That was a magnificent photo, with many aspects to explore.
From a tram group: That is a photo of a Dreadnought (standard centre-aisle) tram being taken from Laheys sawmill at Sherwood to Brisbane Tramways Company's workshops in Countess St.
That in turn gave me an entry into my reference library:
Dreadnoughts over 1908-20 were built by BTC.
1924-25 ones were supplied by Brisbane Timbers (which I presume must be Laheys sawmill) and by Gardiner (an unexplained company).
Lahey brothers also had a logging enterprise near Canungra, with a steam-worked railway to connect to Queensland Railways. The line was one of the few in Australia to use Shay locos: a geared type, suitable for steep and rough bush tramways. AFAIK only one has survived in preservation in Australia: from Mapleton tramway (610 mm gauge, near Nambour, Qld).
See
railshop.com.au/prod19.htm
That in turn reinforces the likelihood of a siding serving the Sherwood mill: bringing logs or partly-processed timber from Canungra via the Beaudesert line. Working only from memory, part of the Canungra line was used by construction trains when the new uniform-gauge line was pushed through from NSW to Brisbane in the 1930s.
This dates the photograph as 1924-25, which in turn may help with the identification of the steam tractor (by somebody else).
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor
