MRQC: Queensland's Railways
Selected images, assorted photographers.

Queensland's Railways/Tramways and Rail Operators

[The content on this page hasn't been updated recently, thus may contain out-dated references to Queensland's rail operators.]

Tramway is the term used in Queensland until the late 20th Century to refer to rail operations owned by Shire governments or private companies such as the sugar mills. While originally railway referred only to the government-owned main line, today almost anything running on rails is a railway.

Link to www.zelmeroz.com/CaneSIG for information on modelling sugar mill railway operations in Queensland and elsewhere.

Link to the Rail Heritage Image Library. Links to video and other materials are on the Photos page.

Books and other publications of interest.

  • QGR/QR/QR National/Aurizon: The original and dominant 1067mm 'mainline' railway. Queensland Rail was founded in 1865, currently operates SE Qld's CityTrains, long distance and tourist trains across Qld, and is responsible for 6500km of track and other infrastructure. Aurizon, a publicly listed company, is "Australia's largest rail freight operator, moving coal, iron ore, agricultural freight and more across the nation."
  • Pacific National: Operates containerised traffic in the main north-south coastal corridor, and operates rail services in several other states.
  • Sugar Mills: Most of the Queensland sugar mills hauled at least some of their sugar cane and/or raw sugar by rail. Generally 610mm (2') gauge, mill railways were found all along the Queensland coast from the NSW border to north of Cairns.
  • Smaller Operators: Railco, the Savanahlander and others have scheduled tourist-oriented services on QR or ex-QR trackage.
  • Heritage Operators: A variety of organisations, including QR, operate heritage railway services on QR track, generally on an occasional basis, although Mary Valley runs several services each week on dedicated ex-QR track. Museums and related organisations (ANGRMS, Archer Park, ASCR, Whistlestop, etc.) provide regular railfan/tourist-oriented services, typically either weekly or monthly, on dedicated trackage.
  • Copyright © Modelling the Railways of Queensland Convention, Lynn Zelmer or the contributor as appropriate. Last updated: 10 April 2020 [lz]; e-mail: Lynn @ ZelmerOz.com