Steaming out of Toowoomba
Catch Downs Explorer
THE Downs Explorer, the Darling Downs heritage rail experience, is launching a new range of nostalgic rail tours from September 12.
The first trip is from Warwick to Clifton with the options to either have lunch at a historic Clifton Pub or a sausage sizzle on the railway station followed by a guided tour around many of the historic aspects of the town. Or you can just do your own thing.
The Downs Explorer will also be touring out of Toowoomba this year and more regularly in 2021 with a number of new rail experiences planned throughout the Toowoomba area.
On Saturday and Sunday, September 26 and 27, 26 there are four train trips from Toowoomba to Wyreema and back.
“Six hundred people had booked on the train last March when COVID-19 struck and the trip has to be cancelled which was very disappointing for everyone,” Southern Downs Steam Railway president Peter Gregory said.
“The train is filling fast so don’t miss out on your local rail adventure this September.
“The Downs Explorer will also be venturing to more remote locations next year with multi day rail tours planned to Tenterfield, Goondiwindi and Miles.”
The Southern Downs Steam Railway operators have branded the heritage train (either with steam or heritage diesel motive power) the ‘Downs Explorer’. “It’s all about the historic 80 and 100-year-old carriages, railway lines established in the mid 1800s, original Queensland Rail water supply dams, old overhead water tanks, rock tunnels, nostalgic railway stations and the friendly Downs Explorer rail staff,” Mr Gregor said.
“The Downs Explorer is a historic train on a historic, adventurous steep, twisting and sometimes bumpy railway track in some of the most beautiful, mountainous and rugged parts of the Darling Downs and Granite Belt,” he said.
The Warwick Heritage Rail Precinct at 1 Hamilton St, Warwick is now back open and visitors can take a tour of the rail complex on Wednesdays and Thursdays between 9am and 1pm.
If you’re interested in a heritage rail adventure book your tour now by going to the website www.downsexplorer.org.au. See you on board sometime soon.