Northern Rivers Railroad was the genuine saviour of the Murwillumbah Line in the late 1990s when it commenced running both passenger and freight services on the branch.
The passenger service was its Ritz Rail tourist train, running initially five times a week between Murwillumbah and Lismore, and providing a dining car service on the return journey. As patronage dropped off, NRR reduced the number of Lismore trains and introduced shorter runs terminating at Byron Bay.
The freight operation revolved initially around ad hoc fly ash traffic, usually three times per week. Fly ash from Eraring Power Station in the NSW Hunter Valley was hauled by Freight Corp to Casino where NRR would collect the same from Casino Yard and haul it to the Queensland Cement’s receival facility at Murwillumbah. Additionally it hauled cement to the Blue Circle Southern Cement’s facility near Old Casino Railway Station, and to Mullumbimby Yard during the construction of the Burringbar bypass highway.
Sadly the Northern Rivers Railroad, purchased by the Queensland Railway in 2002 and renamed as InterRail, ceased all passenger and freight operations on the Murwillumbah Line later that year. This leaves the daily XPT as the only traffic using this line and, given the state of many of its wooden trestle bridges, it is unlikely the line will be operational for much longer.
This video covers the above NRR operation not long before its withdrawal from the Murwillumbah Line and features footage which will never be repeated. It also provides a locomotive cab/passenger carriage ride on the Ritz Rail train, detailing many of the unique trackside features of this branch. The concluding scene shows an InterRail push-pull coal train operating between Duralie and Stratford in the Hunter Valley and powered by 421, 422, and 423 Class locomotives.
Approximate run time: 58 minutes.