
The Track Today
The remaining track formation and foundations are a valuable heritage record of the social and economic role, the tram played in the history of the Sunshine Coast, some one hundred years ago. A group of interested local people recently formed The Buderim-Palmwoods Heritage Tramway Inc, and this group is actively working towards restoring one spectacular remaining segment as a Heritage Walking Trail.
This segment runs down the side of ‘Buderim Mountain’, which at only 185.9m/610ft above sea level it is not really high enough to be classified as a mountain! It runs about parallel to Mons Rd, from near the old Telko Station site at the ‘big dipper’/‘White’ Bridge location where Telco Rd leaves Mons Rd, and then proceeds through the old Mons Station site down towards Forest Glen. This segment has impressive aesthetic appeal and engineering grandeur for a horse-powered age – with high embankments, deep cuttings and sharp curves – and it features attractive natural and re-growth forest surroundings.
The Krauss engine was located and purchased by BPHT Inc. and was restored in 2004 ready for public display. The historical materials that the organisation has collected over the years include many photos, maps and documents relating to the tram.

The Krauss engine was located and purchased by BPHT Inc. and was restored in 2004 ready for public display. The historical materials that the organisation has collected over the years include many photos, maps and documents relating to the tram.


The History Of The Palmwoods To Buderim Tramway -1911 to 1935
The Palmwoods to Buderim ‘tramway’ was built as a railway, in that it did not follow roads, and it had a separate permanent way with large bridges, cuttings and embankments. It was technically significant and demonstrated an uncommon aspect of Queensland’s cultural heritage, because it had a 2 foot 6 inch (0.762m) gauge as opposed to 2’0″(0.6096m) for the sugar mill trams and 3’6″(1.0668m) for the Queensland Rail mainline, and it was privately constructed. The track was 11.5km in length through country which created a varied range of engineering challenges.
Buderim and district in the early 1900s had a fast growing production of farm produce, fruit and timber. Roads were poor and transport to Woombye – the main centre of that time – relied on horses, wagons and bullocks. The shipping through rivers and creeks to Maroochy ports, with sand-bar problems, was a variable which threatened perishable produce. There was a great need for effective and reliable transport to the main Queensland Rail train line and thus access to the Brisbane markets. The alternative tramway routes considered from 1903 onwards were Buderim/Palmwoods, Buderim/Woombye, or joining the developing Moreton Sugar Mill (established 1894) tramway at Diddillibah. Buderim to Palmwoods was settled on by 1911 and the line was open and began operating on the 1st of December 1914, with the official opening later in 1915.

The tram often ran two trips per day from Palmwoods to Buderim or at times the shorter Palmwoods to Forest Glen run as the freight demanded. A significant social role was also performed taking passengers to Palmwoods to join the train to Brisbane, and transporting excursion passengers to Buderim, to stay in the Buderim guest houses or to travel down to the coast. One or two loads per day of up to 150 passengers were carried in the one passenger carriage and on fruit-box and plank seats on the flat-top trucks. The Palmwoods to Buderim trip took about one hour with a 5/- (50c) return fare for passengers. The freight rate was 17/6 ($1.75) per ton (1.016t).


Only two steam engines ever worked the line, a Krauss and a Shay. The last work for the little Krauss ‘Iron Horse’ was in 1936 to take the removed rails back to Palmwoods after they and the Krauss engine were sold. The Shay engine had been out of service since 1932 and some parts and the boiler were abandoned beside the line at Palmwoods after the removal of recyclable parts.
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