Rail ambulance

<h2 id="history">History</h2>
<p>Queensland is a vast, relatively unpopulated area, where providing services to remote communities in a cost-effective way has been a continual challenge. Railways were built from 1865, and in many areas provided the major form of transport until a significant road improvement program was commenced by the Queensland government from the 1960s.
</p><p>It was in this context that the mining community of <a href="/facts/Blair_Athol,_Queensland/kFvb30uz">Blair Athol</a> introduced the first rail ambulance in 1918, in order to enable injured people to be transported to the nearest hospital at <a href="/facts/Clermont,_Queensland/jSAcBMG5">Clermont</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a>
</p><p>The idea rapidly spread, with rail ambulances being introduced at <a href="/facts/Dalby,_Queensland/FnfdFett">Dalby</a> (1919), <a href="/facts/Mount_Mulligan,_Queensland/tulJm058">Mount Mulligan</a> (1920), Roma and <a href="/facts/Charleville,_Queensland/u8zRSCmS">Charleville</a> (1922), <a href="/facts/Goondiwindi/gM4w6nc7">Goondiwindi</a> and <a href="/facts/Baralaba,_Queensland/4xN1LQFL">Baralaba</a> (1923), <a href="/facts/Cloncurry,_Queensland/xJ5vaoqz">Cloncurry</a> (1925) and <a href="/facts/Blackall,_Queensland/tj7urJKM">Blackall</a> (1941). Other towns known to have had a rail ambulance at some stage include <a href="/facts/Charters_Towers/Av3GK5dR">Charters Towers</a>, <a href="/facts/Pentland,_Queensland/XUtMX7Gl">Pentland</a>, <a href="/facts/Atherton,_Queensland/RP4Htfyk">Atherton</a>, <a href="/facts/Ravenshoe,_Queensland/7WSMa5rL">Ravenshoe</a> and <a href="/facts/Millaa_Millaa,_Queensland/hl64ooK5">Millaa Millaa</a>.
</p><p>The last rail ambulances were withdrawn in 1990 from <a href="/facts/Mareeba/rQeHA9XW">Mareeba</a> and Blackall, as by that stage road ambulance services were available through the State.
</p>
<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Hospital_train/uDVde35f">Hospital train</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Railway_surgery/bDNkRvwy">Railway surgery</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rail ambulances.

<ul><li><a href="http://www.qhatlas.com.au/map/extent-queensland-railway-network-1925/">1925 map of the Queensland railway system</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.modeltrainsnthings.com/queensland-railway-ambulances/">Photos of the interior of a rail ambulance</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.kenssectioncarshed.org/id74.htm">[1]</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>Kerr, J. 'Triumph of Narrow Gauge', Boolarong Publications 1990 <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Rail ambulance open-in-new

Rail ambulance