A line was surveyed, and took an indirect route to avoid hilly country and to serve Fort Lytton, a gun emplacement at the south entrance to the Brisbane River, then the major defence installation for the city.

The line beyond Lota was rebuilt to contemporary standards (50 kg/m (101 lb/yd) rail, maximum 1 in 50 (2%) grades and minimum 430 m (1,410 ft) radius curves) and reopened on the original alignment to Thorneside in 1982.

Since there are no turning facilities at Cleveland, diesel-hauled services continued to terminate at Thorneside until the SX sets were withdrawn.

A third line was laid between Park Road and Lindum railway station in the 1990s as part of the Fisherman Islands line to provide a dedicated freight track to the Port of Brisbane, being dual gauge to connect to the Acacia Ridge freight Terminal and the Australian standard gauge rail network.

Prior to 2014, an afternoon service on school days only operated express between Cleveland and Buranda stations, stopping only at Thorneside, Manly and Lota.