Millmerran railway line

Line at Southbrook, 2014
Millmerran railway line
Legend
 71km Graincorp siding
 70km Millmerran
 59km Yandilla
56km Condamine River
 53km Pampas
50km Condamine River (north arm)
 47km Brookstead
 42km Cecilvale
 39km Yarranlea
 26km Pittsworth
 25km Pittsworth East
 22km Broxburn
 18km Greenhills
 16km Southbrook
 9km Umbriam
 6km The Hollows
0km Southern Line from Wyreema

The Millmerran railway line is a 71 kilometre long branch railway in the Darling Downs region of Queensland, Australia.

History

Believed to be the opening of the Millmerran section, 1911. Note the incomplete station building (no roof) behind the loco
RM55 and trailer pause at Pittsworth Station on a special train to Millmerran to Celebrate the Centenary of the opening of the line to Pittsworth, September 1987

Parliament approved a line to link Pittsworth with the east via the southern line from Toowoomba in October 1885.

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.

Stops were constructed en route to Pittsworth at The Hollows, Umbriam, Southbrook, Green Hills and Broxburn.

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.

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.

The line was closed following the 2010–11 Queensland floods.[1]

Current line standards

The line is laid with 30kg/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 50km/h to Brookstead, and 30km/h beyond.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Springborg slams line closure". The Chronicle. Toowoomba Newspapers. 11 November 2011. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
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