When the Railway came to Blackall Letterbox Hybrid

This is a letterbox which contains a rubber stamp and a logbook, which remain in the letterbox. Stamp your personal log book with the letterbox stamp. and use your own stamp to stamp the letterbox's log book. Or simply sign the log book. These co-ords are close to but not at GZ. They will have you standing on the verandah of the old railway station and I'm sure you can use your nouse to work out where to find the letterbox from there. 😉

The official Opening of the Blackall railway was in May 1908, by the Minister of Railways, the Hon. George Kerr. 

It was reported to have been very wet overnight, but that didn't stop the crowd of several hundred people from attending the opening at the railway station 'festooned with flags.' 'Engine 245, with Driver Roden on the cab, broke a ribbon stretched across the line and exploded a detonator on the rails.' To learn more.

For many decades the railway served Blackall well bringing freight to the town and district and carting away sheep, cattle and wool. Children headed off to boarding school and on weekends townspeople would take a train ride to Yalleroi for a picnic or a social event such as tennis. This wooden carriage passenger train was 'fondly' known as The Rattler! Blackall passengers heading to Rockhampton changed trains at Jericho.

The Blackall Branch was reasonably well patronised but traffic inevitably declined when road transport increased. It faced closure in the early 1990s but earned a reprieve after staunch local opposition. The seasonal transport of cattle became its main source of activity but by 2005 the branch and its extension to Yaraka were untenable and the line was closed. 

The Blackall Railway Station was relocated after the closure of the railway line. In 2012 the Blackall Visitor information Centre was relocated to the  building at its current location at Ram Park.

When you locate the cache, you'll need the last three digits of the year the railway opened in Blackall to open it and sign the log.