The Jandowae Branch Railway was a railway line from Dalby to

Jandowae Jandowae is a rural town and locality in the Western Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Jandowae had a population of 1,004 people. Geography The town is west of the Brisbane. the capital of the state of Queensland ...

in the

Darling Downs The Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia. The Downs are to the west of South East Queensland and are one of the major regions of Queensland. The name was generally ...

region of

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

History

The Darling Downs is a very fertile agricultural area in South East Queensland, and was the destination of the first railway built by the State government to facilitate transport and encourage development and immigration. The main line arrived in 1868, and was extended west commencing a decade later. Despite being a productive valley, with Jimbour House being one of the earliest settled areas in the region, a railway was not approved until December 1911, the line opening on 13 August 1914. Initially the junction was situated at Mahar, about 3 kilometres west of Dalby, but a parallel line was built to Dalby within a few years to save on the cost of staffing the junction. The line was undulating, with a maximum grade on 1 in 73 (~1.37%) in the northwest bound direction, and 1 in 83 (~1.2%) in the southeast direction, with curves of a minimum 500m radius and only 1 substantial bridge on the line. A

mixed train A mixed train or mixed consist is a train that contains both passenger and freight cars or wagons. In some countries, the term refers to a freight train carrying various different types of freight rather a single commodity. Although common in the ...

initially plied the route three times a week taking some 2¾ hours to complete the one-way journey. A

rail motor A railcar (not to be confused with the generic term railroad car or railway car) is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coa ...

service ran three days a week from 1928 to 1941. The line catered in the main for the transport of

dairy product Dairy products or milk products are food products made from (or containing) milk. The most common dairy animals are cow, water buffalo, goat, nanny goat, and Sheep, ewe. Dairy products include common grocery store food around the world such as y ...

s along with bagged and bulk

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached husk, hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and ...

. The line was upgraded in the 1990s to enable grain traffic to be handled by main line locomotives. It had 30 kg/m rails, a 15.75 tonne axle load and a line speed of 30 km/h. The line closed on 26 June 2013.

Route

Stations on the route included (from north to south): *Jandowae railway station () * Marnhull railway station () * Cresley railway station () * Kuyura railway station () * Baigin railway station () *Pirrinuan railway station () *Karingal railway station ()

References

External links

1925 map of the Queensland railway system
{{Railway lines in Queensland , state=expanded Closed railway lines in Queensland Railway lines opened in 1914 Darling Downs 1914 establishments in Australia Railway lines closed in 2013 2013 disestablishments in Australia