Opening of the railway

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Roma Street Railway Station, railway construction, c1875

The Brisbane Courier 15 June 1875

OPENING OF THE RAILWAY

The first train carrying passengers from the Brisbane terminus started at half-past 6 o'clock yesterday morning, and, in spite of the earliness of the hour, a number of persons had assembled on the platform to witness this historical event. The utmost exertions of a large body of men had only sufficed to make the line fit for travelling, without being able to make a really finished job of it, the ballasting being only laid under the sleepers at considerable distances. The motion was, consequently, greater than will hereafter be the case. Work in ballasting was being continued all day yesterday with noticeable results.

The four departures which took place were unattended with any demonstration, except that numbers of well-dressed people, evidently holiday-making on their own account, thronged the platform and skirted, the adjacent parts of the line to see the trains move off. After 4 o'clock, when the schools and offices were out, the throng was greatly increased from these sources, and a short time before the last down-train arrived the station presented a very animated appearance, a long line of laden ballast-trucks being run slowly into the station, while the navvies on them worked furiously to discharge the stone between and beside the sleepers and rails. The first stopping place after leaving Brisbane is at Milton, where a very rough temporary platform has been provided. A few minutes' longer travel reaches Toowong, where neat little station buildings have been erected. The course of the line alternately cuts through ridges and rises over valleys.

A little past Toowong a bridge spans the railway on the crest of a ridge, and serves to carry the Toowong-road across, while a little further on a foot-bridgo crosses at a great height. The trip is far from an uninteresting one. On one side the Moggill-road is in frequent view, while on the other each emergence from a cutting affords a pleasant prospect of South Brisbane, or the river and its banks higher up. The station at Indooroopilly, the northern river side stopping place, is in fair order, but no ballasting or gravelled footpath had been provided from it to the excellently-metalled road which leads to the punt, and as the 40 or 50 yards which intervene are of soft soil, the place would have been ankle deep in mud yesterday had not the threatened rain held off. The distance to the punt is very considerable - some 430 paces, and the declivity at the river bank is, in spite of a siding having been cut, a very steep pinch of 150 paces, which will, next summer, be found rather a trying climb for Brisbane-bound travellers. The punt is, we believe, one formerly used at Baxter's Ferry, and is to be covered, the frame work for the roofing being already fitted. Along the sides seats have been fixed, but it cannot be considered altogether a desirable conveyance, as the bulk of the space is occupied by a couple of drays, conveying luggage, each drawn by two powerful horses, upon the perfect docility of which the safety of the transit depends. The punt is propelled by a couple of laborers, and yesterday tho guard of the trains assisted. At the other side, the approach is not so steep, and the distance to the station under two hundred yards. It is evident, however, that whenever there is any prospect of rain, passengers should be careful to provide complete protection against the wet, in making this foot journey of nearly a quarter of a mile in all.

The trains ran at good speed on each trip, showing that the line, though by no means in apple pie order, is safe and fit for travel, while everyday will bring it nearer perfect completion. Nothing could less resemble a gala opening than the preparations yesterday. Everything was makeshift; the platform at Brisbane half unpaved, the rooms and corridors incomplete, the roofing over the platform in progress merely, and the place lit up as evening fell by improvised rows of gas jets fixed in tubes temporarily supported by wooden gallows. Still, on the principle of half a loaf being preferable to no bread, the travelling public may be congratulated on being at length able to reach Brisbane by a railway, even in its present condition very much preferable to the old order of things. The bridge which is to supply the missing link still requires much labor before it can be available The piers on the south side are nearly up to their appointed height, and a pair are in position on the north bank, but the greater part of the river channel is still open water, and afterall the exemplifications of official uncertainty which the last section of the railway has afforded, we should consider it too much to expect the time spoken of for its completion - viz., January next - as likely to see the work actually finished.


Then and now...

Roma Street Railway Station, railway construction, c 1875

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