The Millmerran railway line is a 71 kilometre long branch railway in the Darling Downs region of Queensland, Australia.
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History
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The Queensland Parliament approved a railway line to link Pittsworth with the east via the Southern railway line from Toowoomba in October 1885.[citation needed]
The line branches off the Southern line in the township of Wyreema (then called Beauaraba) 17 km south of the major regional city of Toowoomba and opened on 19 September 1887. The Southern line branched from Gowrie Junction until the opening of the Drayton Deviation from Toowoomba direct to Wyreema in 1915.[citation needed]
Stops were constructed en route to Pittsworth at The Hollows, Umbiram, Southbrook, Greenhills and Broxburn.[citation needed]
An extension to the agricultural centre of Millmerran via Murlaggan, Yarranlea, Cecilvale, Brookstead, Pampas and Yandilla was approved in November 1909 and opened for business on 18 October 1911. Much of the line closely parallels the Gore Highway.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
The line was closed following the 2010–11 Queensland floods.[1] American operator Watco began operating grain trains to and from Brookstead in April 2022 on behalf of GrainCorp.
The line was laid with 30 kg/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 50 km/h to Brookstead, and was 30 km/h beyond.[citation needed]
See also
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References
edit- ^ "Springborg slams line closure". The Chronicle. Toowoomba Newspapers. 11 November 2011. Archived from the original on 26 October 2014.
- "Kerr, John (1990), Triumph of narrow gauge : a history of Queensland Railways, Boolarong Publications, ISBN 978-0-86439-102-5