Cairns Kuranda Steam

Cairns Kuranda Steam ran a steam service out of Cairns for eight months in 2004, using a South African Railways 24 class 2-8-4, No. 3620 (North British 26332 of 1949), with a set of ex-QR SX carriages. 3620 had come over from New Zealand in 2001 and it's now on the Bellarine Railway in Victoria.

The same year QR contracted the Savannahlander out to them, and they run it from Cairns with three old 2000 class railmotors fitted with Cummins engines. They also bought the ex-Emu Bay Railway 11 class diesel-hydraulics, and a pair of them have been used to shunt the cement siding at Cairns.

References

'Cairns Kuranda Steam Railway', Wongm's Rail Gallery (accessed October 2026)
'Savannahlander', Wikipedia (accessed October 2026)
'South African Class 24 2-8-4', Wikipedia (accessed October 2026)