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Southern and Western Railway - Proposed Extension to Brisbane
Timeline:
1856 - 1857 - Triumph of Narrow Gauge A History of Queensland Railways
The first railway survey between Brisbane and Ipswich was done in 1856-57 by the New South Wales Government who sent two surveyors and an engineer from Sydney.
1860 - 1862 - Triumph of Narrow Gauge A History of Queensland Railways
The Moreton Bay Tramway Company was set up in 1860-61 to construct a horse hauled wooden railed tramway from Ipswich (the head of navigation) to Toowoomba.
The company wished to start from North Ipswich but the Select Committee altered that to South Ipswich thus forcing it to bridge the Bremer River.
The company was to be granted land in exchange for constructing the Tramway but was unable to raise enough capital to do anymore than the surveys and construction of three small cuttings near the Basin at North Ipswich in 1862.
The company subsequently went insolvent and the Government bought the survey which was its only asset.
1870 - Triumph of Narrow Gauge A History of Queensland Railways
A railway from brisbane to Ipswich had its supporters even before the surveyors arrived in 1856.
Although surveyed before Separation, and surveyed again by Fitzgibbon, the Brisbane proposal was not considered until 1870. 1872 April - Queensland Railways First Half Century 1864-1914
The report of a Royal Commission on Railways Construction was presented to Parliament in April, 1872. The COmmission had been composed of members of both of the Government and Opposition parties. By a majority of three to two this Commission recommended the extension of existing lines, and stated its opinion that the Southern and Western Extension to Brisbane, and the the Great Northern Extension to the junction of the Comet and Makenzie Rivers should be constructed without delay; that the section between Ipswich and Brisbane should be constructed on the existing gauge, and of equal stability with that portion of the railway already constructed.
There had already been two official surveys of the line from Ipswich to Brisbane, but a third was decided on at a cost of 8,000 pounds.
1873 January, 30 - Triumph of Narrow Gauge A History of Queensland Railways
Turning the first sod of the Brisbane line was celebrated at Goodna where two thousand people saw Governor Normanby perform this symbolic at on the 30th January, 1873.
1873 January, 30 - Queensland Railways First Half Century 1864-1914
The turning of the first sod of the Ipswich to Brisbane Extension took place on 30th January, 1873. The Governor of Queensland at the time was the Marquis of Normanby, Mr. H.C. Stanley was Chief Engineer of Railways; Mr. A.O. Herbert still acted a Commissioner. The Marquis of Normanby, who turned the first sod, said that bad times had passed, and prosperity was rampant.
The plans finally accepted for the railway from Ipswich to Brisbane were different altogether from those recommended by former Engineers-in-Chief. The Minister for Works, in introducing them, said that the then Engineer-in-Chief had not acted under parliamentary direction, but had recommended the line which he considered best for the country.
1873 - Triumph of Narrow Gauge A History of Queensland Railways
Work did not begin at ipswich as the route had not been settled. Fitzgibbon has surveyed a line from North Ipswich crossing the bremer east of the town, but Ipswich residents objected to their station being left as a dead end. Thornloe Smith surveyed a line making a 90 degree bend at the southern end of the Bremer River bridge, leaving the station as a dead end. Trains from Brisbane would have had to cross the bridge and back in from it. The Traffic Manager, Statham Lowe, protested at such a cumbersome arrangement.
Stanely solved the problem decisively with a new crossing of the Bremer River due west of Ipswich. This replaced more than five kilometres of the North Ipswich route with a direct line only half its length. It still left Ipswich station on a dead end until 1887 when a new station was built on the direct line.
 
First Ipswich Station ca.1865 (above) and Second Ipswich Station ca. 1887 (John Oxley Library)
1874 October, 5 - Triumph of Narrow Gauge A History of Queensland Railways
The first section, from Ipswich to Oxley West, now named Sherwood, was opened on 5th October 1874, without ceremony.
1875 February - Queensland Railways First Half Century 1864-1914
The Ipswich-Brisbane Railway was opened as far as Oxley Point in February 1875.
1875 April, 26 - Triumph of Narrow Gauge A History of Queensland Railways
The Ipswich deviation was brought into use on 26th April, 1875.
1875 June, 14 - Queensland Railways First Half Century 1864-1914
The first train carrying passengers from Brisbane started at 6.30am on the 14th June, 1875. The line was not quite finished, there remaining plenty of ballasting to do. Everything was makeshift, the railway station in Brisbane and several suburban station buildings being unfinished. The bridge over the Brisbane River at Indoroopilly, which was to supply the missing link, was unfinished, and passengers, goods, etc, were conveyed across the river in a punt. A new timetable, allowing four trains a day to and from Ipswich, was adopted.
1876 July, 5 - Triumph of Narrow Gauge A History of Queensland Railways
The bridge over the Brisbane River at Indooroopilly now completed is marked by a quite ceremony on 5th july 1876 when Governor Cairns named the Albert Bridge in honour of the Prince of Wales.
First Albert bridge over the Brisbane RIver at Indooroopilly ca. 1876 -1893 (Queensland Railways First Half Century 1864-1914)
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