Great Northern Railway (Mt Isa line)

The Great Northern Railway is a 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge railway line in Queensland, Australia. The line stretches nearly 1,000 kilometres linking the port city of Townsville, Australia to the mining town of Mount Isa in north-west Queensland. Along with a passenger service called the Inlander, it is a major freight route connecting the Mount Isa Mines to the Townsville Port. In 2010 the line moved 5.8 million tonnes of cargo, and this is expected to increase significantly in coming years.

Originally approved in 1877, its construction over nearly thirty years along with the building of other lines in Queensland was dictated by the pressing need to transport minerals and wool from isolated inland areas to the coast for shipment.

In Townsville’s case it was given impetus by the discovery of gold at Ravenswood, Queensland and Charters Towers, Queensland in 1868 and 1872 respectively. The first section of the railway opened on 20 December 1880 and followed a southerly path to Reid River via small sidings at Stuart, Antill Plains, Toonpan, Woodstock and Calcium. The line then turned westward and climbed the Haughton Range using 1 in 25 (4%) grades and 3.5 Chain (~65m) radius curves in order to minimise construction costs. The line opened on 9 November 1881 to Ravenswood Junction (renamed Mingela in 1931 after closure of the Ravenswood branch railway). On 24 July 1882 the line opened to the Burdekin River at Macrossan (named after John Murtagh Macrossan) and via Sellheim reached Charters Towers railway station on 4 December 1882. Trains took more than five hours to cover roughly 140 kilometres from Townville.

The line proved so successful that the original Haughton Range section was deviated in 1887 with a 6 km line with 1 in 50 (2%) grades to improve the tonnage that could be hauled on the section. The original 1 in 25 alignment is now used by the Flinders Highway.

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