The Westlander

"The Westlander" is am Australian named passenger train operated by the Traveltrain division of QR Limited, between Queensland capital Brisbane and the outback town of Charleville.

History

In the 1888 timetable the from Brisbane to Roma was officially called the Western Mail, with some runs extended through to Morven. With the opening of the line from Morven to Charleville on 1 March 1888 the train was again extended.cite web
url=http://www.traveltrain.com.au/2/about_traveltrain/about_traveltrain/history.asp
title=About Traveltrain - History
publisher=www.traveltrain.com.au
accessdate=2008-08-30] The "Westlander" was upgraded in the early 1950s with new steel air-conditioned carriages. The route taken was 971 km between Brisbane to Cunnamulla, with an side service to Quilpie. The trains were divided at Charleville, which is 777 km from Brisbane. The service was introduced on August 24, 1954.cite book | author=Robin Bromby | title =The Railway Age in Australia | publisher = Lothian Press | year = 2004 | page = page 97 |isbn = 0 7344 0715 7 ] The service to Quilpie was nicknamed the "Flying Flea" and consisted of two passenger carriages, a locomotive, guards van and power van. Passengers boarded at Cunnamulla at 9.00 am and arrived into Brisbane at lunchtime the next day, with the branch to Cunnamulla being limited to convert|30|mph|km/h, but with the lack of quality roads the train was still preferred. By 1957 freight wagons were also attached to the train, including louvred steel QRX and QLX-T wagons, and MPR refrigerated wagons. Up to 16 vehicles could make up the train. Passenger services to Quilpie and Cunnamulla beyond Charleville were withdrawn in 1994.

Today

Today the train runs twice weekly to Charleville.
*Brisbane
*Corinda
*Ipswich
*Rosewood
*Laidley
*Gatton
*Helidon
*Toowoomba
*Oakey
*Dalby
*Chinchilla
*Miles
*Yuleba
*Wallumbilla
*Roma
*Mitchell
*Morven
*Charleville

References

External links

* [http://www.traveltrain.com.au/ Traveltrain]