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The Marburg Branch Railway is a branch line of the Main Line railway (from Brisbane to Toowoomba) in Queensland, Australia. It branches near Rosewood, which is about 20 kilometres west of Ipswich.
Previously known as Rosewood Gate, a railway gatekeeper was appointed to Rosewood in 1866. A waiting room and stationmaster's house were built in 1875 and a station office built in 1880 was replaced with the current building in 1918. Agricultural land to the north of Rosewood was not directly serviced by the Brisbane Valley railway line and, in December 1909, parliament approved the construction of a branch line to run about 15 kilometres to Marburg.
The Marburg locality was originally known as First Plain, then as Frederick after the name of an early settler, and lastly as Marburg after a Prussian town of the same name. During World War I the town was known as Townshend but the Marburg name was reinstated in 1920.
The line opened on 18 December 1911. The route was (from north to south):
- Marburg (27°33′56″S 152°35′40″E / 27.5656°S 152.5944°E)[1]
- Malabar (27°35′02″S 152°35′24″E / 27.5839°S 152.5900°E)[1]
- Birru (27°35′41″S 152°34′52″E / 27.5946°S 152.5810°E)[1]
- Tallegalla (27°36′00″S 152°34′19″E / 27.6001°S 152.5719°E)[1]
- Kunkala (27°36′32″S 152°33′42″E / 27.6090°S 152.5618°E)[1]
- Cabanda (27°36′42″S 152°34′44″E / 27.6117°S 152.5790°E)[1]
- Perrys Knob (27°36′59″S 152°35′02″E / 27.6163°S 152.5838°E)[1]
- North Rosewood (27°37′44″S 152°35′05″E / 27.6289°S 152.5848°E)[1]
A daily service to Ipswich departed Marburg each morning and returned in the evening. It was a two-hour journey by rail and over time the faster road trip prevailed. Coal mines in the region kept the line viable until they progressively closed.
The branch closed in stages – from Marburg to Birru in 1964, to Kunkala in 1970, Cabanda in 1973 and to Perry's Knob in 1979. The Rosewood Railway Museum now uses the upper section of the line.[2] It has a display at Kunkala station.
See also edit
References edit
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Railway stations and sidings - Queensland". Queensland Open Data. Queensland Government. 2 October 2020. Archived from the original on 5 October 2020. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- ^ "Rail journey lines up a tour mecca". The Queensland Times. 18 April 2014. Archived from the original on 29 October 2014. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
- "Heritage Trails of the Great South East" QEPA September 2000
- "Triumph of Narrow Gauge: A History of Queensland Railways" by John Kerr 1990 Boolarong Press, Brisbane
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