Community & Business
26 August, 2026
Section car group hits 25 mark
A UNIQUE anniversary was held at the Mareeba Railway Station last week when the Australian Society of Section Car Operators (ASSCO) celebrated 25 years of rail preservation.
A small crew of operators made their way to the Mareeba station last Thursday and celebrated the occasion together with a sausage sizzle and cake.
While most were Queenslanders, some came from New South Wales and South Australia, with one even flying over from New Zealand to be part of the historical milestone.
ASSCO president Jerry Jirasek explained how section cars played a big part in keeping the country’s rail network intact for 30 years.
“The railway network needed regular maintenance. In the earlier days, every 20km or so, there would be a railway gang of five or six people that would be in charge of maintaining the track – looking after sleepers, looking after bridges,” he said.
“Originally, they used to have pump cars to get to the work site, but of course that was hard work, the guys would be worn out before they got there.
“So these vehicles were introduced around the late 50s to early 60s, and for about 30 years the railway gangs used these section cars.
“They would often tow one or two flat tops to put sleepers on there and bridge timbers. You could even put a bit of ballast (crushed stone) on them too.
“But the railway line had trains running up and down it, so another advantage of these vehicles is they’re light enough for two or three guys to actually pick it up and take it off the track.”
The group thanked Track Protection Services, who donated a protection officer to accompany them on their journey.
The history of ASSCO
IT all started in the 1990s when a group of South Australian enthusiasts would visit disposal auctions held by the various government railway agencies to purchase surplus section cars.
With these, they would go help other preservation groups with their track maintenance, in exchange for being able to use their car along the line.
Section cars, with an average speed of about 30km/h, are a type of motorised rail maintenance vehicle. They were mainly used by track maintenance gangs to travel to site with hand tools and a lot of elbow grease to maintain their section of track, hence ‘section’ car.
These motorised cars, largely built under licence from the prolific Fairmont Railway Motors of Fairmont, Minnesota, replaced the infamous pump car of old. The Fairmont motor is a distinct application of a stationary 2-stroke engine with a flywheel that drives an axle by a belt.
In 1999, ASSCO was formed to progress the goal of being able to operate on other active railway lines. This was enabled by an ongoing change in how rail networks were operated, under which private companies could apply for access to the old government railways. In fact, Queensland ASSCO gained accreditation and access to the QR network before any commercial operator, by about a week.
The group’s first run was over the Easter long weekend in 2001 from Port Augusta (SA) to Leigh Creek (SA).
This year, ASSCO has so far completed around 2000km of operation, and has completed an astonishing 500,000km of aggregate section car operation since 2001. They operate a number of lines across Queensland, including Toowoomba to Thallon, Warwick to Stanthorpe, Dalby to Charleville, and Emerald to Winton.
This month also marks the 125th anniversary of the Chillagoe Railway opening between Lappa and Mungana in August 1901. The railway was privately built by the Chillagoe Railway & Mining Co. to open up copper deposits in the Mungana area for smelting and transport to the government railhead at Mareeba.
