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.
Eastern Union Railway
Victoria station was a terminus, and the Eastern Union wished to connect with the network controlled by the Eastern Counties Railway, to enable onward connections. The ECR had its own line from London to Norwich and did not regard the EUR as an ally, but a connecting line about a mile long was made to the ECR at Trowse Lower Junction, not far from the ECR Norwich terminus. At a gradient of 1 in 84 it was the steepest on the EUR system. It was used by special trains to Yarmouth races on 9 and 10 September 1851, although regular services did not start until 1 October. This was the last section of railway built by the EUR before takeover by the ECR. The hostility of the ECR was such that EUR locomotives were not permitted to enter ECR track; arriving trains for Thorpe station had to run round clear of the junction, and be propelled to that point for an ECR engine to couple and continue the journey.