Mount Edwards railway line

The Mount Edwards railway line was a branch railway in the Scenic Rim region of South East Queensland, Australia. The lines serves a number of small towns in the Fassifern Valley. The first stage of the Mount Edwards line opened from Munbilla to Engelsburg (now Kalbar) on 17 April 1916, but the next stage to Mount Edwards was not completed until 7 October 1922.[1] The line closed on 1 November 1960.[2][3]

Mount Edwards railway line
25km
 Mount Edwards railway station
19km
 Aratula railway station
17km
 Morwincha railway station
14km
 Fassifern Valley railway station
12km
 Warumkarie railway station
9km
 Kalbar railway station
4km
 Waraperta railway station
0km
 Dugandan Line at Munbilla

Geography

The 25 km long line branched off the Dugandan line at the rural locality of Munbilla 38 km south of the city of Ipswich. The line then proceeded in a generally south-westerly direction to the locality of Mount Edwards near the village of Aratula.

History

The line was intended to form part of a via recta (Latin, "straight route") between Brisbane and Sydney via the break-of-gauge border town of Wallangarra. Before the completion of the New South Wales North Coast Line in 1930, rail traffic between the two state capitals travelled west from Brisbane to Toowoomba then south to Wallangarra via Warwick. The via recta was to incorporate the Mount Edwards line and the Maryvale line on the other side of the Great Dividing Range to produce a direct route southwest from Brisbane to Warwick, shaving around 95 km off the interstate journey. However, the via recta was never completed.[2]

Route
Stations on the Mount Edwards railway line
Distance from Ipswich Name Coordinates Altitude Notes
Junction with Dugundan line 27.8714°S 152.6563°E / -27.8714; 152.6563 (Junction with Mount Edwards line) Immediately south-west of Munbilla railway station.[4][5]
26 miles 56 chains (43.0 km) Warperta 27.90333°S 152.63278°E / -27.90333; 152.63278 (Waraperta railway station (former)) 247 feet (75 m) On Munbillla Road (now in Kents Lagoon).[4][5][6]
29 miles 39 chains (47.5 km) Kalbar 27.93924°S 152.62090°E / -27.93924; 152.62090 (Kalbar railway station (former)) 262 feet (80 m) At the western end of Railway Street in Kalbar.[4][5]
31 miles 34 chains (50.6 km) Warumkarie 27.95715°S 152.61082°E / -27.95715; 152.61082 (Warumkarie railway station (former)) 308 feet (94 m) On Warumkarie Road (now in the south of Kalbar).[4][5]
32 miles 60 chains (52.7 km) Fassifern Valley 27.97297°S 152.59979°E / -27.97297; 152.59979 (Fassifern Valley railway station) 295 feet (90 m) On Lake Moogerah Road.[4][5]
34 miles 30 chains (55.3 km) Morwincha 27.97299°S 152.57734°E / -27.97299; 152.57734 (Morwincha railway station (former)) 312 feet (95 m) On the bend in Morwincha Road.[4]
36 miles 2 chains (58.0 km) Aratula 27.98252°S 152.55450°E / -27.98252; 152.55450 (Aratula railway station (former)) 357 feet (109 m) At the eastern end of Sawmill Road.[4][5]
39 miles 70 chains (64.2 km) Mount Edwards 28.02136°S 152.51578°E / -28.02136; 152.51578 (Mount Edwards railway station (former)) 621 feet (189 m) Terminus,on the southern corner of the Cunningham Highway and Lake Moogerah Road[4][5]

See also

References
  1. Kerr, John (1990). Triumph of narrow gauge : a history of Queensland Railways. Boolarong Publications. p. 224. ISBN 978-0-86439-102-5.
  2. Southern Downs Steam Railway (2009). "'Via recta' – The line that never was". Archived from the original on 12 September 2009. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
  3. QR Limited. "Rail as foremost mode of travel". Archived from the original on 12 September 2009. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
  4. "Queensland Two Mile series sheet 2m38" (Map). Queensland Government. 1955. Archived from the original on 21 June 2021. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  5. "Flinders" (Map). Queensland Government. 1927. Archived from the original on 29 May 2020. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  6. "Warperta – railway station (now absent) in Scenic Rim Region (entry 39340)". Queensland Place Names. Queensland Government. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
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