Queensland's Cane Trains - Plane Creek Part 1

Queensland has a fascinating network of sugar cane railways stretching from Bundaberg in the South through to Mossman in the North. 17 sugar mills have railway networks with over 4000km of track across the state. All the mills use 2ft gauge track, except for Pioneer Mill which uses 3ft 6in gauge track. Locomotives are diesel hydraulic, with ages ranging from 70 years old to brand new (2023 built). Some locomotives have been converted from former Queensland Rail 3ft 6in DH class, or New South Wales Government Railways 4ft 8 1/2in 47 class. Wagons are unbraked and some trains operate with a remote controlled brake van at the rear of the train to provide additional braking force. Trains can be up to 1km long, consisting of up to 200 wagons with a weight of approximately 1000 tons. Some trains require two crew members however many locomotives have been converted to driver only operating and can be switched to remote control operation for shunting. This video contains footage taken in August 2023 of Plane Creek Mill. This mill is located in Sarina (just South of Mackay) and is owned by Wilmar Sugar. I didn't have much success finding trains on the mill's network during daylight hours (in fact, I saw more trains the previous night whilst driving into Mackay (when I wasn't looking for them) then when I was trying to find them!). Trains seen in this video are: 1. Footage from the end of the line at Karloo (approx 65km from the mill at Sarina). Loco 'Carmilla' (ex NSWGR 73 class loco 7317, converted 1996) is seen shunting bins at the yard. Loading activities in the extensive yard occur by semi trailer (direct into the cane bins) as well as by trucks which take cane bins directly to the farms to load. One such truck is seen transferring loaded bins back onto the rail network in the yard. 2. 'Victoria' (ex Queensland Rail DH17, converted 1994) and brake van bring a load of cane across Armstrong Beach road to the South of Sarina. 3. Almost at journey's end, 'Victoria' crosses the Bruce Highway with it's train. 4. A unique feature of Plane Creek mill's network is a section of track parallel with the busy 3ft 6in coal network into Mackay. Here a loaded coal train heads for the port as loco 'D12' (1976 Baldwin loco) passes siding 5KL near Yukan.