Mackay Railway

The Mackay Railway was a 68 km line situated in the Pioneer River valley in North Queensland, Australia. It opened in a series of sections between 1885 and 1911. 3 short branches junctioned from it, parts of which were initially built by the local government. It closed in sections between 1959 and circa 2007.

History

Mackay, about 1000 km north of Brisbane, is situated at the entrance of a fertile river valley, and was quickly developed for agriculture, especially sugar cane. Sugar mills had been constructed with private cane tramways, meaning each mill had a local monopoly.

The Mackay railway was built to allow growers to ship their sugar cane to alternative buyers, ending the mill monopolies.

The first section opened from Mackay to Eton, the only other town in the region at the time, together with a branch from Newbury Junction to Mirani, 36 km in total, in 1885. The "branch line" from Mirani was extended 16 km west to Pinnacle between 1897-1902, and traffic grew to the point where it became regarded as the main line, and Eton as the branch line. The Queensland Government built two sugar mills as part of the development, and in due course most mills became cooperatively owned.

Local government involvement

Keen to facilitate further development, the Pioneer Shire Council funded the construction of a 9 km extension to Finch Hatton, opened in 1904. It also funded a 12 km branch from Benholme to Kirkup, opened 1903.

Walter Paget, the MLA for Mackay, became the Minister for Railways in 1908, and the Council lines were purchased by the Queensland Railways Department to enable further extensions. The 10 km Finch Hatton - Netherdale extension (to the base of the Eungella Range) opened in 1911, as did the 2 km Kirkup - Kungurri extension.

Systems connected

In 1921 Mackay was linked to the North Coast line to Rockhampton and Brisbane, with the northern connection to Townsville opening in 1923.

A third branch, 10 km from Gargett to Owens Creek, opened in 1922. As with the other lines, the main traffic was sugar cane. As cane is harvested for 6 months each year, the Mackay railway network had 2 distinct seasons, one much quieter than the other.

System disruption

In March 1956 the Mirani bridge was destroyed by flood waters, and a locomotive was moved west of there to operate the isolated section until a temporary bridge was opened three months later. A permanent replacement bridge was opened in December 1959.

Closures and conversions

The first section to close was the 4 km from Eton to Victoria, site of a sugar Mill, in 1959. In 1967 the Kungurri and Owens Creek branches were sold to local sugar mills and converted to 610mm (2') gauge cane tramways. The section from Victoria - Newbury Junction closed in 1971.

The Netherdale - Finch Hatton section closed in 1977, and the 33 km Finch Hatton - Marian section in 1990, also to be converted to sugar cane tramways. The 23 km Paget Junction - Marian section closed circa 2007.

External links

• 1925 map of the Queensland railway system