Queensland is a state that was opened up by the industrial revolution of the railway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
150 years of carriages rattling along the line are set to be celebrated with a very special journey – a trip steaming down memory lane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Queensland Rail celebrates 150 years of service next year and celebrations are on track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Built in 1956, the steam engine has undergone a painstaking restoration over the past twelve months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Driver Mark Ferrar was given the honour of test firing ten-seventy-nine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“There’s roughly seven hundred metres of tubing that have been reinstalled back in the boiler, and then they had to stage all these tubes and make them steam tight,” he told 7News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“There\u2019s nothing like it. Particularly after you’ve spent months and months of work slaving over it, repairing all the parts that needed repairing, and then to finally see it all fired up and moving in the yard.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Up to 50 volunteers have helped bring the loco back to its former glory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mark will keep the boiler stoked for the trip north in January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each train will carry up to 300 passengers, in the heritage wooden cars – the oldest of which was built in 1902.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The train will stop at major cities on its way to Cairns, and where possible at heritage platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Overall we expect to carry over 7000 people to enjoy this experience, not only on the train but then thousands of others to witness this beautiful locomotive passing through their town or their district,” Martin Ryan from Queensland Rail said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Next year we’re going to give people a chance to travel back in time and travel aboard the heritage railway of the steam engine era.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tickets won’t go on sale until next month. To book, call 1800 751 150.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yahoo.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Queensland is a state that was opened up by the industrial revolution of the railway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":77916,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[273,167,47],"tags":[987,7465],"class_list":["post-77915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia","category-queensland-rail","category-rail-news","tag-brisbane","tag-queensland"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t