200 Years of Steam Trains

Celebrate 200 years of steam trains with a ride on the Mary Valley Rattler, departing from Gympie Station on Saturday 27 & Sunday 28 September.

Two hundred years ago, this month, the first steam train journey carrying passengers was launched in England on the Stockton and Darlington Railway. Departing Darlington station in Yorkshire on September 27, 1825, Locomotion No. 1 pulled the first train on the line, carrying both coal and 450 passengers to Stockton-on-Tees.

From this humble beginning, a revolution followed with the ‘iron horse’ opening vast areas of land for humans and trade to expand. Australia joined the steam revolution with Queensland’s rich gold and agricultural resources, encouraging the rollout of steam trains from 1865. The Mary Valley Rattler began operating in 1911, servicing the massive goldfields around Gympie and the newly established farms of the verdant Mary Valley.

The pot of gold began to run dry in the 1920s, though the Mary Valley Rattler’s services were sustained by freight until the mid-1990s, when the train transitioned into a heritage tourist train. Today, the Rattler takes tourists on a 24km journey back in time through the picturesque Mary Valley from its base at Historic Gympie Station on board a lovingly restored century-old C17 steam engine.

It is like a trip back in time to a slower, more graceful period. The C17 locomotive 974 and the carriages have been lovingly restored by volunteers at the railway, with added capacity to carry both wheelchair passengers and pets.

A VIP experience is offered in the Club Car, which celebrated its 100th anniversary this year, having arrived at Gympie station with just the under-frame and bogies. Repaired and refurbished, the carriage was then fitted with a new superstructure and rebuilt in the workshop to offer a first-class heritage experience.

To commemorate the bicentenary of steam, the Rattler will operate steam services on both days, 

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Images courtesy of Mary Valley Rattler.