Australia 1937
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Robin Barnes - Railway Art and History |
The isolated 1067 mm gauge (3 ft 6in) railway from Cooktown, on the Queensland
coast north of Cairns, westward towards the Great Dividing Range, never reached
Maytown, its intended destination in the Palmer goldfield, but ran out of track at the
tiny settlement of Laura, about 108 km from its start. Opened in 1885, despite the
paucity of traffic, it managed to stagger on until 1962, having been operated since
1927 by a series of railmotors, adaptions in the Queensland Railways' own work-
shops of 45 hp petrol-engine AEC road vehicle chassis. This is RM80 Endeavour,
pictured on the day in 1937 when it was given the task of taking the boiler of the
Palmer River dredger from Laura down to Cooktown. In 1944 Endeavour moved
to the Croydon - Normanton line, where its damaged frame survives to this day.
All railway art is for viewing only and is copyrighted to Robin Barnes 2008.
The railway art may not be reproduced in any way without written permission from the artist. |