Etheridge railway line
Although construction was delayed by strikes in mid-1908 over the pay rate for railway workers, in February 1909 the line was opened to Einasleigh from Almaden. The Einasleigh copper mine was originally discovered by Richard Daintree in the mid 1860s, but the cost of transporting ore from the site made it uneconomic and it soon closed. The location was lost until the 1890s and a renewed interest in copper on the Etheridge field. A township known as Copperfield was established on the banks of the Copperfield River to service 12 copper mining leases extant by 1899, and this was surveyed as Einasleigh in 1900. The mine was reopened that year by the Einasleigh Freehold Mining Company, in which John Moffat had acquired an interest. By 1901 copper matte from a smelter at Einasleigh was being transported to Almaden by camel train. The coming of the Etheridge Railway in 1909 allowed Einasleigh to boom, and it was the largest centre on the Etheridge between 1907 and 1910. By 1910 six ore trains a week were running from Einasleigh to the Chillagoe smelters, and in 1911 the mine was purchased by the Chillagoe Company. It closed in 1914, and was reopened by the Queensland Government between 1920 and 1922.
Etheridge railway line
The Etheridge line was closed again after floods in 1974, but reopened in December that year. In late 1994 and early 1995 the local community protested against the proposed ending of the Cairns to Forsayth freight and passenger rail service, which would leave only the Mount Surprise to Forsayth section of the Etheridge line operating as a tourist railway (the Savannahlander). Einasleigh's population blockaded the railway for four days in late December 1994, holding the "Last Great Train Ride" hostage. During this period the locals fed and housed the train passengers and crew until the blockade was lifted after negotiation with the police. The line from Mareeba to Mount Surprise was closed and the Savannahlander tourist railmotor started operation from Mount Surprise to Forsayth in April 1995. However, after an upgrade of the line for sugar syrup trains from Cairns to Arriga, and limited restoration of the rest of the line, the Savannahlander started travelling from Cairns to Forsayth in September 1998. Over four days the Savannahlander, operated by Cairns Kuranda Steam, travels to Mareeba, then west on the Chillagoe line as far as Almaden, before heading south to Forsayth on the Etheridge line and then returning to Cairns. It uses three railmotor units, including two 2000 Class PD cars (1963) and one 2051 class PLDT car (1971). The Etheridge line is currently maintained by Queensland Rail, on a contract basis for Queensland Transport. During 2007 and 2008 many of the Etheridge line's timber sleepers have been replaced with steel sleepers, leaving a 1:1 ratio of timber to steel.