Driver's Eye View - Savannahlander - Part 6 - No Commentary - Almaden to Dimbulah

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Almaden is located on the Mareeba to Chillagoe railway line at its junction with the Etheridge line to Forsayth. The remains of the once extensive sidings and the long Island platform indicated that this was once an important location on the Tablelands railways.
Almaden takes its name from Almaden in Spain's Cuidad Real province. Our train stopped for an hour, giving passengers time to wander over to the Railway Hotel for something to eat and drink, after which there was still time to visit the station museum and take photographs of the station and its substantial water tower.
With departure time approaching passengers returned to their seats and our drivers/guides checked we were all aboard as the diesel engines were started ready for the next leg of our journey to Dimbulah. The scenery on this part of our journey was more varied than that experienced on the Etheridge line as we had three ranges to cross before the landscape became less barren as we entered the fertile plains irrigated by Mareeba-Dimbulah irrigation scheme taking water from Tinaroo Dam.
The township of Dimbulah (aboriginal word meaning “long waterhole”) grew in significance with the coming of the railway as it became a locomotive servicing point for trains to Mareeba and Chillagoe, it was the gateway to the Hodgkinson Goldfield, also contributing to the towns importance was the Wolfram tungsten mine and the Mount Mulligan coal mine.
At the end of this leg our train drew into the tiny platform at Dimbulah where the “Dimbulah Historical Society” put on refreshments for passengers, there was also a small museum and shop selling books about the railway and surrounding area.

Here is a little information about the train, mostly courtesy of Wikipedia -

The service was introduced on 3 April 1995 by Queensland Rail to replace the Forsayth Mixed (marketed as the 'Last Great Train Ride'). The line was closed from Mareeba to Mount Surprise at the same time. It was initially run with a 2000 class railmotor set that was refurbished at Townsville Workshops. Initially this service only ran on the Mount Surprise to Forsayth section of the Etheridge line. However, after an upgrade of the line for sugar syrup trains from Cairns to Arriga, and a limited restoration of the rest of the line, the railmotor started travelling from Cairns to Forsayth in September 1998. In 2004 it was decided to put the running of the train out to tender and the winning bid was submitted by “Cairns Kuranda Steam Pty Ltd”. Please listen to the commentary to hear more about “Cairns Kuranda Steam” and how it came to be running the Savannahlander.

To learn more about the “Savannahlander” or to book your own outback adventure, please click on this link - https://savannahlander.com.au/ Savannahlander

Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/Savannahland...

For information about the Tablelands railway - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tablela...

To learn more about Dimbula, please click on either of these links - https://www.mbahistsoc.org.au/locatio...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimbula...

Sound Effects - Source
00:00 & 02:12:08 - ES_Birds Forest 1 - SFX Producer - epidemicsound.com

This trip was filmed - 20.10.2023

Track Gauge - 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm)

To see the first 4 Parts of this trip, please click on any of the links below -

Driver's Eye View (Australia) - Savannahlander - Part 2 - No Commentary - Forsayth to Cafe Bloodwood -    • Driver's Eye View (Australia) - Savan...  

Driver's Eye View (Australia) - Savannahlander - Part 3 - No Commentary - Cafe Bloodwood to Einasleigh -    • Driver's Eye View - Savannahlander - ...  

Driver's Eye View - Savannahlander - Part 4 - No Commentary – Einasleigh to Mount Surprise -    • Driver's Eye View - Savannahlander - ...  

Driver's Eye View - Savannahlander - Part 5 - No Commentary – Mount Surprise to Almaden -    • Driver's Eye View - Savannahlander - ...