The services provided

The services provided

Despite low profitability in the beginning, the Mapleton Tramway ran more-or-less successfully for twenty-nine years. The management and Shire Council were satisfied if its income was enough to cover costs - it was never seen as a profit-making operation. The service to Nambour, eleven miles away by train (seventeen kilometres), was operated to a regular timetable, which was published in the Queensland Railways' Book of Timetables (below), though there was a disclaimer attached.

The tram left Mapleton at 9.00 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, arriving in Nambour at approximately 10.30 a.m. On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays the tram left earlier at 7.00 a.m., enabling it to reach Nambour by 8.30 a.m., where it would connect with the 9.00 a.m. 'up' train to Brisbane. The tram would wait at Nambour until the 11.30 a.m. 'down' train from Brisbane arrived, and take on board any passengers and freight. It would depart from Nambour at 12.30 p.m. on the return trip to Mapleton, arriving at its destination at 2.45 p.m. The regular tram did not operate on Sundays, that day being set aside for locomotive servicing and maintenance, and the occasional excursions.

The trip took about one and three-quarter hours to climb up the Range, and one and a half hours to go down. The train carried logs, sawn timber, cream, pigs, calves, cattle, fruit, maize, sugar cane, cases of oranges and mandarins, and other produce down the Range. Timber was hauled up from the Obi Obi valley by horse teams, and then transferred to rail at the Mapleton Tramway Station.

Freight stamps for the Mapleton Tramway - one penny, threepence, and sixpence

From Nambour, the tram brought up mail, orders from grocers, butchers and bakers, ice for ice chests and fertiliser for farmers. There were special carriages for

passengers, the one-way fare in 1923 being 2/-. By 1943 the single fare had risen to only 2/6, and the trams ran at the same time every day except Sunday.

The tram also operated a co-ordinated service with the North Coast Railway for an excursion from Brisbane once a month. Sometimes up to 250 people would make the train journey to Nambour and then transfer to the tram for a trip up the Range to spend three hours at Mapleton.

When they arrived at their destination, passengers could travel by local transport to the Mapleton Falls and other vantage points along the Range, to enjoy the scenic beauty and grandeur of the district. Orchards around the town and on the way to the Falls were also raided by hungry tourists. Visitors could also walk up past the hotel to 'The Front', to admire the views down the valleys to the Pacific Ocean. At Mapleton, school children made pocket money by selling staghorns, ferns and similar plants from the forest to the tourists. Prices tended to fall as the tram's departure time approached, and late-buying tourists found that they could purchase staghorns and elkhorns for 3d. each.

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