Charters Towers is a railway station on the

Great Northern line The Great Northern route (formerly known as Great Northern Electrics) is the name given to suburban rail services run on the southern end of Britain's East Coast Main Line and its associated branches. Services operate to or from and in Lond ...

Charters Towers Charters Towers is a rural town in the Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Australia. It is by road south-west from Townsville on the Flinders Highway. During the last quarter of the 19th century, the town boomed as the rich gold deposits under ...

, west of

Townsville Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...

North Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its tropical northern part has been ...

, Australia.

History

The line arrived at

in December 1882 and eventually extended west to the city of

Mount Isa Mount Isa ( ) is a city in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive single mines in world history, bas ...

in 1929. The line was built initially to connect Charters Towers with the

Port of Townsville Port of Townsville is a government-owned Corporation and seaport in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. It is the third largest seaport in Queensland after Port of Brisbane and the Port of Gladstone. It is located south of the mouth of Ross Cree ...

. The spark was the discovery of gold that had taken place in January 1872. Seven years later the rise in gold returns convinced the government to connect the centre to the coast with a more reliable transport conduit. The station was built at Queenton, midway between the two population centres of Charters Towers and Millchester. This was in a part to appease both townships and for practical purposes given the country here was flat. The station was opened in December 1882 by

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

Thomas McIlwraith Sir Thomas McIlwraith (17 May 1835 – 17 July 1900) was for many years the dominant figure of colonial politics in Queensland. He was Premier of Queensland from 1879 to 1883, again in 1888, and for a third time in 1893. In common with most po ...

. The distance to the town put the onus on the more prominent hotels to 'meet the train' and transport travellers up Hospital Hill via Gill Street into the town centre. The station building was demolished in 1983 and replaced. The station was photographed by Allom and Bailey in 1887. The first image shows the station at Queenton looking east while the other shows the crossing looking west towards Charters Towers. The crossing remains in place and still creates traffic holdups. The signals, crane and subway at the station were listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 30 October 2008.

Services

Charters Towers is served by Traveltrain's ''

Inlander The ''Inlander'' was a sternwheeler that worked on the Skeena River in British Columbia, Canada, from 1910 until 1912. She was owned by the Prince Rupert and Skeena River Navigation Company which was a syndicate of Skeena River businessmen who p ...

'' service.

References

External links

Charters Towers station
Queensland's Railways on the Internet {{Queensland Rail railway stations, Inlander=y, state=collapsed Charters Towers Railway stations in Australia opened in 1882 Regional railway stations in Queensland

History

Services

References

Further reading

External links