Moving Goods

Mixed goods trains operated for many years on Queensland's rail network. These trains allowed smaller quantities of a variety of goods – and passengers – to be carried economically across the state.

Get up close to a typical mixed goods train from the 1950s. See the mix of goods that were carried and get a glimpse of life as a guard on a mixed goods train.

Things to see and do:

• See historic steam locomotive PB 15 No444, which entered service in 1908 and traveled almost 2 million kilometres before hauling the last ‘official’ steam train for Queensland Railways in the Brisbane region in 1968.
• Learn about the important safety role of gatekeepers and how this was an early form of social security for widows or women whose husband could no longer work in the railways.
• See items often associated with a steam train including an oil can, guards lamp, side light and of course the drivers tucker box.
• Watch a video about PB steam locos and learn how they were designed specifically for hauling passenger carriages but performed so well they also worked as freight locos.
• See the various wagons on this mixed goods train including a sheep wagon, open wagon, flat wagon and a coal hopper.
• Peek inside the brake van (the last carriage of a train).