It was constructed from Wulkuraka near Ipswich to Lowood (1884), then extended to Esk (1886), then Toogoolawah (February 1904), Yimbun (September 1904), Linville (1910), Benarkin and Blackbutt (1911) and finally to Yarraman (1913).

[1] Closer settlement of the Brisbane Valley had progressed sufficiently by 1877 for the country from Walloon via Esk and Nanango to be examined as a possible route for a railway to Gympie.

In 1879 Queensland Premier Thomas McIlwraith approved the building of several branch lines, including one to Esk.

However, the original plans for these branch lines were withdrawn from parliamentary consideration in 1880 on the recommendation of Francis Thomas Gregory, Member of the Queensland Legislative Council.

In spite of this opposition, in 1881 the Queensland Parliament approved the building of the Brisbane Valley branch line from Wulkuraka to Esk.

The contract for the first section was let to O'Rourke and McSharry in October 1882 with Henry Charles Stanley acting as Chief Engineer.

The second section to Esk opened on 9 August 1886 and remained the terminus for more than 17 years, becoming an important centre and livestock loading point.

In 1889 James McConnel began selling off small parcels of land from his property Cressbrook to his workers for dairying.

[1] In the late 19th century four dairy factories operated in the Brisbane Valley and utilised the railway for transporting milk and its products.

James McConnel of Cressbrook stated that an extension of the Brisbane Valley Railway Line would enable selectors to pursue dairying rather than grazing and to cultivate the land.

The inquiry subsequently recommended a 45-kilometre (28 mi) extension of the Brisbane Valley Branch Line to Moore, which was approved in December of the same year.

The first section, to the new township of Toogoolawah, which was the site of the Cressbrook Condensed Milk Factory, opened on 8 February 1904.

On the ranges hoop and bunya pines were already being exploited, and with conservation it was expected that freight for the railway would be supplied for many years.

Plans for the 28 miles (45 km) of rail line from Yimbun to Blackbutt were approved at a Committee meeting on S.S. Lucinda on 9 January 1907.

[1] The Commissioner of Railways' report on the Blackbutt extension noted that substantial bridges would be needed at five sites including over Maronghi Creek and all were to be built with timber.

The tender for cast iron cylinders for the steel bridges over Maronghi and Emu Creeks was won by Bundaberg Foundry with a quote of £562/18/0 in 1909.

They also won the tender for the same supplies for a bridge over Neerkol Creek (Central Western railway line).

[1] The type of bridge constructed over Maronghi Creek at Harlin was a half-through Pratt truss structure.

By 20 January 1910 Walkers' supply of material for the bridges over Maronghi and Emu Creeks was 13½ weeks overdue.

The cost to the residents in the benefited area served by the rail line including the Harlin Bridge in the financial year 1913-1914 was £3389.

Accordingly, in the 1920s, the railway was transporting cream to the butter factories along the Brisbane Valley line - Colinton until 1921, Toogoolawah, Esk and Lowood.

[1] After flood damage in 1974 the Brisbane Valley Branch Line was threatened with permanent closure but re-opened after several months.

Afterwards a passenger service operated from Ipswich to Toogoolawah until March 1993 when the Brisbane Valley Branch Line closed.

The only remaining buildings are at Yarraman, Linville and Lowood (now serving as railway museums) and Toogoolawah, Esk and Coominya.

Over the ensuing 30 years it was extended several times to facilitate the transportation of timber, livestock and agricultural produce and was intended to become an alternative, shorter route from the South Burnett to Brisbane.

It is one of approximately seven half-through Pratt truss bridges that were built by the Queensland Department of Railways and Public Works during the first two decades of the twentieth century.