Covering a distance of 37 kilometers this section of the Cobb & Co Tourist Drive takes you from the starting point at The Workshops Rail Museum, through the Ipswich Central Business District and out into the countryside via Leichhardt and Wulkuraka.

Along the way, stops at the Ipswich Art Gallery - housed in the first Town Hall built in Queensland - and St Paul's Anglican Church - the oldest Anglican Church in Queensland are highly recommended. At Walloon, the first stop on Queensland's first railway line, stop and visit Henry Lawson Bicentennial Park. Here you'll find the striking memorial to the lost "Babies of Walloon" and the text of Henry Lawson's haunting poem carved in railway sleepers.

Continue to Rosewood and visit the Staging Post located in the Town Square in John Street. You'll also find a full size replica Cobb & Co stage coach here.

Located just 16 kilometres beyond Rosewood is Grandchester. Formerly called 'Bigge's Camp' after pastoralist and parliamentarian, Francis Edward Bigge, it was renamed Grandchester in 1865 and is the terminus for Queensland's first railway line.

Covering 93 kilometres, the Cobb & Co Tourist Drive between Grandchester and Toowoomba travels through the fertile, agricultural area in the Lockyer Valley, which is justifiably referred to as Australia's Salad Bowl.

A highlight along the route is the unspoiled hamlet of Forest Hill, which has been spared over-development and has many of its early buildings still in use. The main hub of this region is Gatton, with the village of Gatton being first gazetted in 1855.

After the railway line from Ipswich reached Gatton in 1866, the town became the changeover point for the Cobb & Co Coaches to the Darling Downs.

This strategic importance in the Cobb & Co service is celebrated with a Staging Post at the entrance to the Lockyer Valley Cultural Centre.

A visit to the picturesque Spring Bluff Railway Centre is highly recommended and the journey up the Toowoomba range via the township of Murphys Creek is delightful. Arriving in Toowoomba at the end of the drive, a visit to the Cobb & Co Museum is a must. At the museum is the National Carriage Collection - Australia's finest collection of horse-drawn vehicles that includes Cobb & Co coaches, delivery carts and more.