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Long - West Coast Wilderness Railway



 
 
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Old February 13th, 2004, 11:35 PM
Tony Bailey
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Default Long - West Coast Wilderness Railway

WEST COAST WILDERNESS RAILWAY

Saturday 24th January 2004.



In the 1890s Queenstown Tasmania was booming. Miners of Alluvial Gold had
pushed up the river valleys from the coast, including many Chinese, working
the rivers for the precious mineral. An experienced miner watched some of
the Chinese near the site of Queenstown and was intrigued by the minerals
that were being dumped as the Gold was washed from the other rocks. Some of
it was sent off for analysis and proved to be Copper.



Very soon the Mount Lyell Mining Company had been establishes, along with a
smelter to convert the ore to Copper and the boom was on. In what was than a
very remote area, transportation soon proved to be a major problem and the
company eventually decided to build a railway from the port of Teepokana (on
the King River, which fed into Macquarie Harbour). Because of the rugged
nature of the county and the likely steep grades of the line, it was decided
to adopt the European designed Abt rack system of Roman Abt - this was a
special system which allowed a gear wheel on the locomotive to engage a cog
rail between the rails and climb hills more easily and acted as a brake
during descents. The track gauge was the Tasmanian standard of 3 ft. 6 ins.
(1067 mm.)



The line originally opened in 1896 and was soon extended from Teepokana to
the larger port at Regatta Point, near Strahan on Macquarie Harbour, with an
eventual joining with the Tasmanian Government Railways Zeehan to Strahan
line. In 1963 Mt. Lyell Mining decided that road transport was a cheaper
option than the railway and the line was closed.



In 1998 some long term efforts resulted in a "Federation Fund Grant" for the
restoration of the line as a tourist attraction. Service on the complete
length of the line began in December 2002.



Operations

In peak season, there are two "through" services per day, which means that
potential passengers can do a return trip from either end, but most
passengers seem to return to their starting point by connecting mini-bus
services, or services provided by coach operators who have made group
bookings. At other time, the "through" afternoon services are replaced by
two short distance services that simply return to their originating point -
these would seem to be designed to "sell" to main stream coach operators as
part of their complete package tours. This means that the determined train
traveller needs to travel in the November to March period.

Through passengers need to swap car seats at Dubbil Barril and trains from
Strahan to that point are diesel hauled, whilst Queenstown to Dubbil Barril
trains are worked by the Abt Rack steam locomotives. According to the
current undated timetable leaflet I collected at Strahan, on one Saturday
per month in peak periods, the Abt locos work through from Queenstown to
Strahan and return (it is not stated if the car sets work through- but this
would seem sensible.) The next three dates for this are 7th February, 13th
March and 10th April.

There are currently two car sets - one operating from Strahan and one from
Queenstown. Each has two "Tourist Class" cars and one "Premier Class",
whilst the Strahan set has a "Kitchen" car which sells refreshments at the
stops only - this must be one of the most unusual passenger cars in
Australian railway history. The "Premier Class" cars have better seating
than the 'Tourist Class", together with an attendant's compartment, along
with an open end platform with double swing doors from the passenger
compartment. The two "Tourist Class" cars operating from Queenstown still
have open space where the windows should be - together with some rain blinds
and blankets are provided for the passengers to use in colder weather -
these are soon to be replaced by some cars under construction at the
workshops in Queenstown. A non stop commentary is supplied over a PA system
(as usual, many of the jokes were already a bit stale when heard the second
time on the return journey.) The cars have all glass clerestories, which
improve the amount of available light and significantly warm the glass
enclosed cars on cold sunny days.



The "Premier" class cars are at the Strahan end of the Strahan set and the
Queenstown end of the Queenstown set. Now, there is a 4.5 km. grade from
Dubbil Barril to the top of the grade at Rinadeena and, from the Queenstown
end at Halls Creek siding a 2.5 km climb which has some steeper pinches than
the longer grade. For those that are interested in steam locomotives, this
really means that the best noise is from Dubbil Barril to Rinadeena and
suggests that you might find it worthwhile to pay the extra $74.00 one way
($87.50 return) for Premier Class.



The cars do not have toilets; instead there are toilets at intermediate
stations. I assume that there several reasons for this, firstly maximizing
the number of seats in each car and, secondly, avoiding the inordinate cost
of holding tanks and pumping equipment. Indeed the station toilets, except
at the terminals where they are connected to the town sewage systems, are
modern composting bush toilets which require no pumping and are apparently
acceptable in the declared South West Wilderness Area.



There are several stops along the way (described as if on a return journey
from Strahan). The first is at Lower Landing where there is a tasting, and
sales, of Tasmanian Bush Honey (the Leatherwood would really be an acquired
taste, but interesting.) Next is Dubbil Barril for lunch (afternoon tea on
the return) and train change. On the return there is a gold panning
demonstration at Lynchford.



A Gourmet Lunch Box is offered to Tourist Class at $10.00 and is a choice of
either a Salad, Cornish Pastie, two filled rolls or soup of the day plus
cheese and crackers, fresh fruit, cake's and a Cadbury's chocolate bar. An
Afternoon Tea Box contains Scone, Jam and Cream plus some sangas.



The Premier class service includes some interesting extras and may save the
cost of dinner that night if you do the round trip. You get -



Virtually non-stop Tasmanian Wines.

Lunch Box

Cake in the morning

Cheese Platter both ways

Afternoon Tea

Guide Book - sold for $9.00 and not worth the price unless you are really
desperate for information.



Service from the attendant in Premier Class was virtually non-stop and
really excellent.



The Trip Itself.

It's a good ride and worth the price, even if it is in danger of becoming
some sort of "coach operator's supplementary extravaganza" and the operator'
s will need to keep an eye on the commentary so that it doesn't deteriorate
into some sort of second class comedy skit - but that's a danger anywhere.



The journey first passes through the outer reaches of Regatta Point, cuts
across a peninsula and than mainly follows Bettes Bay until it cuts across
to Lowana Yard on the King River and follows the river to the big steel
bridge across the river and into the former port area at Teepookana and on
to Lower Landing. It is very noticeable in this area that the river bank is
starting to recover form the years of pollution - although it is still a
long way from being drinking water. From here on, the forest closes in and
the tress start getting bigger. It may be mostly regrowth, but it is grand
and it is now protected by the Wilderness Area and can only get better.



After the stop, the train proceeds across the "1/4 mile bridge" and follows
the other bank to Dubbil Barril and the train change and lunch stop. It was
noticeable here that the crowd took a great interest in watching both
locomotives turning on the manual turntable and shunting the stock -
necessary because of an inadequate track layout (but there isn't a lot of
space for anything else.) It is also noticeable that the commentary people
need some information on how a manual turntable works and "balancing" of a
locomotive so that it turns easily.



This now meant that the Premier Class car on the Queenstown set was against
the bunker of the Abt locomotive as the train headed onto the rack and up
the grade to Rinadeena Saddle and the descent down to the Queen River on The
Queenstown side. About a third of the Premier Class passengers were railfans
and the "stack talk" on the grade can only be described as wonderful. Most
of the other passengers could appreciate what was happening, but one unhappy
soul complained about "coming for the scenery not the noise" and attempted
to close the end doors, but several of the listening fans apparently
suggested that if he liked the scenery that much he might enjoy a quick trip
down the hillside to the King River and he desisted.



The locomotive took water at Rinadeena and continued down the grade to the
end of the rack at Halls Creek and along the easier track into Queenstown,
mostly alongside the still very yellow Queen River. It is noticeable that
you are leaving the forest and the big trees disappear. It is also obvious
that the hills around Queenstown are restoring themselves, albeit very
slowly.



Queenstown offered the opportunity of watching the locomotive being turned
and watered again. The station building at Queenstown is a very interesting,
but not original building and must be among the best I have seen on a
tourist railway. (Regatta Point is the original building.)



Our train was held at Queenstown for about 5 minutes while some late
arriving Dutch tourists paid Premier Class fares, probably a good PR move as
well as a good commercial one. Than we reversed the original journey.



I arrived back at Regatta Point well fed, suffering from a surfeit of Tassie
wine and having had an enjoyable day out, well worth the expense.



My final suggestion is that anyone going to Tassie should allow some time
for the journey, you will remember it.



--
Tony Bailey
Mercury Travel Books


 




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