port at Urangan was vitally needed. Local people pressed for the extension, but it was not until 1907 and 1910 that two trial surveys for the short distance were undertaken. Approval was finally given for the railway to be built in 1911. A working survey was undertaken in 1912, and construction commenced the following year. The line opened on 19 December 1913, with train services commencing the following day. The government started construction of a pier at Urangan, but it was not completed until three years later, and the coal owners therefore failed to gain the export coal orders that they obviously hoped for. Due to this, the Burrum coal catered mainly for the local market – between Gympie and Bundaberg – such as railways, industry, gas works, sugar mills and coastal shipping. In the end, it was sugar, not coal, which formed the most important commodity to be handled over the pier, and it never became the coaling port which had been originally intended. Post-construction The sugar cane industry continued to flourish, however the coal came to a gradual end, and by 1967 mining had virtually ceased. In 1969, produce was no longer exported to Maryborough via the railway line as it became too costly to maintain. Pineapples became the main export to Maryborough. Caltex constructed an oil depot at Urangan in 1961, and soon after all exports from the Urangan pier stopped, and oil became the only import. The pier was closed to all railway traffic on 31 December 1974. In 1985, Caltex's new oil supertankers were unable to navigate Hervey Bay, which led to the closure of the Urangan Pier. Koppers Ltd. established its large logging treatment plant at Takura Siding. Consignments in wagon loads were attached to trains on a daily bases. Burgowan Siding was established with the discovery of coal in that area. An average of six wagons of coal per day were dispatched by train. Closure The last passenger train to run on the branch departed Pialba on 7 August 1972, but the railway line was kept open for freight. Pialba was the main freight terminal. The last train to depart from the Urangan freight terminal did so on 29 October 1991, as Caltex stopped operations at the storage facility. The railway line was officially closed on 30 June 1993. The last train to run on the line was No.7M 44 at 10 am