Station Precinct

The Shed's journey started in Pennsylvania, USA where the steel was produced and brought out to Australia by the American Troops during 1942. The steel was erected at the Oakey Air Base as a hangar for Spitfire Fighter Air Crafts. 

In 1947 the hangar was dismantled and used as the then Toowoomba Electric Light maintenance shed in Duggan Street. The shed was again dismantled in 1988 and stored at the old Bridge Street quarry before being donated to DownsSteam in 2012.

Railway stations are so much more than functional buildings. They are places of welcomes and farewells; tears of sadness and joy. Imagine as you walk along the platform how many children were packed off to boarding school, how many soldiers set off to an uncertain future, or how many sweethearts were parted or reunited.  

The present station building was donated by Queensland Rail. It was originally located at Yuleba, 50 miles (80km) west of Miles or 231 miles (372km) west of Toowoomba. 

The Westbrook Correctional Centre rehabilitation program inmates dismantled and re-erected the station building at our Drayton site. 

The design epitomises the hundreds of small stations dotted around the state. With its signature hanging baskets, breezeway waiting area, ticket office, toilets, station masters office it was replicated on rural lines all over Queensland.

The first installation of a turntable in Toowoomba since the 1880's is due to the generous donations and tireless efforts of our volunteers in achieving this historic feat and we thank everyone involved!

The turntable is a 60 foot model built in the UK in the late 1800's for Pinkenba in Brisbane. 

It was last used for turning diesel locomotives operating Suburban SX services in the early 1990's, before being relocated to Beaudesert in 2002.  

DownsSteam acquired the turntable in 2011 and set about designing and building a new bearing and super structure consisting of 27 cubic metres of concrete at our Drayton precinct with an estimated value of $50,000.

You will find the Cream Shed as you enter the Drayton Railroad Precinct. In fact you have to walk through it! The Cream Shed forms our entrance and the interior has been decorated with various pieces of memorabilia.

Originally located at Gayndah, on a farm owned by Robert John Martin, and was kindly donated to DownsSteam by his executors in January 2006.

The shed was pulled apart to make it's journey and transported to Drayton where it was reconstructed between February and July 2006. 

The Westinghouse brake inspection shed, possibly constructed around 1910-15, was originally located in the outer areas of the Toowoomba shunting yard, just to the north-east of Toowoomba Railway Station. It occupied this position for over half a century before being donated to DownsSteam by Queensland Rail in 2006. DownsSteam volunteers then dismantled and re-erected the shed in its present position in 2009.

The Westinghouse Shed is a modest corrugated iron building with a barrel vaulted corrugated iron roof. Originally, it covered a long rectangular brick-lined pit, which is unusual as most locomotive/carriage inspection pits that survived into the 21st century were of concrete construction. The building contained boards detailing brake examination schedules and a workbench. Of particular significance was the checkboard on the interior wall, listing passenger car brake examinations and overhaul dates. Most vehicles listed have now been withdrawn or disposed of as rollingstock, but identified carriages are regularly allocated on trains such as the Sydney or Brisbane Mail (Wallan-garra).

Over time, the shed’s cladding was painted red or rust-coated, and sheets were replaced and lined to ground level to protect workers from the weather.