The Westlander – Toowoomba’s forgotten train.

The Westlander – Toowoomba’s forgotten train.

After one year in Toowoomba, I decided to explore more of my options in my new home town.
Since we have this great historical railway station, I wondered what options were available to travel by train to Brisbane.

I started asking friends and colleagues for information regarding a train to Brisbane. The answer was clear. There hasn’t been a train for at least the last 9 years. What a shame, but it seems I have to put that idea to rest.

Then one morning, on the way to a business meeting in our railway station, I heard the sound of a diesel locomotive. Out of curiosity I  walked onto the platform and saw a train with 6 cars attached. Spotting the conductor, I asked him what the occasion was. With a big smile he told me that this train was the only weekly service from Charleville to Brisbane.

The Westlander is clearly Toowoomba’s forgotten train.
I purchased the ticket the day before the journey because our ticket office does not open early enough to buy tickets just before departure.

Gone are the days where you would state your destination, pay the money and receive one of these:

We are in so called “modern times” now. Names, first names, contact phone numbers (both mobile and land-line) had to be provided in order to make the purchase.  They filled out a completely full A4 page of personal information per passenger.

The big day arrived and our trip was about to begin.
Two massive locomotives pulled the huge train with its six cars.
Friendly staff members packed our luggage on board, checked the tickets and showed us how to find our seats. The train was barely half full. Obviously it runs as more of a tradition instead of a profit making venture. A few minutes later we left Toowoomba.

The trip started with a very, very slow descent through the Range towards the Lockyer Valley. We were a bit sad to see the Range was hiding behind thick fog, but the odd hole in the clouds revealed some incredible sun/shadow plays caused by the glorious sun that was otherwise hidden from view.

The train wound its way endlessly on and on through the eucalyptus forests mixed with green grassed spots and breathtaking views of the mountains of the Range. So many stunning views and photo opportunities that I drained the batteries of my camera. The few nice photos I could take are below.

We settled in the buffet car for some breakfast just as we reached the bottom of the mountains. Armed with a nice coffee and some toasted sandwiches, we entered the Lockyer Valley. I have travelled through it many times, always using my car. This time it was very different.

From the road, you can only get a small impression of the size of this area, but from a train the view changes. The Valley is huge; littered with small townships and huge fields of fresh produce, pumpkins, melons, acres and acres of tomatoes and many other vegetables I could not easily recognise. A very scenic ride through the valley led us to the crossing of the Ipswich Range and then we slowly entered the outskirts of Brisbane. From here the landscape changed from the beauty of the constantly changing colours into the gray monotony of the concrete jungle. A little over 4 hours after our start in Toowoomba we entered Roma Street Station in Brisbane.

Here is what the official website says.

A trip to remember and I certainly recommend you try it for yourself. I will never forget it and already have plans to repeat the trip. Only next time I will take a bagful of spare batteries for my camera.

The Westlander – Toowoomba’s forgotten train.
Such a pleasurable journey and yet most people do not even know it exists. It needs much better promotion.

Here are some photos of our trip.