The Wallaville Branch Railway was a fifty kilometre railway line in Queensland, Australia. It was a branch line from
Goondoon railway station () (about twenty kilometres east of
Gin Gin on the
Mount Perry railway line in the
Bundaberg Region of
Queensland,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
) southwest to
Kalliwa Creek. It was approved in December 1914 to tap the
Goodnight Scrub forests and to transport
sugar cane to the
Wallaville mill established in 1896.
Construction
Work began but was suspended in 1916. Construction resumed after
World War I and the first stage to Wallaville was opened on 9 August 1920.
Stops were established en route at
Snake Creek,
Bungadoo
Bungadoo is a rural locality in the Bundaberg Region, Queensland, Australia. The area was formerly known as Albionville. In the Bungadoo had a population of 315 people.
Geography
The Burnett River forms the southern and eastern boundary of th ...
,
Delan,
Weithew,
Berrembea,
Drinan and
Lallewoon. Two trains a week plied the route plus additional services during the sugar crushing season.
Extension
As an employment measure during the depression, the line was extended beyond Wallaville about 10 kilometres via
Innes to
Morganville but still well short of the original Kalliwa Creek proposal. Located near the banks of the
Perry River, Morganville was named in honour of the Railways Minister
Godfrey Morgan and after whom the town of
Glenmorgan in southwest Queensland was also named. Passing through Innes Siding, the extension opened on 3 October 1931. The Morganville extension generated some year round traffic in hoop pine logs and cattle.
Closure
The Innes Siding to Morganville section closed on 1 November 1960 and from Wallaville to Innes closed on 1 May 1964. It must be assumed that they were not viable. The remaining section from Goondoon to Wallaville closed from 15 June 1964. It was sold to the Wallaville sugar mill, which converted the majority to a
two foot gauge sugar cane
tramway.
References
* Rod Milne "Wallaville Branch Line" ARHS Bulletin June 1997
External links
Article on Australian sugar cane locomotives1925 map of the Queensland railway system{{Railway lines in Queensland , state=expanded
Closed railway lines in Queensland
History of sugar
Railway lines opened in 1920
Railway lines closed in 1964
Sugar mill railways