'Ford,Bacon and Davis' Goonyella Line Construction cars

Around 1970 construction firm Ford,Bacon & Davis won the contract to build the Goonyella line in the Denham Ranges near Mackay in Queensland. Pacific Ace records show that three M15B section cars, serial No's 186, 187 & 188 were ordered from Pacific by Ford, Bacon and Davis on the 1st September 1970 and delivered on the 20th October of that year for use in construction of the line.

Once line construction was completed it appears 187 was sold on to QR and it is assumed that 186 and 188 had a similar fete.

In November 2004 M15B Serial 187 of 1970 appeared in a QR auction at Rockhampton Queensland. I contacted my good friend and local historian Rod Burfoot and he was able to shed some light on its recent history.

187 had undergone a motor conversion replacing its original ROC 2 stroke, (number 108182 from Pacific Ace records) with the now familiar Rockhampton 8hp Honda engine conversion and re numbered with local Rockhampton fleet coding 'SP 547'. It was then allocated to Duaringa station under the masterful control of local ganger Roby Cowan till its transfer to Rockhampton for sale by auction.

I am pleased to report the car has gone into private owner ship in the Toowoomba district and will be restored. I am also hoping restoration will reveal its original QR number so this can be added to the QR section car roster history under development elsewhere.

If anyone can shed some further light on the history of the three cars used/pictures/where are they now or history of the Goonyella line and its construction I would be pleased to hear from you. Email Mark

A big thankyou to Peter Burden and Rod Burfoot for additional information supplied on this page.

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