I am new to this forum. I note the comments from many who have been here before, many of which are suppositions with no basis in fact, so I will try to assist with some facts.
Firstly, the Dreamworld track is just 1.5 km long, NOT 3 km as claimed by Dreamworld. I know this as I was in a position to measure the length, which I did. If Dreamworl's archival records state that 3 km of RAILwas purchased, that may be where their claim originates. 3 km of rail produces only 1.5 km of track though. Check for yourself with a GPS unit.
The Baldwin locomotive's origins lie in World War 1, when the British War Department contracted the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia USA to construct 495 locomotives of 2 feet gauge, to operate in the war zones transporting personnel, provisions, ammunition etc. Narrow gauge railways were used extensively by both sides in the conflict as an efficient method of transport. It has always been said that our Baldwin worked in France, but a reference in Wikipedia notes that it (Construction Number 45215) was in a batch of 60 sent to Egypt where it was involved on the Eastern Front, against the Turk offensive.
After the war the little engine was purchased by the Racecourse Sugar Mill at Mackay and spent a lifetime until the 1960s hauling cane to the mill. After being laid aside, luckily it was not cut-up for scrap metal, the fate of most steam locomotives, and eventually was "done-up" and became the star on Dreamworld's railway. It was made to look like a "wild west" engine of the 1860s, and looks nothing like it did when new. It was initially a tank engine, and the cute tender it now has, sets it off nicely.
It is a pity that Dreamworld never capitalized on the engine's claim to fame.
More later...