This is our first tour from our new home at Moore Park Beach. We are heading to Armadale in NSW for a Rotary Nomads changeover muster which is a week long event.
We spent the night at Wallangarra / Jennings which is a twin town on the Queensland and New South Wales border. We free camped on the NSW side behind the Jennings Hotel.
Wallangarra is one of Queensland’s southern-most towns 256 km from Brisbane and 769 km from Sydney and 877 m above sea level. The town is the product of the two state governments deciding to build railways of different gauges (1067 mm for Queensland and 1435 mm for New South Wales).
Wallangarra railway station was on the only railway route between Sydney and Brisbane and had to handle the break-of-gauge where the Queensland 3 ft 6 in gauge line met the New South Wales 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in Gauge Main Northern Line.
NSW on the right Qld on the left. Note the different veranda styles
Wallangarra was the terminating point for the Sydney Mail, with passengers transferring to the Brisbane Limited for the remainder of the journey to Sydney.
When the railways were completed this meant that people travelling from one state to the next had to change trains at Wallangarra. The tiny settlement soon became a major railway junction with the Wallangarra railway station café serving thousands meals for passengers crossing the platform.
Today the grand Victorian-era railway station is a heritage-listed site and serves as a monument to state rivalries and the foolishness of politicians.
Wallangarra railway line is now only used only for historic train journeys about once per month from Warwick to Wallangarra and return. The New South Wales side is abandoned.
The Wallangarra Railway Station station now has a small museum with the history of the station and surrounding area and the Café on the platform is open and serves great coffee and meals.
Well worth a stop for coffee or lunch. Next time we hope to arrive on the train!
We pulled over just south of Wallangarra to look at Sunnyside Bridge. This is a truss bridge crossing over Tenterfield Creek is a historical landmark next to the New England Hwy, NSW.