Gulflander

Hi All,
I left Cloncurry early one Wednesday morning to head to Normanton and the historic heritage listed Normanton To Croydon Railway. On a previous trip to Karumba we stopped in and had a look at the Railway Station at Normanton (see Blog Karumba And Normanton) but this time I was going to travel on the railway to Croydon on the Gulflander. The Gulflander runs on a Wednesday from Normanton to Croydon and then an overnight stay in Croydon and returns to Normanton on Thursday. Another option is to catch a bus back to Normanton on the Wednesday afternoon, this is what I did.

 

 

The usual Gulflander is RM93, built at Ipswich Railway Workshops in 1950 and did service in the southern districts of Queensland and was also used as the General Managers inspection car before  arriving at Normanton in 1982. It has recently undergone another refurbishment and is in pristine condition. Unfortunately on the day I was to travel they had a problem with the front bogie and they took it out of service. 

 So it was RM60 that came into service for this trip. RM60 was also built in Ipswich in 1931 and saw service on the Normanton - Croydon Railway from 1960 to 1964 and then remained there until 1993 when it was sent to Townsville for a complete rebuild. 1994 saw it resume service doing short special services on the corridor. So here is our driver preparing RM60 for it's first trip to Croydon since 1964.

This flood height marker is only a couple of kilometre's out of Normanton and shows the flood levels of the Norman River above the rail line, 1974 was so high I didn't even see it until it was pointed out.

This was once a thriving stop for trains. The old bits of metal are the remains of steam boilers used to drive pumps for water to use in steam engines. 

RM60 parked  after crossing the Norman River. Normanton to Croydon railway is 151km of  heritage listed infrastructure. It was built from 1888 to 1891 to service the rich goldfields of Croydon and is the only railway in Queensland still measured in miles. All the mileage pegs are in miles not kilometres.

 Norman River Bridge.

This is Critters Camp so named because when the construction gangs were working here they encountered all sorts of biting critters. This is also as far as RM60 had gone until today. They take short trips to here and have billy tea and damper. 

 Haydon is the only mail stop on the journey, here is our driver dropping it off.

 My two fellow travellers.

 There are plenty of interesting stops on the way to stretch your legs, this is a Lyre Bird nest next to the track.

This is an all original rail line, its amazing how it has lasted in these harsh conditions. It has a maximum speed of 40kph. Here you can clearly see this rail was made in 1886.

 The engine of RM60 an AEC 4 cylinder side valve with 45 horsepower. The driver was a bit concerned that the engine might get overheated because it had not run this far since 1964 but it was all good.

 Original water tank and traincrew quarters minus roof at Blackbull Siding. This is halfway to Croydon and our morning tea stop. Blueberry Muffins yum!!!

 Our driver firing the old girl up for the last leg of our trip.

 Our Destination Croydon.

Gold was discovered in Croydon in 1885 and by 1888, 7000 residents called it home. For 40 years they pulled the precious metal out of the ground. Today it is a neat and tidy little outback town. 

 The Club Hotel is the place to stay if you intended to catch the train back on Thursday or where the bus stops for the return trip on the Wednesday. Lunch and a beer was good.

This is what they call the heritage precinct it consists of the Police Sargents Residence, Police Station and Goal, Court House and the Town Hall, all are opened to the public and are very informative and interesting. Well it's time to head back to the pub to catch the bus. Catch ya later.