Mary Valley Rattler

 I have joined an Audio club that holds meets in Brisbane and I planned to attend one of them. Unfortunately, the host had to cancel because of a medical issue, but I was all hepped up to go for a long drive. During the night, I had an idea to drive the 100 km down to Gympie and ride the Mary Valley Rattler which is a small railway that runs steam trains to a small village named Amamoor. Marianne liked the idea so we set off at 7 am to catch the train at 9 am. 

The old Gympie station which is now the home of the Rattler. In 1881, a railway line was built to transport gold from the mines in Gympie to the port of Maryborough. Shortly after, the line was continued down to Brisbane. In 1989, the railway line was electrified and a new route bypassed the old station.

The station is Heritage Listed and now serves as a museum and the headquarters of the Mary Valley Rattler.

Passenger trains used to stop here and allow passengers to get refreshments and walk around for exercise. The trains were very slow and it used to take almost eight hours to go 167 miles from Maryborough to Brisbane. Maryborough to Gympie was about two hours.

The pride and joy is this C-17, built at Walkers in Maryborough in 1950.

Note the red plate.

Passengers waiting on the platform. Note the roof which covers the platform and protects from sun and heavy rain.

Connecting walkway between carriages. Another C-17 in the background.

Our carriage.

The train route to Aramoor.

Our tickets before they were punched by a volunteer attendant.

Marianne commented on these unusual tables.

There have been many heritage railways in Australia and as they form or go broke, the passenger seats get passed on to other railways.

Overhead light.

The next carriage. A standard seat was $68 and there would have been over 100 passengers.

The engine experienced a problem which resulted in a 45 minute delay, but eventually we got underway.

Gympie has plenty of old houses, and plenty of of hills.

For quite some time, we used the old tracks that carried all the rail traffic to Brisbane.

Deep Creek. It's about 100 feet down.

We crossed the Mary River.

Marianne's photo.

A rainbow appeared.

Marianne's rainbow photo was the best.

The main industries in this area were dairy and timber. For the most part, they are gone.

It's a pretty journey. We have had so much rain in the past five years that everything is green by Aussie standards.

After a slow start, we eventually built up speed and really whipped along.

Another small village.

We arrived.

For wheel-chairs and the disabled. Queensland platforms are high and I can get on and off easily.

A posh carriage where you can get morning tea.

All the passengers got off and wandered over to the park area opposite the platform.

Steam.

Some buskers next to the cafe.

There is a turntable where the engine can be turned around for the return journey.

Everybody seemed to be really enjoying themselves. We remarked later how many people came out of their houses to wave at the train as it trundled past.

QGR - Queensland Government Railway.

We each had a very tasty sausage roll for lunch. We were both so pleased that we had ridden the train. I used to take the train to Brisbane several times a year when I went to University, and it was wonderful to experience part of the journey again as it used to be sixty years ago.