Railways and Tramways of Australia

17 January

Settlement at Wallangarra station, Queensland, 1887. Photo: State Library of Queensland, 99183859041702061.

Meeting on the border

The first meeting of Queensland and New South Wales trains took place at Wallangarra, on the border between the two colonies, on 17 January 1888.

New South Wales built railways with standard gauge (1435 mm) gauge tracks, while Queensland used narrow gauge (1067 mm) tracks. Thus, while the linking of rails at Wallangarra meant that passengers could travel by train from one colony to the other, it was necessary for them to change trains at the border. Wallangarra became one of Australia’s many break-of-gauge stations.

Departing from Brisbane at 7.00 pm on 16 January and arriving at Wallangarra at 7.45 am the following morning, the Queensland Railways train consisted of an engine and five carriages. Passengers walked across the platform and boarded a New South Wales train that departed at 8.15 am. A train heading north also departed from Sydney on 16 January, with passengers changing trains at Wallangarra on the afternoon of 17 January, before continuing to Brisbane.

Despite the significance of the event, there was no official opening.

Following the completion of the North Coast Line between New South Wales and Queensland in 1932, the inland route between Wallangarra declined in importance. The line on the New South Wales side of Wallangarra was decommissioned in 1988. After a century of service trains no longer met at the border.

On the Queensland side, the line remained open and was used by tourist services until four wooden trestle bridges between Stanthorpe and Wallangarra were burnt by bushfire in 2023.

The border station at Wallangarra railway station features a museum and café and is a fascinating place to visit.

Note: the spelling ‘Wallan-garra’ was used by NSW Railways until around 1975, while Queensland Railways used ‘Wallangarra’ and ‘Wallan-garra’ at different times. The town is named ‘Wallangarra’.

Bibliography

P Hodgson, ‘Through railway communication between Sydney and Brisbane’, Sunshine Express, vol. 44, no. 1, January 2008, p 19.

H Quinlan & JH Newland, Australian railway routes 1854 to 2000, Australian Railway Historical Society (NSW Division), Sydney, 2000.

‘The overland route’, Warwick Argus, 21 January 1888, p 2.

‘The overland route to Brisbane’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 23 January 1888, p 11.

D Tulk, ‘Stanthorpe to Wallangarra line closure’, Railway Digest, vol. 62, no. 5, May 2024, pp 54–5.

Wallangarra railway station, 16 July 2020.