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.
Mineral railways of Dunfermline
The Dunfermline branch was added to the Elgin system in 1834, before the arrival of the two main line railways. Passengers and general goods were conveyed from Dunfermline to Charlestown Harbour, which became an important ferry port for transport to Edinburgh. This changed the character of the Elgin Railway network from a simple mineral line to a general railway, and the route soon became known informally as the Dunfermline and Charlestown Railway. The entire network was 6 miles long between Wellwood, Baldridge and Charlestown Harbour. In the 1850s a line was added running eastwards across the north side of Dunfermline to join up with the Halbeath Railway system, giving access to the Halbeath collieries.