Queensland sugar cane trams

[Paul S.]

The gauge may be only 2 feet, but it feels like modern standard-gauge railroading.

https://youtu.be/2IzBBI2BIsk?feature=shared

[Russ C]

Ohhh boy....I used to go north every holiday when cane season was on from 1975 to 1982. That's memories there. I saw the last mill with steam locos, in Bundaberg. I'd travel from Sydney to just south of Brisbane on the Gold Coast Motorail (same sort of thing as Autotrain) then drive for a day and a half. That's just one of many cane tram networks in northern Queensland.
These days there's Plasser tampers and ballast regulators, radio controlled ballast cars and plows, track evaluation cars and lots more, all on 2' gauge heavy rail and concrete ties. The trams can be 800 tons or more, the cane bins (the wagons) are 20 ton capacity and only the loco(s) and brake wagons to stop the whole thing (gotta be crazy to drive those coming downhill).
And Paul, feels like standard gauge? You don't know how close you are to that. The 2 locos at the beginning were converted from standard gauge diesel-hydraulic locos from NSW, the sand boxes on the walkway sides and the trucks are a givaway.



7304 is the NSW switcher/transfer loco (ironically built in Queensland) and the cane mill loco is the result of it's rebuild.

[Paul S.]

The head-on views of these locomotives cause me to marvel that they're able to run at the speeds they do, Russ C .



It must be quite the show during harvest/processing time.

[Paul S.]

Ah, so it's the juice content that determines the quality. Of course.

Lately I've been seeing clothing made from bagasse, Russ C .

My brother is the IT guru for a company here that imports kids clothes made from bamboo. Perhaps bagasse is the next wave here? Or maybe I've got the order of things turned around. Maybe bagasse came first to the clothing market. I know wallboard was made from it once.

[Russ C]

Yes, wasn't it called Caneite?

[Paul S.]

I seem to recall reading that, Russ C. Probably more commonly found in the southeast US, states of Florida and Louisiana particularly.

[Paul S.]

Have you ever visited the CaneSIG site, Russ C ?

https://www.zelmeroz.com/canesig/

Some really top-notch modeling, and a wealth of prototype information.

[Russ C]

Yes, I used to frequent it regularly 15 years ago. With the 3D printed HOn30 locos these days. modeling something like this would be a lot easier.

[craigtownsend]

I'm interested now... 😂

How do they unload the cars? Do the sides drop down? Edit: I watched the first video last. Oops. Answered a few questions. 😕

Modeling some of these in 7/8" (gauge 1 track at 7/8" =1' ) or using Ho track for 2' gauge would be quite cool!

Is the 2' gauge a hold over from earlier times? I'm clueless in the history of these cane trains but wow it's interesting.

[Russ C]

Hi craigtownsend. Canefields modeling can be very interesting. It stems from the early 1800s using horse drawn trams to haul the cane. 2' gauge was the cheapest and easiest to build on the largely flat fields. The wagons then were called 'whole stick' wagons as the cane wasn't chopped up, just the whole length laid across the wagon. The canefields were one of the earliest users of small steam engines.
The bins go through rotary tipplers and are solid sided. There's been a lot of larger scale models produced based on canefields prototypes, 7/8" scale is popular and even a 5" gauge ride on canefields loco, sold by the English company Maxitrack.
https://minitrains.com.au/products/e...ane-locomotive
Baldwin (the US company, not the Australian one) supplied some 0-4-2 Forney design locos to the canefields to, this is a 7/8" model having a run (was a commercially available model at one stage)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=TBk77Hzb_iU
The real loco still (I think) runs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tzdVvpYUgo

[Paul S.]

I'm interested now... 😂

How do they unload the cars? Do the sides drop down? Edit: I watched the first video last. Oops. Answered a few questions. 😕

Modeling some of these in 7/8" (gauge 1 track at 7/8" =1' ) or using Ho track for 2' gauge would be quite cool!

Is the 2' gauge a hold over from earlier times? I'm clueless in the history of these cane trains but wow it's interesting.

Here ya go, Craig!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/9419292...%253A941929225

[craigtownsend]

I've already contemplated 7/8" over the years and have said if I ever wanted to model freelance I'd go HOn15 or 7/8". There's some neat stuff out in the wilds, including some obscure 15" gauge field railroads...

I've got plenty of distractions already. 😂