Episode 19 - Cobb & Co and the Queensland Railways - A long lasting shared journey

The Queensland Rail History Podcast

From the mid-1860s until 1924, travel in Australia involved trains hauled by steam locomotives, sailing and steam ships, paddle steamers, cable cars in the big cities, bicycles, and later the motor car. Plus, one of the great icons of transport in Australia - the horse-drawn coach services called Cobb & Co.

As the railways grew, and other transport evolved, the legendary coaches and their magnificent horse teams, withdrew to places longing for transport, rather than compete with the new forms of travel. The vast distances of Queensland, and its people, maintained a solid demand for coaching, with routes here peaking at more than 7000km in 1900.

Our podcast today, is a special one – we step beyond the steam locomotive footplate, and the carriage steps, and swing up onto the box seat to share the story of Cobb & Co, and its shared connection with the Queensland Railways.
Hosted by Annette, and our Queensland Rail Historian, Greg Hallam, we are also joined by Curator for Transport, Cultures and Histories, Amy Goldston. Recorded at the Cobb + Co Museum, we talk about the roaring days, and reflect on the last run of a Cobb & Co coach in Australia, from Yuleba, to Surat in August 1924. We also discover Amy's railway heritage.
Here is the historical image referenced during the episode.

Here is a great link to a series of images on the Cobb & Co services in Queensland.
Discover more about the Cobb & Co Museum here.
If you have any questions about our rail history, please email our Historian, Greg Hallam– he’d love to hear from you! - [e-mail]

Also - if you're enjoying what you’re hearing, please leave us a review. We’d love to hear from you, what you love about the podcast, and what you’d like us to feature on a future episode!

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1. Episode 19 - Cobb & Co and the Queensland Railways - A long lasting shared journey (00:00:00)

2. Amy's introduction and background on the Cobb & Co Museum (00:04:49)

3. Cobb & Co's beginnings in Australia (00:05:09)

4. The relationship shared with the Queensland Railways (00:11:21)

5. What the journey would be like for a passenger (00:15:42)

6. Changing stations (00:19:27)

7. How expensive were these trips? (00:24:08)

8. The journey continues into the 1900s (00:30:11)

9. A trip from Cloncurry to Richmond - photograph discussion (00:40:17)

10. 1910 - 1924 (00:42:42)

11. What happened to that last coach? (00:45:26)

12. The last journey (00:48:22)

13. Amy's railway heritage (00:52:12)

14. Amy's career so far (00:58:20)

15. How will the Cobb & Co story endure? (01:05:03)