[1][2] The Boyup Brook–Cranbrook Railway Act 1926, an act by the Parliament of Western Australia assented to on 16 December 1926, authorised the construction of a 161-kilometre (100 mi) long railway line from Manjimup to Mount Barker.

Further south, the Manjimup–Mount Barker railway had been authorised days after the Boyup Brook to Cranbrook one.

[5] In August 1929, it was reported that the Manjimup to Mount Barker and Boyup Brook to Cranbrook lines had been deferred and their lack of construction was negatively affecting the port of Albany, where trade from the lines would flow through.

[6] In August 1930 it was announced that the state government had already abandoned the plan to build the railway line back in September 1928.

[9] In August 1934, the state government's decision to remove railway sleepers from the partially constructed line caused local outrage.