Qualla: Main Range Railway https://qualla.com/main-range-railway en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 27 Jul 2026 10:40:31 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/r/7/h/5/main-range-railway-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Main Range Railway https://qualla.com/main-range-railway Main Range Railway: Introduction https://qualla.com/main-range-railway/ Photo credit Heritage branch staff, CC BY 3.0. To save money, the colony of Queensland gambled on a railway thinner than anyone had dared to run as a main line: a narrow gauge of just three feet six inches. Then it pointed that slender track at the wall of the Great Dividing Range and asked it to climb. Between 1865 and 1867, nine tunnels were bored, dozens of bridges flung across gullies, and the line hauled up roughly 365 metres of escarpment to reach Toowoomba. When it opened on 30 April 1867, it was the first railway in Australia to cross the Great Divide, and quite possibly the world's first main-line narrow-gauge railway.

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Image: Heritage branch staff | CC BY 3.0

]]> Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/7/h/5/main-range-railway-wp/r7h5-main-range-railway-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Main Range Railway: The Engineer They Sent for Tunnels https://qualla.com/main-range-railway/ Photo credit Heritage branch staff, CC BY 3.0. The contractors were the famous British firm Peto, Brassey and Betts, who had laid railways across continents. For the Main Range they needed a particular kind of expert, and they chose Robert Ballard as engineer-in-charge specifically for his skill at tunnelling, honed on diffic...

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Image: Heritage branch staff | CC BY 3.0

]]> Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/7/h/5/main-range-railway-wp/r7h5-main-range-railway-the-engineer-they-sent-for-tunnels.mp3 0:06 2 full Main Range Railway: A Hard Road to Work https://qualla.com/main-range-railway/ Photo credit Heritage branch staff, CC BY 3.0. Building the line was one feat; working it was another. For the men who drove the steam trains, the Main Range was among the most demanding stretches on the entire Queensland network. Sharp curves, steep grades, and dark tunnels conspired against every ascent. Crews had to nurse ...

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]]> Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/7/h/5/main-range-railway-wp/r7h5-main-range-railway-a-hard-road-to-work.mp3 0:06 3 full Main Range Railway: The Station That Grew a Garden https://qualla.com/main-range-railway/ Photo credit Heritage branch staff, CC BY 3.0. Halfway up the range, where a natural spring met a rare level stretch of track, the small station of Spring Bluff took root. For decades it was the principal halt on the climb and the only stop with a resident stationmaster. It might have stayed a purely practical place, but the ...

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]]> Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/7/h/5/main-range-railway-wp/r7h5-main-range-railway-the-station-that-grew-a-garden.mp3 0:06 4 full Main Range Railway: Concrete First and Coal Trains https://qualla.com/main-range-railway/ Photo credit Heritage branch staff, CC BY 3.0. The Main Range became a proving ground for engineering as much as a transport link. Near the summit stands Swansons Rail Bridge, an unreinforced concrete arch curved in plan across an unnamed gully, the first concrete arched rail bridge ever built in Australia, commanding a vast ...

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]]> Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/7/h/5/main-range-railway-wp/r7h5-main-range-railway-concrete-first-and-coal-trains.mp3 0:06 5 full