THE END OF THE LINE MUNGINDI STATION .BUILT IN 1966,TO REPLACE THE ORIGINAL BUILDING DESTROYED BY FIRE IN MAY 1962.SUPPOSEDLY THE FIRST AIR CONDITIONED STATION BUILDING IN NSW .
One my latest tour of duty towards QLD .As I had previously photographed the remants of MUNGINDI station area.I decided to leave that alone and venture into the scrub not far off the Carnarvon Hwy ,10 Ks south of MUNGINDI ,near NEEWORRA .This is defiantly a dry season exercise.
According to my map there should be a crossing of the river for the rail line.
And there is ! Was ! Still is ! But isn't ! Well there's actually two !
Originally there was a very long trestle approach from the south , to cross a 3 girder Web span on the small tributary the Whalan creek .And then some more timber trestles before crossing the Boomi river ,with a 120 ft steel girder bridge from 1914.Then some more timber trestles across the flood plain towards MUNGINDI to the north.
The Whalan creek runs parallel to the QLD border for some 100 Ks up stream from the bridge towards the East.
It merges with the Boomi River slightly downstream but very close to the bridges ,The Boomi River also runs parallel with the border but slightly to the north of the Whalan .And South of the border river the Barwon.
The Boomi actually has two connections with the border river the Barwon .To the East it joins just as the Macintyre turns into the Barwon and runs parallel with this river for some 120 Ks to rejoin it about 30 ks to the west of Mungindi.
If your confused about all this check out the map .
I know I am !
The map shows the junction of these two water courses upstream of the rail crossing ,but its actually downstream of the rail crossing. I think.
These rivers are very seasonal and for most of the time are Muddy green puddles ,But come the rains turn into large rivers draining large areas of the black soil plains .
The bridging of these two rivers /creeks was a very long and large piece of infrastructure on this otherwise plain branch-line.
Most of the wood trestles has gone leaving only the concrete and steel work.When you come across it in the scrub it seems to be extra large ,with no track or approach spans.
THE MAIN CROSSING OF THE WHALAN CREEK
FROM THE NORTH ,LOOKING SOUTH
LOOKING NORTH TOWARDS THE BOOMI RIVER
TOWARDS THE SOUTH
THE CROSSING OF THE BOOMI RIVER
LOOKING TO THE EAST
120 Ft STEEL TRUSS
THE TRESTLE APPROACHES DISAPPEAR TOWARDS THE TERMINUS OF MUNGINDI
ON THE NORTHERN BANK
The other crossing of note on this line is the Gil Gil Creek .Not far off the highway ,near a level crossing at BENGERANG Which comprises of flood plain opening, and a Large long timber trestle bridge .Which I modeled because of the 3 different pier styles.And different opening spans.
This Creek starts up near CROOBLE on the BOGGABILLA line and runs west joining and following the MUNGINDI line for about 60 ks ,before joining the Boomi river about 25 Ks west of the first two bridges on the Whalan Creek and Boomi River
Once again consult your maps.
Not to confuse you .But the Wallon creek (slightly different spelling ) is a tributary of Gil Gil creek .
The MUNGINDI terminus's last train was on the 5th of Jan 1974.Followed by flood damage from a large rain event over Southern QLD and Northern NSW during Jan 1974.Which closed the line.
One my latest tour of duty towards QLD .As I had previously photographed the remants of MUNGINDI station area.I decided to leave that alone and venture into the scrub not far off the Carnarvon Hwy ,10 Ks south of MUNGINDI ,near NEEWORRA .This is defiantly a dry season exercise.
According to my map there should be a crossing of the river for the rail line.
And there is ! Was ! Still is ! But isn't ! Well there's actually two !
Originally there was a very long trestle approach from the south , to cross a 3 girder Web span on the small tributary the Whalan creek .And then some more timber trestles before crossing the Boomi river ,with a 120 ft steel girder bridge from 1914.Then some more timber trestles across the flood plain towards MUNGINDI to the north.
The Whalan creek runs parallel to the QLD border for some 100 Ks up stream from the bridge towards the East.
It merges with the Boomi River slightly downstream but very close to the bridges ,The Boomi River also runs parallel with the border but slightly to the north of the Whalan .And South of the border river the Barwon.
The Boomi actually has two connections with the border river the Barwon .To the East it joins just as the Macintyre turns into the Barwon and runs parallel with this river for some 120 Ks to rejoin it about 30 ks to the west of Mungindi.
If your confused about all this check out the map .
I know I am !
The map shows the junction of these two water courses upstream of the rail crossing ,but its actually downstream of the rail crossing. I think.
These rivers are very seasonal and for most of the time are Muddy green puddles ,But come the rains turn into large rivers draining large areas of the black soil plains .
The bridging of these two rivers /creeks was a very long and large piece of infrastructure on this otherwise plain branch-line.
Most of the wood trestles has gone leaving only the concrete and steel work.When you come across it in the scrub it seems to be extra large ,with no track or approach spans.
THE MAIN CROSSING OF THE WHALAN CREEK
FROM THE NORTH ,LOOKING SOUTH
LOOKING NORTH TOWARDS THE BOOMI RIVER
THE CROSSING OF THE BOOMI RIVER
LOOKING TO THE EAST
120 Ft STEEL TRUSS
THE TRESTLE APPROACHES DISAPPEAR TOWARDS THE TERMINUS OF MUNGINDI
ON THE NORTHERN BANK
The other crossing of note on this line is the Gil Gil Creek .Not far off the highway ,near a level crossing at BENGERANG Which comprises of flood plain opening, and a Large long timber trestle bridge .Which I modeled because of the 3 different pier styles.And different opening spans.
This Creek starts up near CROOBLE on the BOGGABILLA line and runs west joining and following the MUNGINDI line for about 60 ks ,before joining the Boomi river about 25 Ks west of the first two bridges on the Whalan Creek and Boomi River
Once again consult your maps.
Not to confuse you .But the Wallon creek (slightly different spelling ) is a tributary of Gil Gil creek .
The MUNGINDI terminus's last train was on the 5th of Jan 1974.Followed by flood damage from a large rain event over Southern QLD and Northern NSW during Jan 1974.Which closed the line.
Not only was the station air conditioned but a new barracks was built for train crews that was also air conditioned, the first also in NSW
ReplyDeleteGreat article! I've yet to venture further west than Moree so found this a blast to see that there are still some old railway remains to be seen. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteMuch of the building of the concrete culverts was carried out following an earlier flood, which was a bane to the area especially with the amount of water that came through, the aspect of the black soil also meant that roads which were primarily dirt could take weeks to dry out sufficiently to allow trucks to go on them, even cars, especially heavier farm types would also go down after breaking through the crust.
DeleteThe rail line itself also suffered in the areas that did not have the higher timber bridges but even there, the bridge trestles were badly affected and often they had to have major repairs before trains could run again.
I visited Mungindi in the early 60's on the way to Collarenebri for some reason the friends I went with wanted to go via Mungindi, it had been over a week since heavy rain in the area, turning onto the Colly road near the border we saw a semi down to its axles in one of the lanes, around 1/2km in, the driver had ignored the signs two days earlier and the weight of the truck cracked the clay top and the whole vehicle went down.
I had never seen anything like it and as a young 15 year old, I learnt a lot of lessons on this trip to the outback, as to dangers of many kinds.