airport and to the north of Livingston. Etymology The name Broxburn is a corruption of ...

. An extension to the agricultural centre of Millmerran via Murlaggan, Yarranlea, Cecilvale, Brookstead,

Pampas The Pampas (from the qu, pampa, meaning "plain") are fertile South American low grasslands that cover more than and include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, and Córdoba; all of Uruguay; and Brazil ...

and

Yandilla Yandilla is a rural locality in the Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. In the Yandilla had a population of 46 people. Geography The north-eastern boundary follows the Condamine River The Condamine River, part of the Balonne River, B ...

was approved in November 1909 and opened for business on 18 October 1911. Much of the line closely parallels the

Gore Highway The Gore Highway is a highway running between Toowoomba and Goondiwindi in Queensland, Australia. Together with Goulburn Valley Highway and Newell Highway, it is a part of the National Highway's Melbourne-Brisbane link. It is signed as National ...

. Grain traffic was substantial and has been the branch lifeblood all along. A rail motor service operated between 1928 and 1969. As occurred elsewhere, road transport took over much of the business with the result that only spasmodic grain transport remains. The line was closed following the

2010–11 Queensland floods 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

. American operator

Watco Watco Companies, L.L.C. (Watco) is a transportation company based in Pittsburg, Kansas, formed in 1983 by Charles R. Webb. Watco was composed of four divisions: transportation, mechanical, terminal and port services, and compliance. Watco is t ...

began operating grain trains to and from Brookstead in April 2022 on behalf of GrainCorp. The line was laid with 30kg/m rail with an axle load of 15.75 tonnes. The maximum grade is 1 in 50 (2%) and the minimum radius curves are 160m. The line speed is 50km/h to Brookstead, and was 30km/h beyond.

References

* "

External links

1925 map of the Queensland railway system

{{Railway lines in Queensland , state=expanded Railway lines in Queensland Railway lines opened in 1897 Toowoomba Region 1897 establishments in Australia

History

See also

References

External links