Construction of a 20-kilometre railway line west of Cottonvale to the village of Amiens was authorised in 1919 to assist returned soldiers who had been granted land in the region. The Amiens branch was designed to serve an agricultural area developed for the settlement of returned servicemen after the First World War. For this reason, all the stations along the line were named after battlegrounds on the Western Front – Fleurbaix, Pozieres, Bullecourt, Passchendaele, Bapaume and Messines. The line was not built to convey passengers but rather to transport fruit from the soldiers' orchards to markets in Brisbane and Sydney.[1]
Large crowd gathered for the royal visit, Amiens, 1920
Construction commenced in 1919 and the line was opened on 7 June 1920.[1]Edward, Prince of Wales travelled the length of the Amiens branch in a royal train to officially open the line on 26 July 1920.[2]
Railway station signs for the Amiens railway line serving the Pikedale soldier settlement towns of Amiens, Messines, Bapaume, Passchendaele, Bullecourt, Pozieres, Fleurbaix, now on display at the Stanthorpe Heritage Museum
The railway station signs from the Amiens railway line are now on display at the Stanthorpe Heritage Museum.
