QUEENSLAND RAILWAYS.

NZ Truth, Issue 265, 23 July 1910, Page 6

QUEENSLAND RAILWAYS.

Comfortable Travelling for Tourists.

Attention is drawn to the advertisement appearing m another column of this issue respecting the concession which the Queensland Government is now ©Bering to tourists, and tire specially comfortable^ means by which such tourists can now' m the "Queen State." It used to be a stock grievance of tourists and visitors to Queensland that the want of. aeW comxnodation on the railways spoiled the trip, rotebed it of all pleasure, and a* the very outset created a had inrpcession of tiie "Queen State" i<n the minds of sightseers. Tiiafc reproach no longer holds good, and Queensland now leads m railway matters. A short time ago, Mr Railway Commissioner » Thallon made a grand tour of the world, and every good point m the latest, best, most up-to-ttete and progressive systems was written down m the note-book of his official brain. Since his return there has teen a complete upheaval and turning over oftfre dry bones of tradition, and the improvement m the railways, particularly that portion of it dealing with passenger traffic has been more than surprising. ■ Take the border traia from Waltangarra (N.S.W.) as a case m point. The ordinary traveller on business toent has no choice, and must travel m any old train, but m this border train Mr ThaHon has .laid himself out to catch Tvhe tourist. The visitor who, perhaps, has made tire overland journey to Naples, and travelled m the continental trains de lnxe, or has crossed the Rockies from San JH'ranciscp to New York, opens his eyes m wonder when he detrains at Wallangaira, and from the M.S.W. carriages into ■ the Queensland train de luxe. How the trick has been done on a narrow gauge is what surprises. Not only are. the grand corridor cats broad and roomy, with all the, latest luxuries of travel at-" Hached, but the speed is m proportion. No more crawling along m the bappy=-go-plucky fashion, but express from point to point m accord wiizh the time-table constructed for speed. The engines ate built to suit tke tr-aia, behind, and the line itself has been strengthened to suit the , new requirement. The first impression tne visitor forms of the "-Queen State" is distinctly favorable, and, finding the travelling on tbe railway a pleasure, he sets ,out to see the whole State. Krom the border to Brisbane it is one succession of sights, and whets the appetites of tourists for more. He has a fleeting view of | ,the tin country of Stanthorpe, and looks with pleasure on the fruit orchards that are beginning to crown the rich, solvl slopes. Then, on through the golden gram of Warwick, and the vineyards and dairies, which are coining sovereigns out of the product of the cow. Ob the rightthrough the heart of the Darling Downs -.past Toowoomba, with its rich red loam, 1 that merely has to be tickled t 0 laugh into harvest. Tiien the journey up the range with its magnificent views and charming scenery ; on through the hamlets of Laidley, 6-aiAon, the home otagti--culture, and so on through Ipswich, the outpost, so to say, of the metropolis. "•Of a verity, Mr Thallon has made great I changes, and the railways are now a ircredit to Queensland, and the tourist who I trains it from the border will become a [.travelling advertisement for the State, i-and will recommend it as a tourists' resort wherever he goes. New Zealanders '. visiting Australia should not fail to a veil themselves of the current concessions to tourists now offered by t*e Queensland .Government,