The Munro Tramway was a private tramway established in the late 1890s and early 1900s to cart timber and other freight from Perseverance and Ravensbourne to

Hampton Hampton may refer to: Places Australia *Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia * Hampton, New South Wales *Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region * Hampton, Victoria ** Hampton railway station, Melbour ...

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. The tramway was originally serviced by teams of horses, until the early 1900s, when the first of two

Shay locomotive The Shay locomotive is a geared steam locomotive that originated and was primarily used in North America. The locomotives were built to the patents of Ephraim Shay, who has been credited with the popularization of the concept of a ''geared st ...

s began servicing the line. This was the first tramway in Queensland to use a steam locomotive to haul timber and continued to operate until 1936. It used a narrow gauge of 2 feet 6 inches (762 mm), The tramway was constructed in three stages. The first section connected Munro's Sawmill in

Palmtree The Arecaceae () is a family (biology), family of perennial plant, perennial, flowering plants in the Monocotyledon, monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbing palm, climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly k ...

to a siding at the Hampton station on the

Crows Nest railway line Crows Nest Branch Railway was originally surveyed as a direct line from Toowoomba north to Crows Nest in Queensland, Australia. The branch eventually took a more circuitous route to cover the maximum amount of farming country. The first stage s ...

. The second section extended the line east. The final stage brought the line up through Ravensbourne to a loading station at Bunkers Hill. Since being decommissioned, most of the steel has been scrapped and little remains of the tramway. In some sections splice plates and dog spikes can still be found. The final section is traced by Esk–Hampton Road.

References

Closed railway lines in Queensland Railway lines opened in 1896 Railway lines closed in 1936 Darling Downs 1896 establishments in Australia 1936 disestablishments in Australia {{Toowoomba-geo-stub

See also

References