This week in Queensland Rail history: The Brisbane Valley Branch opened to Esk on 9th August 1886. The Brisbane Valley line was seriously considered as an alternative route to link Brisbane to Gympie. Further extension beyond Esk had to wait for just on eighteen years. Local agitation meant that various proposals for extension of the line further up the Brisbane Valley were considered. A ten mile (sixteen kilometre) extension to Biarra was defeated in Parliament in 1895. However in 1900, a special Royal Commission into various proposed railways in Queensland recommended a twenty-six mile (forty-five kilometre) extension to Moore in the Upper Brisbane Valley. Following Parliamentary approval in 1900, construction began on the much anticipated twenty-six kilometre long section to what was to become Toogoolawah (home of the Cressbrook Condensed Milk factory). The new extension was officially opened to Toogoolawah on February 8th, 1904, & the additional four miles to Kannangur on September 1st, 1904. Whilst this line opened up the Brisbane Valley for settlers – especially dairy farmers – the Timber Reserves of the Blackbutt Range were unable to be accessed. Parliamentary approval was given to extend the line another 45 kilometres to a tree blazed with a survey mark “sixty-six and a half miles from the junction of the Brisbane Valley railway with the Ipswich-Toowoomba main line.” The railway line opened from Kannangur to Linville on 22nd November 1910. However, beyond Linville itself the line required major engineering works to climb the Balfour Range to Blackbutt. Over 1000 feet (300 metres) would need to be climbed in just over eleven miles (seventeen kilometres). Linville was also the major base construction camp for the extension. The climb into the ranges was to be a major test for engines and crew, for the next seventy-eight years.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Jul 2013 10:57:10 +0000
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