Queensland Railways - Pictures from the 50's and 60's.

Kim Thurlow's Album

Class C17 number 921 is shunting the stock sale yards at Harristown in 1963.

Number 921 was built by Walkers Limited Maryborough, in 1946. Unlike the example of No. 166, this one has a "sedan" cab of later design.

Every Thursday us boys could rush home from school, and on the pretext of collecting manure for the home garden, ride the engines, shovel the coal, and help prod a few cattle through the race as well. Happy times!

 

See the sign in the background proclaiming loudly on behalf of the established firm of Elder Smith Goldsborough Mort (or was that a joint effort between two firms?) that you could bring your heifers, steers and poddys along and get cash, eh!, every Thursday.

Bill Wallace of Toowoomba has these memories:
" I also used to go up to the
Harristown sales yard to bum watermelon off the grown-ups - but
they usually made me help with the pigs or calves before they gave
me any melon."

There is an interesting vehicle behind the engine. This was a bogie cattle wagon, with a human compartment at each end. Quite ubiquitous in Queensland. I wonder if such vehicles were built elsewhere in the world?

John Gillam, a retired QR guard, in an email to me, says of these wagons: "The bogie cattle wagon is in fact a KKB Van, as you say it has 2 compartments, one each end, with cattle loaded in the middle. A compartment at one end is for the Drover travelling with the cattle and the other compartment is the GUARDS VAN.
The KKB had no lights, all the guards work was done by the lighs of his kerosene hand lamp held under his arm while he filled out his guards time & occurrence sheet and also the Drivers time sheet.
When travelling along in these Vans in winter time we used to place our hand lamps between our feet , under our overcoats for a little warmth." Thanks to John Gillam for this interesting piece on life as a guard.

There are 19 images total on this site and you are half way there.

Send me an email if you liked the show so far. You can also visit my ode to the steam engine.
I am adding more images as I find the time, so check back sometime.

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