Last Steam Excursion on the Brisbane Valley Branch - Revised

C17 974 hauls what I recollect as being the last ever steam excursion on the Brisbane Valley Branch. There was at least one more excursion, but it was diesel hauled, and I think there was a railmotor too, but this was steam's last fling over one of the most idyllic country branch lines in Queensland. The video was originally shot on a hand held Video8 camera, so the vid has been passed through Deshaker to remove most of the wobbles, but it doesn't like panning shots that much or when the train fills up most of the shot, so please excuse the few artefacts that at least make the rest of the video worth watching.

[@lloydrobins6074]

C17 974 sharing with C17 971 is now doing the Gympie to Amamoor Mary Valley Rattler run. It's so good to see part of its history here!

[@gerry9011]

Wonderful footage. it's almost criminal that the Govt decided to rip it up. Coulda kept a lot more of it there for a potential heritage line!

[@jakecampbell]

its so much better now as a bike trail

[@samscott6880]

Sir Joh's highway expansion ended the country rail system.

[@cuddieheadrigg]

A really hot day we set fire to the trackside grass quite a few times the loco crew put out a few small fires with the coal watering hose and we had a following QR water truck with flanged wheels dealing with the rest , a great day especially the wheels squealing on the rusty curves!

[@petermcgreevy6386]

good idea to have a fire truck travelling along just in case......

[@longtack67]

A lot of sharp curves on that track. Just looking at all the check rails on the curves & listening to the squeal of the flanges on the rails. Great bit of photography & driving.

[@darylcheshire1618]

I’m sorry I didn’t travel on the last rail motor when I came up from Melbourne. I did travel on the last rail motor from Toowoomba to Ipswich.

[@nancyhobson9710]

They re good having those old steam engines in working order

[@xWhitetailx]

The line may be gone, but the memories will always remain

[@Foxttellio]

I will alwayse maintain that queensland rail locos have tge best whistles

[@KathyWilliamsDevries]

Great video. I would love to see the line restored for tourists. I used to see it weaving in and out of the Brisbane Valley Highway on the way to my grandparent's place at Yarraman. I'm a keen steam train fan, especially in the U.K. Where I often travelled on railways lovingly restored after Dr Beeching's ax

[@trw1089]

Kathy Williams-Devries thanks for that. I often drive along the old route and look at where the line used to be and think about what a tourist railway would look like there. Definitely a missed opportunity!

[@KathyWilliamsDevries]

Did you know you can still trace the path of the line from Google Earth right from Wulkuraka to Yarraman?

[@nancyhobson9710]

Used to live at Yarraman in a large pine house with verandah built in 1910. Yes bring that rail line back, please!

[@tharakadamsarademattanpiti4012]

thanks for the video. another sad story .

[@aussiesean5140]

There's actually plans to rebuild this rail out to ESK in a few years time, but I'm not shore if its true. For electrics to take people to and from Ipswich and on to Toowoomba because of the new airport. So hopefully we may see trains once again running through the hills and into country towns.

[@neilforbes416]

Shore = coastline, beach. Sure = certain. Shaw = Surname of 1960s female pop star, as in Sandie Shaw. Word spelling may be correct but meanings differ.

[@marimus]

I wish they did rebuild, it's just the occasional cyclist goes past these days.

[@NS3644]

working on new bridges etc near Harlin for some reason.

[@0011clem]

Well it has been four years now and nothing has happened. The useless Queensland Government would never reopen that line as they are WAY to tight. They would rather spend it on gender studies and bonuses for fat cat government stooges . It should be reopened to Esk. people would use it . But the Queensland Government would rather have hundreds and hundreds of large trucks on the roads instead of using trains for transport .

[@MrFister84]

@@neilforbes416 Are you always this autistic?

[@neilforbes416]

@SteamsoundsAU, Those old Video8 cameras do give a good account of themselves, they were really good in their day. Methinks maybe your capture/edit software may have let you down a little.

[@trw1089]

Neil Forbes Thanks Neil - I processed it using deshaker as the original was hand held and nearly unwatchable, though slightly better quality image wise. I must go back with my more up to date video processing software and see if I can do better.

[@neilforbes416]

Could I recommend Power Director 14 to you, I have PD14 Ultra, I also have PD8 Ultra. I use the latter for capture from analogue source and initial processing, then I carry the processed, but still-unedited material to PD14 for the final edit. While I have the content in PD8, I apply CLPV to it, which converts 4:3 aspect ratio out to 16:9 wide-screen WITHOUT making anyone in the video look like they've been "raiding the refridgerator", ha-ha!, And they both have a fairly good image stabiliser function, though I'd caution not to overuse it. PD8 may be hard to come by these days but PD14 is still available, and a bit cheaper now that PD15 had been launched earlier this month. Cheers!

[@petermcgreevy6386]

@@trw1089 you managed the original and that's worth a mint.

[@christinleeox8996]

Hi,I’m just wondering if you by chance have a picture of the paper with two little girls on the front paper of the qt paper of this event of the last steam train going through Fernvale at all,the 2 little girls are me n my big sister and my dad would love the article.. such a great story . Photo was published on the front page of the Queensland Times ??

[@trw1089]

No sorry, I didn’t get a copy

[@christinleeox8996]

@@trw1089 aww thank you for replying back,do u know where I could find one?

[@trw1089]

@@christinleeox8996 perhaps contact the QT directly? Not sure if they still have an online presence

[@christinleeox8996]

@@trw1089 Thank you so much,will don

[@katrinalaw1479]

Was the last diesel hauled excursion and the last rail motor to toogoolwah happen in 1991? or 1992? or 1993?

[@jackcapewell4373]

The Lines are gone now

[@marimus]

When was this mate? The Ottaba climb section is just past my property, I wish there was some footage prior as from esk to here is a great section.

[@trw1089]

Cran Tindle-may the video was from 1991.

[@444mrjimmy]

what year was this?

[@sumedhadematanpitiarachchi4411]

So sad situation

[@davidphilips4637]

I am surprised by two things: 1. They allowed a steam loco up there with all that dry grass on the track... could have started a fire. 2. i didn't see a fire truck following it, just in case.

[@Cinesound01]

David Philips there was a track gang behind on quad plus attached water drum trailer. The Local Rural Fire Board was following not too far behind.

[@Foxttellio]

Whem in doubt, wing it