Memoirs
Neil John Simpson gives us an insight into his years working on the
tram:
"I was born at Mapleton on 3rd September 1922. My father
Jock Simpson worked on the Mapleton tram, known and liked by many local people.
My mother Nell Simpson was known to many as 'Simie'.
"My older brother Robert
and I were educated at the Mapleton State School. After that I worked around Mapleton picking fruit,
chipping pineapples, milking cows, etc., then when my parents split up my father
got me a job on the Mapleton tram.
"There
will still be some folks who will remember Jock Simpson as the bloke with the
black shirt and white braces and a friendly smile. I can remember there were
only two days apart from Sundays the mail was not delivered, Good Friday and
Christmas Day. Naturally enough the Mapleton tram did not run these days but the
guard had to deliver the mail whichever way possible.
"I can also remember the land slides on the line which had to be shovelled off,
the crew had most of this to do. Sometimes local farmers would help if possible,
also the maintenance gang would come from Nambour with the other loco and
transfer perishable goods across the slide.
"Some
of the jobs asked of the Guard to do included getting material to match a small
sample supplied, or to match with cotton or
buttons, mainly from Chadwick's or William Whalley's. I replaced Jock who
was my father, I was fifteen years old. I tell you it was good that some of the
shop assistants were so helpful. It would have been impossible to carry out your
duties otherwise.
"One
day I was bending over sorting parcels and mail in the van when Ken Barker
walked past yelling out, 'Where is the black shirt and white braces Jock?' I
stood up and he said, 'Oh, I thought it was Jock!' I said, 'I am young
Jock.' He did not know my father Jock had gone south.
"Another
job was to get yeast for different ones who baked their own bread. It was in one
or two ounce packets. We would roll it in with the paper to put it in the mail
boxes along the line. One day as the tram pulled into Mapleton tram shed, the
phone was ringing, I hurried to answer it. I had to unlock the door etc., and
picked up the phone to hear this lady screaming, 'Where is my yeast?'
"I
had to hold the receiver about a foot away from my ear. It was Mrs Murtagh, I
guess she had everything ready waiting for the yeast to arrive. When I looked in
the pigeon hole the tiny packet was still there - it had fallen out of the
newspaper. Careless young fellow! Never had that happen with Jock.
"I
had an old motor bike that got worn out delivering parcels which were not
delivered from the tram. I only stayed on the job for eighteen months. It was
too good for me, too many things to remember. The loco crew were good to me and
it helped a lot, Bill English Snr. and Bill Gooding especially.
"Harry Mallet, a senior man followed me, followed by Dick Rockett."
Jean English recalls the days of the tramway:
"The first crew of the Mapleton Tram were Mario
Francesco Torazzi, driver; George Howey, fireman; Jock Simpson, guard. Later
Arthur Neville became driver. They were followed by Bill English Snr, driver,
and 'Boy' (Bill) Gooding as fireman. Jock Simpson was still the guard.
"Bill English drove the tram for twenty-eight
years. Neil Simpson became guard after his father, and was followed by Harry
Mallet and Dick Rockett.
"There were other men who worked on the line,
replacing sleepers and clearing landslides from the track. Charlie Holmes, Tommy
Germaine and Bill Neuendorf were three of these. The locomotives could take
water from a tank and well in Mill Lane, Nambour, from a well at George
Bailey's farm near the Kureelpa School, and at Pope's, as well as from the
tank at Mapleton.
"My father, Bob Christie bought a farm at Kureelpa,
down Jewett's Road in 1930. Our family of six plus father and mother travelled
there by the Mapleton tram from Nambour. When the tram stopped a chap named Tom
Concerdine fell off. My brother Bob picked him up, unhurt. He lived on a farm,
further out than our farm.
"The line was constructed to serve as many farmers
as possible. Starting from Nambour, these included Jakat,
Puddle, Jack Murtagh, Bade, Sam Wilks, O’Neil, Wilks Snr, F. M. Murtagh, Pat
Maroney, Doig, Captain Jewett, Jim English - share farmer on Johnson's farm,
Costen, Pope, Whitecross, Guerin, McMahon, Story, and Nama.
"The tram line went through these farms, then up
the Range behind the College and below the tennis courts by the Mapleton Hall
and up to the store. There were other farmers who sent cream and had their goods
delivered by the tram. Some of these were Mick Maroney, Cordwell, Christie,
McIntyre, George Organ, Stancombe, George Bailey and DeVere.
"When my sister Jessie married Reg Jordan in 1932,
they took the farm on the shares and my father bought Johnson's farm near the
main road. That farm had two tram sheds on it.
"I was going to Kureelpa State School in 1934 when
the tram overturned in Captain Jewett's farm. The driver, Bill English, had a
broken ankle but 'Boy' Gooding, the fireman was unhurt. Jock Simpson was on
holiday and the manager, Jack Moloney was acting
as guard. He was braking the trucks when the accident happened, but luckily
escaped injury.
"In 1934, the
Duke of Gloucester came to Nambour.
Children from the Flaxton, Mapleton, Dulong and Kureelpa State Schools rode on
the tram to Nambour to see the Duke. They were transported in log trucks and
cane trucks, pulled by the two Shays.
"Frank English drove the tram in the cane season,
carting cane from Nama's, Wells', Christie's, Ernie Bailey's, Joe
Roberts' and perhaps others. Mrs Nama would tie young Fred to the table leg to
keep him from wandering onto the tram line or getting lost in a cane field, as
her house was very near the tram line."