Etheridge railway line
The Etheridge Railway line, which branches off the Mareeba-to-Chillagoe railway at Almaden and heads south for to Forsayth via Mount Surprise and Einasleigh, was built between 1907 and 1910 by the Chillagoe Railway and Mining Company as a private railway line. The same company constructed the railway line from Mareeba to Chillagoe and Mungana between 1898 and 1901. The Etheridge line was built cheaply, with lighter rails and fewer earthworks than the Chillagoe line, to supply ore to the Chillagoe Company's under-utilised Chillagoe smelters. The Chillagoe Company was part of the business empire of John Moffat, and between 1880 and 1914 much of the economic activity of North Queensland was driven by the railways and mining towns created by Moffat's enterprises. The remaining built infrastructure at stations along the Etheridge Railway provides examples of the type of buildings erected by the Chillagoe Company for its railway network.
Eaton Branch Railway
The Eaton Branch Railway began at "Eaton Junction", immediately to the south of Waltham-on-the-Wolds station. It curved leftwards to run north-west on an embankment, gaining height above the surrounding fields. It then crossed Green Lane on an overbridge. North of this bridge, the line curved to the north, still on an embankment. The Eastwell Branch left the line at the start of this curve, just north of Green Lane. It is probable that this was never used apart from a short section near to the junction used as a siding. Certainly by 1903 a narrow gauge line had been built on its formation by the Eastwell Iron Ore Company. The standard gauge siding was used to supply equipment to the quarrying company, whose narrow gauge line was extended to serve quarries at Eaton and Branston. All the ore from those quarries and those at Eastwell was taken via the narrow gauge line including a cable operated incline to sidings at the Great Northern and London and North Western Joint Line near Harby.