The Mapleton Tramway was a small narrow-gauge railway that ran between Nambour and Mapleton in Queensland, Australia between 1915 and 1945.  The rails were 610 mm (two feet) apart.  In a route length of just under 18 kilometres, it climbed from near sea level up two rugged escarpments to an elevation of 400 metres at Mapleton.  The gradients were as steep as 1 in 17, and the curves as sharp as 18 metres radius.  Two diminutive Shay steam locomotives were employed to work the goods and passenger traffic.

In 1928 the line was described by a local land agent thus: "every known railway engineering law has been violated in its construction, but we are able to deliver the goods, and that is the thing that counts."   Want to know more ?
 

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 Stories from early Nambour         Brad Peadon's website for the Maroochy Shire Tramways Group         Nambour Historical Museum