Railway Station

On the 24th November 1894 the railway line from Mingenew to Midland was completed. This important milestone in the development of this part of the State was marked with its opening by the Commissioner of Railways Mr H.W. Venn and Engineer in Chief Mr C.Y. O’Connor.
In 1894 Mr F.W.G Liebe completed the construction of the Railway Station buildings. They consisted of a stone station master’s residence and office, linked to the two passenger waiting rooms, by a breezeway. Brick refreshment rooms and facilities were added in 1949. These rooms along with the original waiting rooms make up the building today after the station master’s residence and office were demolished in 1973.
The opening of the railway transformed the transportation of all goods and people to and from the district. Mingenew developed into a major locomotive depot and crew changeover stop for the Midland line. Facilities including a goods shed, loading ramp, stockyards, a 3-tonne crane, coal storage area, water tank and a twelve-hut barracks were built over the years. Collie coal was used for the steam trains while water was supplied from the Erregulla Spring Reserve.
Manual communication methods from this era can be seen at the Mingenew Museum. They include the ‘distance signal’, complete with green and orange glass, and the kerosene lamp used for illumination at night. Diesel engines replaced steam in 1958 and passenger train services ceased in 1975.
Bulk grain is now the only freight carried on this line.