On This Day
Line openings, new locomotives, withdrawals, accidents and other milestones from Queensland’s railways, sorted by the day they happened. There are over 3,300 entries, going back to the first Railway Bill in 1863.
Browse by date
About the list
Nearly all of this is Peter Burkitt’s work. Peter, one of the QRIG moderators, researched and compiled these entries for the old qrig.org timeline, and it’s been carried over here pretty much as he wrote it. We’ve split up dates that had several events lumped into one entry, but the details are his.
We’ve also added a few events since 2009 that the old timeline never got to, from the QR split and the Aurizon name change through to ETCS going live on the Shorncliffe line. Each of those has its sources listed with it.
If you spot a mistake or have something to add for a date, get in touch.
Abbreviations
Most of the older entries use the shorthand from QR’s own records. These are the ones that come up most:
| Abbreviation | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ML | Main Line |
| NCL | North Coast Line |
| CL | Central Line |
| WL | Western Line |
| SL | Southern Line |
| Bch | Branch |
| JCT | Junction |
| Sdg, Yd | Siding, yard |
| DEL, EL, DH | Diesel-electric, electric and diesel-hydraulic locomotive |
| RM | Rail motor |
| EEA | English Electric Australia |
| reno. | Renumbered |
| m, ch | Miles and chains, used for distances and locations before metrication |