Atherton-Herberton Historic Railway

A restored Peckett locomotive has returned to service at the Atherton-Herberton Historic Railway in Far North Queensland, Australia.

Works no. 1069 of 1905 is built to 3’6” gauge, which has always been the main gauge in Queensland since the first line was built in 1865. In 1932 the network reached a peak mileage of more than 6,500 miles (10,500 km).

The railway currently operates on selected days over a 2km long section of line between the former tin mining town of Herberton and the Herberton Historic Village. The line was originally built in 1910 and closed in 1990.

The locomotive served at two mining railways in Queensland - first at the Mount Morgan Mine and later at Mount Isa. It had been withdrawn by 1955. At both sites, it worked alongside another Peckett, No. 1174 of 1908. 1174 is also at Herberton and is undergoing restoration.

A community based volunteer organisation, the railway plans to eventually restore the line from Herberton to Atherton (22km) for the operation of heritage stock.

https://www.athrail.com/

 

Back in November 2003 I travelled on the "Atherton Tablelands Railway" out of Ravenshoe on a charter train - part of an RTC organised Australian tour......


I take it, from reading some of the info on the Herberton railway web page, that the section that we travelled on is no longer in operation? From memory we covered the Ravenshoe-Tumoulin section, though we must have called in at Atherton in the coach as I've got a photo of a steam loco which was parked there at the station.

 

Yes Johann,
The Ravenshoe - Tumoulin section is no longer in use.
The D17 sits at Ravenshoe having not steamed for many years, sadly.

 

The D17 has a large enough cab to allow all comers to ride on the runaround triangle that was, a nice feature.

 

This C17 was the loco that was parked up at Atherton during our visit.....


Having done an online search for that particular loco, I see that it moved on to another site in Queensland about 7 years ago.

 

Believe it was beyond the volunteers at Atherton capabilities.

 

The Atherton Herberton Heritage Railway opens its new track extension to Moomin, this coming Saturday.
As you can see from the photos, Moomin is not exactly a bustling metropolis, but is typical of the character of the line. The now open section between Herberton and Moomin is just under 5km (around 3 miles), giving a 10km round trip.
Our operating steam loco is Peckett W/N 1069 of 1905.
These photos were taken during crew familiarisation runs last week.