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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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