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.
Heritage railway
After the founding of the Edaville Railroad in Massachusetts by Ellis D. Atwood in 1947, the first heritage railway to be rescued and run entirely by volunteers was the Talyllyn Railway in Wales. This narrow gauge line, taken over by a group of enthusiasts in 1950, was the beginning of the preservation movement in the United Kingdom. The world's third preserved railway, and the second outside the United Kingdom, was Australia's Puffing Billy Railway. This railway operates on of track, with much of its original rolling stock built as early as 1898. There are 100 to 150 heritage railways in the United Kingdom, and similar railway-preservation efforts by enthusiasts can be found in many other countries in Europe and the Commonwealth.