Atherton-Herberton historic rail steams into life with train trial

A historic Far North rail line has felt the rolling wheels of a locomotive once again as a restoration project gathers steam.

A historic Far North rail line has felt the rolling wheels of a locomotive once again as a restoration project gathers steam.

On Sunday the Atherton-Herberton Historic Railway completed a successful trial of its locomotive and carriage on recently upgraded rail and bridges.

The train once again puffed into life powered by a team of passionate volunteers and a good shovel full of coal or two.

With the successful test, the locomotive will be running between the Herberton Historic Village and Herberton over the coming weekends.

Marketing and business development manager of Atherton-Herberton Historic Railway Gary Aylward said the railway had the potential to be a draw for tourism for the entire region.

“We haven't seen too many brand new tourism products in the region so it could be a real drawcard to the whole region as well as part of an overnight venture into the Tablelands,” he said.

Volunteer train driver David McGrory on board Locomotive HRMn1. Picture: Atherton-Herberton Historic Railway Facebook

The train and carriage was able to run between Herberton and the historic village, crossing a recently restored and upgraded bridge built with local companies and with local timbers.

“The trial runs were completed to work out operational information for the trips,” Mr Aylward said.

“We used it to work out the timing as well as the amount of water and coal that were needed.

“It all went exceptionally well despite the weather.”

The trial comes after seven years of heartfelt restoration reportedly totalling over 90,000 hours of work and a bit over $190,000 spent on the project.

“This has been a long time coming with our volunteers working to get equipment that is more than 100 years old up and moving again, it's a real team effort,” Mr Aylward said.

“And we have more coming in the future as we continue to restore more equipment such as old carriages.”

Mr Aylward said it was the tireless work and passion of the volunteers that make the project possible.

“It’s amazing where they have come from we have people who have been engineers, boiler makers, working in the timber industry that all bring different things to recreating these machines in an original way.”

The Atherton-Herberton Historic Railway gets a test run. Picture: Gregg Maxwell

Construction on the original railway began 1886 with the goal of transporting tin out of the mining town of Herberton to the coast as well as providing supplies in.

In 1989 passenger rail services were ceased and the following year the Atherton-Herberton line was officially closed.

The historic railway network between Atherton and Herberton. Picture: Atherton-Herberton Historic Railway Facebook

Previous efforts to restore a section of the rail were raised and abandoned but in 2003 Atherton-Herberton Historic Railway Inc. was formed to take on the challenge of establishing a tourist railways between the Tableland towns.

The not-for-profit organisation has been run and managed by a group of volunteers since, the successful trial marks a real milestone in the project and it continues to steam forward.

The organisation is always looking for volunteers with members of the AHHR eligible for training courses, which may just qualify you to become a member of the train crew or even a steam locomotive driver.

Volunteers may be trained as a train driver, guard, carriage attendants, operations manager, passenger supervisor, station manager, in sales and bookings, tour guide, track maintenance supervisor and more.

Originally published as Atherton-Herberton historic rail steams into life with train trial