Savannahlander

The Savannahlander is a silver 1960s railmotor that leaves Cairns once a week for the savannah country of Far North Queensland. It runs west on the old mining railways towards Forsayth, 424 kilometres away by rail, and back: four days and three nights, with each night spent in a small outback town along the line — Almaden, Forsayth and Mount Surprise. The season runs from early autumn to late spring, March or April to November.

The train is here because a town would not let the line go. In late December 1994 the Cairns to Forsayth service, sold as the Last Great Train Ride, was about to be withdrawn, and the people of Einasleigh — a town of 87 at the last census — blockaded the railway for four days and kept the train in their town. They fed and housed its passengers and crew until the police negotiated an end. The government closed the line from Mareeba to Mount Surprise anyway, and in April 1995 the Savannahlander began on the far end alone, Mount Surprise to Forsayth. By September 1998 the rest had been partly restored, and it was running from Cairns again.

Floods and bushfires have damaged the line and its bridges since 2022, and the train does not run from end to end at present. The line from Kuranda to Mareeba is closed for bridge repairs, and the Copperfield bridge just beyond Einasleigh is under repair, so passengers travel by coach between Cairns and Mareeba and between Einasleigh and Forsayth. The railmotor covers everything between.

Wednesday — Mareeba to Almaden

The tour leaves Cairns at a quarter to eight on Wednesday morning, by coach for now, up the range to Mareeba, where the railmotor is waiting. From there it heads west on the line the Chillagoe Company built between 1898 and 1901 to carry ore to its smelters at Chillagoe, through farmland and open woodland to Dimbulah, a town founded for a goldfield in 1876, where lunch is at the Crew House Cafe. Beyond Lappa, where the branch for Mount Garnet once left, the train reaches Almaden in the afternoon and stops for the night at the Railway Hotel, across the yard from the station's old water tank. Almaden was named after the mercury-mining town of Almadén in Spain.

Thursday — Almaden to Einasleigh

On Thursday the railmotor turns south onto the Etheridge line, built between 1907 and 1910 to bring copper ore from Einasleigh and the Etheridge goldfield to the Chillagoe smelters. It was made as cheaply as a railway could be: light rails, sharp curves, steep grades, timber bridges and sleepers set straight onto the soil. Soon after Almaden the rails change to a lighter section, and passengers hear and feel it. The train stops in the bush for morning tea, has lunch at Mount Surprise, and crosses the wide rock bed of the Einasleigh River before reaching Einasleigh in the afternoon. A coach takes the last stretch to Forsayth, the end of the line, for the night.

Friday and Saturday — back to Cairns

On Friday morning the coach returns to Einasleigh for lunch at the pub, a two-storey Queenslander of 1909, and a short walk to the Copperfield Gorge before the train runs back to Mount Surprise. On Saturday it makes the long run home: lunch at the Railway Hotel in Almaden, afternoon tea at Dimbulah station with the local historical society, and Mareeba, with the coach reaching Cairns at about six in the evening.

The train

The Savannahlander runs with three 2000 class railmotors of Queensland Railways: 2026 and 2028, built in 1963 with the streamlined front ends of the silver bullets, as the operator calls them, and 2053, built in 1971 and since modified for wheelchair access. In 2026 and 2028 the bulkhead behind the driver has been taken out, so passengers see the line ahead over the driver's shoulder. All three now carry 250-horsepower Cummins diesels with six-speed Allison automatic gearboxes. They are not air-conditioned — the windows open — and have a toilet and drinking water on board.

The Savannahlander runs once a week: out from Cairns on Wednesday and back on Saturday. The 2026 season began on 1 April, and its last departure is Wednesday 25 November 2026; the calendar marks December as the season closure, and the 2027 season begins on 3 March. Early-season dates depend on the rain, because the line cannot be repaired until the country dries out.

While the Kuranda to Mareeba line and the Copperfield bridge are closed, the four days run like this:

The operator does not publish times for the stations along the line: the train stops for meals and morning tea, and the day runs at its own pace. Packages with side tours swap the night in Almaden for Chillagoe, Forsayth for Cobbold Gorge and Mount Surprise for Undara, with buses between the train and the lodge.

Shorter trips

Mount Surprise is the base for shorter rides. On Thursday afternoons the train runs from Mount Surprise to Einasleigh in about two hours, with a bus back — a half-day trip sold by Discovery Parks Mount Surprise. The Surprise Getaway rides from Mareeba to Almaden on Wednesday, with a night in Chillagoe, and on to Mount Surprise on Thursday morning, returning to Cairns by coach.

Dates and itineraries are from the Savannahlander's availability calendar and tour pages — as of October 2026. Check the Savannahlander availability calendar (opens in a new tab) before travelling.

The Savannahlander is sold as tour packages, booked direct with the operator online, by email or on 1800 793 848. The four-day packages include the train, the coach transfers, three nights in en-suite rooms, three breakfasts, three dinners and four lunches; the dearer ones add a side tour at each stop. Prices are per person sharing a room, with a supplement for a room alone. A non-refundable deposit of A$150 per person holds a booking, and the balance is due 30 days before travel.

Children aged 4 to 14 pay a child fare and under-4s travel free. Holders of an Australian pensioner concession card or a state seniors card pay a concession fare, which must be claimed when booking. Prices below are for 2026; the 2027 prices, already published, are a little higher.

No rail pass covers the Savannahlander. Queensland Rail Travel's Queensland Explorer Pass (A$299 for a month, A$389 for two) is valid on the Spirit of Queensland, the Tilt Train, the Spirit of the Outback, the Inlander and the Westlander, and the Savannahlander, a private operation, is not on the list. Interrail and Eurail do not cover Australia.

Is it worth it? Only for getting to Cairns. The pass covers the Spirit of Queensland up the coast from Brisbane, so a traveller already touring Queensland by rail can reach the start that way; the Savannahlander package itself is bought separately, from the operator.

Checked October 2026 against Queensland Rail Travel's Queensland Explorer Pass page (opens in a new tab).

The dearer packages build these into the four days: a night at Cobbold Gorge from Einasleigh, and a night at Undara from Mount Surprise. Forsayth and Einasleigh are the far end of the line, where every package stops.

The nights are part of the package: the operator books the rooms at each stop, and the package chosen decides which. The places below are the ones the four-day tours use at the far end of the line.

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