Gold! The discovery of the precious metal by James Nash in 1867 brought a flood of people seeking their fortune to the banks of the Mary River. This influx of people brought the need for food and supplies for the miners, their families and the community which would become Gympie. Transport was needed urgently! The most efficient means of transport to connect Gympie to the outside world was seen to be the newly established railway system introduced into Queensland in 1865. 

The local community of Gympie began to agitate for a railway. But it was not until 1877, that the Queensland Parliament approved the construction of a railway line from Gympie, northwards to the Port of Maryborough. The railway line between Gympie and Maryborough was opened on 6 August 1881. Gympie was opened as a dead end station, but this was soon to change!

Because of Gympie's economic and political importance (due to the continued production of gold), pressure was brought to bear for a railway line to connect Gympie to Brisbane. In 1889 the line to Brisbane was opened and Gympie became a through station. Travelling into Gympie Railway Station from the south required a long climb from Monkland station to Gympie(109 feet - 30 metres - in the last mile - 1.6 kilometres - the heaviest grade on the North Coast line).

The original Railway Station was demolished in 1911 and the present Railway Station was built in 1913. (This building is now the headquarters of the Mary Valley Heritage Railway). The new station building was part of a major redevelopment of the Gympie Railway yards which included new signalling, Signal box and refreshment rooms. The Signal Box stood about five metres north of the last building on the platform was decommissioned in 1980. The Refreshment Room are now the tea rooms of the MVHR and closed as a Railway establishment in 1975.

With the upgrading and electrification of the Main North Coast line in 1989, Gympie was relegated to a freight and goods depot and closed as a Queensland Railways station in the late 1995. The MVHR became the custodians of the Gympie Railway precinct in 1997.Two interesting facts about Gympie are, the length of Gympie Railway yard limited the size of trains heading north during World War 2 and the rail line connecting the locomotive depot to the lines opposite the Gympie Railway Station is called the Burma Road after the military campaign in Burma during the Second World War.