The Cooktown Railway

Book excerpt: "As a boy, I was always curious about the existence on the railway map of Queensland of two railways isloated from the main system. The timetable showed a weekly rail motor service on each of these lines - the Cooktown and Normanton Railways in North Queensland. I was always trouble dby the absence of any "proper tains", and by their "not going anywhere", and commenced to ferret out information, eventually confirming that they were indeed without proper trains, and were operated by rail motors. Although it was some years before I was able to visit either line, I became more and more interested. The story of the Cooktown Railway, in particular, carried me along - each item of information unearthed seemed to lead to something more unusual, and to confirm that this was a railway which was remarkable in many ways. Even after the publication of my article on the line in the 'Bulletin' of the Australian Railway Historical Society for May 1958, I have continued to find something which "needed answering". The closure of the line in 1961 led me to endeavour to complete its history."--Preface, page [vii].