Railways and Tramways of Australia

Queensland’s worst railway accident

 

A picnic train derailed near Camp Mountain on 5 May 1947.

 

A train conveying passengers to a picnic at Closeburn was hauled by C17 Class locomotive no. 824, which was followed by a water gin and six passenger carriages. Closeburn and Camp Mountain were located on the Dayboro branch, which has since been truncated to Ferny Grove.

 

The train departed from Central station in Brisbane around 9.00 am. Beyond Newmarket it climbed slowly until it reached the top of the grade between Ferny Grove and Camp Mountain. From here it began to descend through various curves and gradients. Speed was gained and the engine and tender turned over on their sides on a curve.

 

During the crash the water gin detached from the locomotive and its tank ploughed through the first carriage of the train, causing huge damage. The second carriage telescoped, veered to the right and derailed. It became interlocked with the third carriage.

 

The engine driver was trapped for around six hours before being freed by rescuers, but he died in hospital the following day. The fireman was killed instantly in the crash. Fourteen passengers were killed, bringing the total to 16 dead, while 38 were injured.

 

A Court of Inquiry established following the accident found that the primary cause was the overturning of the locomotive tender. This had been caused by the excessive speed of the train. It was estimated that the speed of the tender when it overturned was 51 miles per hour (82 km/h). This was well in excess of the 20 miles per hour (32 km/h) permitted on curves on the Dayboro Line.

 

Speed was the cause of the worst railway accident in Queensland.

 

Bibliography

‘Crash at Camp Mountain’, Queensland State Archives, 24 October 2017, https://blogs.archives.qld.gov.au/2017/10/24/crash-at-camp-mountain/, accessed 2 May 2026.

‘Open inquiry on rail smash, The Telegraph (Brisbane), 6 May 1947, p 1.

K Pearce, Australian railway disasters, 2nd edn, IPL, Sydney, 1999.

‘Picnic train smash kills 15, The Courier-Mail, 6 May 1947, p 1.

M Quirk, ‘Queensland’s Camp Mountain disaster’, Australian Railway History, no. 930, April 2015, pp 4–12.