Queensland's Cane Trains - Mossman Mill Part 5

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 Mossman Mill. Mossman Mill is owned by Far Northern Milling and is the most Northern mill in Queensland. Mossman operates a fleet of Com-Eng and Baldwin locomotives. Several unique features of this mill include a lengthy section of street running as one of the tracks approaches the mill, and the wagons used by the mill. Mossman Mill is the only mill to run 'intermodal' style wagons - the cane bins are containers that run on skeletal flat wagons. The bins can be transferred to trucks for transport to the farms. Trains in this video are: 1. Sanding heavily, 'Daintree' (1977 Baldwin Locomotive) crosses the Finlayvale combined road rail bridge and gets stuck into the steep grade as it heads back to the mill with a rake of full bins. 2. 'Daintree' arrives at Marano's junction with a rake of full bins from Miallo. The loco detached from the bins and ran light engine out towards Rocky Point to pick up more full bins. However the bins were a long way from being loaded so the loco returned light engine, reattached to the loaded bins from Miallo and continued to the mill. 3. 'Daintree' continues it's journey to the mill as it passes the Mossman Golf Course. 4. Finally, 'Daintree' approaches the mill as it runs along Mill Street. Mill Street contains Mossman Mill's 'street running' section of track where trains run along the length of the street. This is my final video of Mossman Mill. Sadly the mill was placed into receivership after the 2023 crush and faces an uncertain future.