Charters Towers railway station

Charters Towers is a railway station on the Great Northern line at Charters Towers, 134 kilometres (83 mi) west of Townsville in North Queensland, Australia.

Charters Towers
Looking across the railway from the Phoebe mine to the town centre in 1904
LocationNew Queen Road, Charters Towers
Owned byQueensland Rail
Operated byTraveltrain
Line(s)Great Northern
Platforms1
Tracks2
Construction
Structure typeGround
Disabled accessYes
History
OpenedDecember 1882
Rebuilt1983
Services
Preceding station Queensland Rail Following station
Long distance rail services
Townsville
Terminus
 The Inlander Pentland
towards Mount Isa

History

The line arrived at Charters Towers in December 1882[1] and eventually extended west to the city of Mount Isa in 1929.[2] The line was built initially to connect Charters Towers with the Port of Townsville. The spark was the discovery of gold that had taken place in January 1872. Seven years later the rise in gold returns convinced the government to connect the centre to the coast with a more reliable transport conduit. The station was built at Queenton, midway between the two population centres of Charters Towers and Millchester.[3] This was in a part to appease both townships and for practical purposes given the country here was flat. The station was opened in December 1882 by Premier Thomas McIlwraith.[4]

The distance to the town put the onus on the more prominent hotels to 'meet the train' and transport travellers up Hospital Hill via Gill Street into the town centre. The station building was demolished in 1983 and replaced.

The station was photographed by Allom and Bailey in 1887. The first image shows the station at Queenton looking east while the other shows the crossing looking west towards Charters Towers.

The crossing remains in place and still creates traffic holdups.

The signals, crane and subway at the station were listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 30 October 2008.[5]

Services

Charters Towers is served by Traveltrain's Inlander service.[6]

References
  1. World History Archived 6 April 2011 at the Wayback Machine Charters Towers Regional Council
  2. Mount Isa Queensland Places. Centre for the Government of Queensland
  3. Charters Towers Suburbs.Queensland Places. Centre for the Government of Queensland
  4. Diary of Events December 1882 Pugh's Almanac
  5. "Signals, Crane and Subway, Charters Towers Railway Station (entry 602627)". Queensland Heritage Register. Queensland Heritage Council. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  6. "Westlander & Inlander timetable" (PDF). Queensland Rail Travel. 14 December 2018.

Further reading
  • Brumby, Michael (2006). Charters Towers: 1887. Charters Towers: CTADAG Northern Miner 5 December 1901
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