| 1914 Innisfail |
| About this Railway Ambulance |
| Basic data |
| Name | Power | |
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| 2-2wPMR? | |
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| Gauge | 2ft | |
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| Builder | QGR? | |
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| Year | c1914 | |
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| In service |
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| Above: The Innisfail Ambulance Brigade, an early photograph of unknown origin. Note a 2 feet gauge rail trolley beside the ambulance car. (G.H. Verhoeven collection) - |
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| Above - drawing for the Port Douglas Railway Ambulance. Have not been able to locate any information that a Port Douglas car was actually recorded as built / used, however this drawing has some similarities to the RA shown in Gerry's photo above and the other photo below- unknown if the RA in the above and below are the same. Info welcome. |
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| Above - The 2ft (610mm) Gauge Trolley used by the QATB at Innisfail circa 1920 - John Oxley Library |
| (note - look at the cover over the stretcher on the far side, view the middle left hand side above the wheels and the cover becomes obvious, also note the timber inserts inside the wheels to help reduce noise - Ken Mc) |
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| About the railway line (extracts used from Triumph of Narrow Gauge, J Kerr) |
| Geraldton - as Innisfail was known until 1910.............. In this super wet sugar district, rail transport provided the only reliable means of moving passengers and freight before the advent of bituman and rubber tyres. |
| More info from J.W. Knowles 1990 |
| The first rail motor ambulance existed prior to the first World War. The Innisfail QATB had a 2ft (610mm) gauge trolley for use on tramlines in the district, both local authority and mill, by 1914. This was dated by local identities as prior to the government takeover of the Shire Tramway in that year. It was a convention montor trolley, on which two ambulance bearers rode, but with a hooded outrigger on one side, for the stretcher holding patient. From the Ambulance Centre on the Esplanade, it was simply pushed across the road to the tramline. |
| By 1926, the Innisfail centre had a second 2ft gauge trolley based at South Johnstone, for use over QR and mill tramlines in the area. |
| The first section of the 3ft 6in (1067mm) gauge QR North Coast LIne at Innisfail was opened in 1922, and about that time, the Innisfail QATB obtained a rail ambulance of that gauge, of unknown form. |
| All three of these vehicles had ceased operation by 1935. |
| Prior to the opening of the QR North Coast Line, the only access from Innisfail to Silkwood was via the QR 2ft gauge tramline to South Johnstone, thence over the tramline of South Johnstone Mill. The latter was then used for timber as well as cane haulage, and timber bogies were left on the main line for loading. One ambulance bearer recollected having to manhandle the ambulance trolley around rakes of logs to continue the errand of mercy. |
| Below reprinted with permission from Gerry Verhoeven from the book "The Innisfail Tramway" 1973 J. Armstrong & G. Verhoeven |
| Although the QATB has no connection with present tramway administration it nevertheless warrants mention, for particularly in earlier years when the tramway was the sole means of transport available for some accident cases, it liased closely with it. It is hard to visulaise in this age of high speed sealed highwasy just what transport difficulites faced our forbears' for this reason surprise is sometimes registered at the part played by the tramways of our past. But in fact, before huge sums of money were spent on roadways and bridges, many o fhte somewhat scorned narrrow gauge rail tracks provided the only really relilable form of transport during inclement weather, and it should not be all that surprising that such an essential service as the ambulance brigade should rely upon it. |
| Rail ambulances, in fact, were provided in many northern and western Queensland centres on both government railways and private tramways. These so-called '"rail motor ambulances" ranged from fully enclosed 6 wheel railcars to simple 4-wheel motorised trolleys with a stretcher mounted on an outrigger. Such latter was the case at Innisfail, where such a machine stood in readiness along wiht the early ambulance sulkies and road motor vehicles. |
| Mr Hugh Anderson, retired Wharf Superintendant at Mourilyan, was an hononary bearer in the brigade. He recalls that the Innisfail centre acquired the 2 feet gauge motor trolley inthe days when the Tramway Board was still operating. This little vehicle did most of the mercy dashes in the early days. and right up until 1924 when road building began in earnest. As more and better roads were built, so the ambulance trolley's importance diminished - but trips were still run with it during the thirties. Whenever a call came the Brigade advised the tramway staff, and they provided a driver and arranged to advise other drivers by tramway telephone that a special was about to be run. Two bearers normally went along on the trolley to tend arrangements. |
| Care had to be exercised in the operation of this service, not only to avoid other trams, but to avoid the long rakes of logs that were often left standing overnight on the main lines. When one of these was encountered, there was no alternative but to lift the trolley off the track and manhandle it around the obsticle. Observing the rakes intime to avoid a collision on dark nights was an added hazard. Indeed, the dedication of men prepared to go out in foul weather in pitch darkness is as unsung as it is unknown. In some cases the men took great risks themselves crossing swollen streams in cyclonic weather, often with water lapping bridge transoms. |
| The rail trolley was used on South Johnstone and Mourilyan lines when necessary, bu a sulky was preferred to be sent ot the Goondi area owning to the very roundabout rail link (except when the North Coast line to the riever temporarilly laid to 2 feet gauge was available). Mr Anderson recalls a long trip to maria Creek one night when he and Mr J Thome too the trolley via Currajah, South Johnstone and Silkwood, meeting the inevitable rakes of logs and other trucks that made serveral detours necessary. Another case he recalls was that of a delirious patient who had to be brought in from the Liverpool Creek area. |
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| More info from JDK |