Two historic bullet trains in Ipswich are set for a new lease on life after relocating 1100km by truck to their new home in Longreach.
The silver bullet rail motors (RM2034 and RM 2036) were built in 1971, fitted with 12.5L Leyland engines and were housed at Queensland Rail's Ipswich Workshop.
The 2000 class rail motors originally ran services in Brisbane's southside and the north coastline to Gympie and Bundaberg and the Corinda-Yeerongpilly shuttle.
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The trains were used by Queensland Rail Heritage for special tours to Toowoomba for the Carnival of Flowers and removed from service on 26 January 2000 but have been retained by QR for charter and QR departmental work.
Since 2019, Outback Aussie Tours owners Alan and Sue Smith have been overseeing construction construction of a new maintenance facility and rail siding for the rail motors to be housed in Longreach.
The Smiths have owned and run Aussie Outback Tours, based in Longreach for over 35 years.
Their new attraction will be named the Outback Rail Adventure.
Mr Smith said they were excited to bring such an iconic style of rail motor to the outback.
"Whether you like trains or like the Outback, or both, this is going to be a new and entertaining experience in Longreach," he said.
"We have such a great number of attractions here in Longreach and surrounding localities for visitors to come and enjoy, it's going to be great to add another unique attraction to Outback Queensland's tourism offerings.
"Our new and exciting experiences will begin with phase one - which includes the Great Darr River Run, the Silver Tail Sunset, the Historic Ilfracombe Excursion and the Old Bluey's Flyer. Future phases will include Barcaldine, Emerald and Winton."
The Smiths hope to have the refurbished rail motors operational in Longreach by early 2023 with train experiences commencing in May 2023.
The 22 tonne railmotors which are just over 17 metres in length, will be transported to Longreach on a specialised flatbed tilt truck.
This project is supported through the Queensland Government's Outback Tourism Infrastructure Fund.
The first rail motor departed Ipswich on Wednesday November 9 and is expected to arrive in Longreach this Thursday afternoon.
The Longreach community is invited to come and view the rail motor while still on the flatbed tilt truck on Thursday November 10 at 5.30pm.