Cane train relics roll again

Douglas By Drone

Bryan Littlely

Journalist

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Bryan Littlely has brought back to life the stranded cane train carriages adjacent Captain Cook Highway with some drone footage. Picture and Video: Bryan Littlely

Newsport’s Bryan Littlely has been busy bringing to life stories from across the Douglas Shire in recent months, and getting to know the region in more ways than one… including getting a bird’s eye view.

A keen drone operator, Bryan has been sending his drone skyward to capture images and cover stories over the past few months and we’re showing that here in the Douglas by Drone series.

A cane train "rolls" again. A bird's eye view of a rail relic. Video: Bryan Littlely

The downturn in the sugar industry, and closure and almost certain death of Mossman Mill, has not just put men and women out of work.

The much loved locomotives which once cruised through Mossman and surrounds made their last trip through the town last month, on the back of low loaders as they were carried away to South Johnstone, but some other rolling stock has been out of action, and becoming overwhelmed with vines, weeds and rust… lines of cane carriages now stranded on the sugar lines a cruel reminder of times past.

But we’ve made them "roll once more'', at least created the illusion they are, with a bit of a fly over the now railway relic. If nothing else, it is a bird's eye view of the infrastructure that was a part of the backbone of the Douglas Shire sugar industry.

If you have some footage or photographs from your drone, we’d love to see it and share it and the story behind it with our Newsport readers. Let us know by dropping a message to [email protected]

 

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