12/11/2026
This photograph shows the Railway Yards in Julia Creek in the 1960s. In the background is the ‘coal stage’ designed to re-stock the steam engines with coal. An engine pushed three coal wagons up the ramp to the top. The engine would then move in under the stage, for the coal to be loaded through a shute. This became obsolete after diesels were introduced in the late 1950s.
The Inlander is in the station; this is one of the first diesel trains that took over from coal and steam. The rail line had to be strengthened to take the weight of diesel engines and the crossing loop had also been extended to cope with longer trains that could be pulled by diesel.
When the rail line was built from Richmond to Julia Creek in the first decade of the 20th century, it was built with day labour of some 1,000 men. This section also created a record for the fastest line ever built in Australia at ‘two and a half miles’ per week. The flat country with few waterways was, of course, conducive to such a record.
