The Bell Line
"From the 1860's portions of the lands held by squatters were made available for selection. In 1871 the first of these selectors, Angus McPhee, had taken up land in Maida Hill. Other selectors then followed into the Cattle Creek area. It was this pressure for reliable transport for selectors and their produce that was to eventually lead to the construction of the Bell Line.
Trial surveys were run out to the agricultural area from Dalby beginning in the 1880s. In 1884 a petition for a railway was presented to Parliament, and the first survey carried out for a line to the Bunya Mountains. In 1889 a select committee of Parliament reported back on the proposed route. The then Minister for Railways moved that such a line be constructed. Five years previously it was pointed out that the engineer George Phillips had done and inspection of such a proposed route." (Ref: Centenary of the Bell Rail Line 1906-2006)
The Dalby-Cattle Creek line was authorised in 1904 and built by day labour. The build started in April 1905. An average of 72 men were at work plus others on piecework. The line is practically an agricultural tramway, and the cheapest 3ft 6inch line ever built in Queensland if not Australia. It was officially opened on 10 April 1906 when the terminus was officially named Bell after Sir Joshua Peter Bell of Jimbour Station. (Ref: Centenary of the Bell Rail Line 1906-2006)
Please enjoy Walking the Line - but please do not go too far as the rail bridge has been washed out of place during floods and now lies as a twisted mass of wood and steel on the southern side of Cattle Creek.