Random Bollocks From A Semi-Retired Foamer!: MAROOCHY SHIRE TRAMWAYS ALBUM PT1

Moreton Mill, Mapleton Tramway, Buderim Tramway

Howdy folks!

One major drawback of years of neglecting to catalogue over 300,000 photos is that I'm now playing catch-up. While I've managed to organize thousands of images on this blog across various themes, there are still countless others sitting around waiting for their moment.

To tackle this backlog, I'm embarking on a mission to sort through and categorize a substantial number of these photos in the coming months. Expect to see posts dedicated to locomotives, carriages, infrastructure, trams, and buses, catering to those with even a passing interest in these subjects.

In this series, I will be putting a collection of shots taken over more than a decade of slumming around Queensland's Sunshine Coast photographing and researching the Moreton Mill cane railway system.

The mill tramway, as well as the local Mapleton and Buderim Tramways, have been quite the obsession, one that still sees me heading there many years after closure.

Prepare for the approaching tsunami of photographs from the 80s till today.

If you have an interest in aviation and other guff, check out my

Travel and Aviation Blog.

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Interested in the narrow gauge sugarcane railways of Negros and Panay (Philippines),

along with the industry they served?

Come join us.

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Above and below.
JIMPY with a navvy train on the Coolum line.
Robinson (173).
Photo: Brad Peadon

BLI BLI parallels River Store Road on the approach to River Depot with a rake of empties.
Photo: Brad Peadon

BLI BLI at River Depot.
Photo: Brad Peadon

The smaller lift bridge over Petrie Creek on Clark's Line.
By this time, the line had been cut back to the west side of David Low Way and the structure would soon be obliterated.
Photo: Brad Peadon

Safeworking on the west side of the David Low Bridge at Bli Bli.
Photo: Brad Peadon

BLI BLI departs the Howard Street yard with a rake of fulls destined for the mill.
Photo: Brad Peadon

JAMAICA & DUNETHIN in the small locoshed at the mill.
They saw far less use in the last year or two.
Photo: Brad Peadon

PETRIE shunting around the mill late one night in the final year of operation.
Photo: Brad Peadon

Moreton Mill in the second last season.
Photo: Brad Peadon

COOLUM shunting the exchange sidings in Howard Street yard. Wearing her 'Lorry The Loco' face.
Sorry Clive if you see this ;-)
Photo: Brad Peadon

MORETON passes the Howard Street yard with another lot of cane from out in the fields.
Photo: Brad Peadon

Maroochy River Lift Bridge, the bigger of the two lift bridges.
Photo: Brad Peadon

MORETON crossing the Maroochy River bridge with empties bound for Holloway (177).
Photo: Brad Peadon

SANDY preserved at the entrance to Moreton Mill.
Today she has been beautifully restored by the Nambour Historical Museum and on display.
Photo: Brad Peadon

By the time of our 2004 visit they had removed the large Howard Street yard, with only the mainline remaining for use during the removal of the system.
Photo: Brad Peadon

Rafting Grounds (41) was the southernmost part of the Moreton Mill system. This line saw very little use in the final years.
Photo: Brad Peadon

River Depot.
Lynn Zelmer's excellent article on this structure, including measurements I thankfully took before it was wiped out, can be found HERE.
Photo: Brad Peadon

Junction of the Punt line (to the left) just north of Bli Bli cutting (seen in distance).
This area has since been built over with houses.
Those signs existed at both ends of the cutting and I am lead to believe they were both saved.
Photo: Brad Peadon

BLI BLI coming out of the Bli Bli cutting in the same spot as the last image.
Photo: Brad Peadon

This time it is MORETON at the junction with the Punt Line.
Photo: Brad Peadon