Stories of Palmwoods, a railway town

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This information below sourced from Sunshine Coast Council
http://www.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/addfiles/documents/engagement/palmwoods-placemaking/stories_of_palmwoods.pdf

STORIES OF PALMWOODS
SUNSHINE COAST COUNCIL
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JUNE 2014

Excerpt pp19-21

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THE RAILWAY – CORE TO PALMWOODS HISTORY
The Palmwoods Railway Station is central to the economic and social history of Palmwoods. The beginnings of Palmwoods township, then known as Merriman's Flat, was originally further west than the current town centre. When the railway opened on its current site in 1891, people began settling and opening businesses close to the station, and so began the township of Palmwoods.
THE RAILWAY - A TRANSIT HUB
For a long time, Palmwoods Station was the northern-most point of the rail line and so an important changeover point for people travelling to the coast or up the hill into the hinterlands.
[Palmwoods] was a stop off spot for people going to Montville. There was a coach service to Montville, lots of guest houses in Montville in the mountains... And also there was a bus service to Maroochydore before the Maroochydore road was built off the Bruce Highway down here. I think they were the main things for people stopping off [in Palmwoods]: there was a tramway, the guest houses at Montville, and perhaps a seaside holiday at Maroochydore or Mooloolaba... (Wendy McMullin)
A VERY SOCIAL TRAIN STATION
The station was also once a social drawcard, with a visit to the railway providing an exciting social occasion.
It used to be a pretty popular social activity, I suppose, to come for every train that came in and watch the people getting off and on, wherever they were going to. There's a lot of stories about that, they used to sell strawberries and they had a book stall for people wanting books... (Wendy McMullin)
When the troops were going to go to New Guinea, my father loaded up the [truck] ... with pineapples to give to the troops. So we went into the railway and parked and waited for the troop train to come in. And they came in, and all the little town urchins all run over and they were trying to get them to throw money... (Frank Jenkins)
One of the popular entertainments for years was to walk to the station especially on Sunday evenings to be one of the crowd watching the train go through. ('The Palmwoods Story')

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TOURISTS, TRAINS AND TRAMS
Tourists used to come on special train trips to Palmwoods and also visit via the popular Buderim-Palmwoods tramline.
I have read in the paper that they ran excursions here, and what on earth they came on an excursion to Palmwoods for when it was just the railway station and perhaps the grocery shop, which would have sold hot water, I suppose, for a cup of tea... It was virgin bush... 60 or 70 people turning up on a train to a little place in the middle of nowhere, so to speak... I'm amazed at that story... all these people in their probably long white dresses and dressed up in suits traipsing all over Palmwoods. What did they do till the next train went home? (Wendy McMullin)
[There] was a cafe which was built about the same time as the hotel, and they always advertised, when the tram line came down from Buderim, "Get off the tram, come over here and have a cup of tea before you go", whichever way you're going, north or south on the main line. (Wendy McMullin)
[The tramline] was also a tourist attraction. A trip in the tiny carriage behind trucks of fruit, overswaying the trestle bridges, was an experience one did not soon forget. ('The Palmwoods Story')
Palmwoods terminal on the Buderim-Palmwoods tramway, 1924 Picture courtesy of Sunshine Coast Libraries
A BUSTLING RAILWAY YARD
People talk of the Palmwoods railway station as once being a bustling hub of activity for the local farmers and, earlier, for the timber getters of the area. The railway was central to the economy of the town.
... everything got packed into crates and off it would go down to the Palmwoods railway yard and from there it would be taken by train to Brisbane...You look at [the train station] now and it is nothing to what it used to be. All the back of the IGA [back] then ... there were wagon trains sitting there,

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everything would be loaded onto them and then shunted into place to be taken [to the markets]... It was a thriving industry ... (May Young)
It's a bit hard to explain to people today just what Palmwoods was like, how big a farming area it was... No one can understand just what amount of fruit was put through this station. One of these days I'll get the returns and see just how much there really was. Because I think at one stage there were about 60 trains going through this station a day... I'm not sure if that's correct or not, but yes, there were a lot of trains. (Wendy McMullin)
I used to love going with dad when he took all the pineapples into the railway. (Lorraine Clarke)
Fruit train at Palmwoods Station loaded with pineapples for the southern