These three locomotives also served

A night scene in the Roundhouse at Rockhampton Railway Yards. The engine in the foreground is a U.S.A Lend Lease locomotive, a small number of which were shipped from America during the war. The two other are well known Queensland types - a B 18 1/2 and a PB 15, both passenger class. Throughout the war the Queensland Government Railway system transported armies and fighting material. Although this placed great strain on locomotives and manpower, there was never a serious breakdown in the movement of men and supplies. The single track system extended from Brisbane in the south to the Atherton Tableland in the north. The increased train mileage that commenced to show itself in 1939 reached unprecedented heights in the next five years. The peak was reached in July and August 1943, when the mileage increased by over 85 percent compared with the figures of 1939. As many as 98 trains would pass through Rockhampton on one day, more than one every fifteen minutes on a single track system. During the war period, the Queensland Railways managed to build in their own workshops 43 additional locomotives, 54 carriages and over 2000 wagons. During the same period all other states combined built only 55 new locomotives.