The cache is
not far from the road and could be the first of two I have secreted
along the route. The cutting banks are quite steep so pick your
spot to descend! A few have struggled to find this one but the
ground marks show they were very very close...
The South Coast
line opened on Friday, 25th January 1889 with two express Southport
to Stanley Street (South Brisbane) steam trains, timetabled to run
daily. The last passenger train on the South Coast line left
Southport on the 30th June 1964. The line had been making a loss of
£250,000 per year for a number of years in the early 60's! I've
attached a photo..can you imagine it rattling through the cutting
twice a day!
Afterwards, if
you proceed West across Ashmore Road and pick up the well hidden
concrete path that starts in the bushes and runs on the northern
side of the townhouse complex, you will be walking on the old rail
route. This will lead you to my second Southport Railway cache
(GC1VC49) and along the way you will stumble across one of the Gold
Coast best kept historical rail secrets at S 27° 57.921 E 153°
21.357!!
If you were to
head East from this cache you can enjoy a bush walk along the rail
route towards Southport. You come out at Olsen Avenue.
The cache has a
log book, pencil and toy bear.
Southport to
Brisbane steam train at Southport Station (bottom of Scarborough
Street) circa 1960 (photo courtesy of the Gold Coast City Council
library)