Pride of Toowoomba on the line after mammoth restoration
After more than two decades of hard work, the Pride of Toowoomba has been restored and is ready to take passengers.
Toowoomba
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The memories of John O’Hara’s childhood come flooding back when he heard the Pride of Toowoomba’s whistle bellow across Drayton.
The 82-year-old was one of the first people to secure a train ticket, after it was given to him as a birthday present two years ago.
After a long wait he was able to cash it in on Saturday when he joined more than 100 VIPs who rode the train for its maiden voyage from Drayton to Wyreema and back again.
“As a kid I would take the train from Ravenshoe to Atherton to go to the dentist every six months,” he said
“And when Queen Elizabeth II visited Queensland in 1954 we went to Cairns on the train to see her.”
Mr O’Hara’s love of trains grew over the years, and he describes them as a “living thing” that surpassed all other modes of transport.
“There was a gentlemen that used to drive the railmotor and steam engine (in the Atherton Tableland) and used to get his shirts ironed by my mother,” he said,
“When I was about eight-years-old he would allow me to stand beside him and blow the horn at the rail crossings.
“They even got me up on the steam engine to blow the whistle.”
It came as no surprise that when Mr O’Hara learned that volunteers at the DownsSteam Railway and Museum were working towards putting vintage railmotors and steam engines back on the lines that he would donate money in support.
It has taken more than two decades, but they have achieved their goal and have opened the train up to the public.
Speaking before the maiden run, DownsSteam committee member Robert Ketton said he was overjoyed to see the engine on the tracks.
“A project of the complexity and scope is very difficult so at the time that dream seemed like a bit of nightmare, but I am glad to say that through the hard work, the vision and the commitment of dozens and dozens of volunteers we have now woken up and that dream is a reality,” he said
“Over the past 25 years DownsSteam has managed to reach their aspiration to build a new tourist attraction for Toowoomba
“We have leased the land, built the platform, moved the station, built two sheds, opened a museum, opened an Indigenous art gallery, opened a cafe and shop, restored two steam engines and these carriages and restored a magnificent luxury railmotor.”
The Pride of Toowoomba was the last steam engine built by Toowoomba foundry workers in 1914.
It was brought back to the garden city in the early 2000s and lovingly restored.
DownsSteam chairwoman Ros Scotney was a founding member of the committee and thanked everyone who helped.
They included the late John Peele, former Toowoomba Councillors Roe Ramia, Lyle Shelton and Di Thorley, and Clive Berghofer, who donated more than $290,000 to cover costs.
“Clive was a lifesaver,” she said.
Originally published as Pride of Toowoomba on the line after mammoth restoration
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