QLD Day 3 - Ipswich Workshops

Citytrain set 262, These trains almost identical to Perth's
new trains. They were built by the same factory, EDI
Walker in Maryborough QLD

One of the Electric Tilt Train sets before departure to
Rockhampton at Roma Street station.

Today I ventured all the way out to Ipswich to go to the Workshops Railway Museum. It was about and hour train ride from the city and it was interesting to see the landscape change from lush to more scrubby type vegetation on the way. I thought Ipswich was an outer suburb of Brisbane, but it is really it's own city, as there is actually quite a gap between the two. From Ipswich station it was a short 5 minute bus ride to the museum, and the bus connected with the train perfectly (harmonised headways). Overall I spent about 4 hours at the workshops, partly due to the Bus Schedule and partly due to the timing of the various tours you can take.

Loco 1262, to the left can by seen loco 1710 which
now contains a train driving simulator

Inside the cab of 1710

The museum itself is rather small with a few examples of locomotives and rolling stock, plus many interactive displays including a train cab simulator.

Lego Coal train

Model coal train

Queensland loco 1281 in it's golden splendour

Diesel shunter DL1

Loco no.6

The Ipswich workshops are still active and is where the Queensland Rail heritage fleet is maintained and stored. In the sheds there are many steam locomotives and items of rolling stock in various states of repair.

A locomotive under repair at the workshops

Garratt 1009

Beyer-Garratt builders plate on 1009

The workshops are also home to a blacksmith's workshops which makes all kinds of objects for both the heritage arm of the railways, the day to day needs of QR as well as outside contracts. What seems amazing to a Victorian is that all of this is state funded, is based on full time employees, and some parts such as the blacksmith workshop make a profit.

Sparks fly in the blacksmith's workshop.

On both the workshops and blacksmiths tours we got to ride on the traverser which is used for moving rolling stock around the workshops.

The traverser

Due to timing and bus schedules I didn't leave the workshops until will after 3 pm. As such the bus was packed with school kids, I managed to find a seat at the back, but some of the kids at the front wouldn't stand for an old lady, and they were giving the bus driver a hard time by always pressing the stop request button whether or not anyone wanted to get off. Coincidentally a few days I heard a news story about a bus driver in Ipswich who ended up driving to the police station after a school kid threw something at his head while driving. I thought of my bus ride.

Once again it was a smooth train ride back into Brisbane.

That evening I went to the cinema near my hostel to see Gran Torino. When I was in the ticket line still wearing the grotty clothes I'd been in all day I realised everyone else was rather well dressed. Feeling a bit embarrassed I decided to dash back have a shower and get changed before the movie. Not having time for dinner I thought I'd get by on some popcorn and a drink, but somehow I ended up with the combo that also included a choc-top. The weird thing was that it was cheaper than just the drink and popcorn.


As it turns out, after the movie I was a bit peckish, and so went to a nearby take away and had the worst kebab of my life. It was really dry and didn't taste very good at all. The night still being relatively early I ended up going for a walk down to the XXXX brewery and back again, which was just down the road.

XXXX Milton Brewery - the view across the road
from my hostel.