Thread: Zig Zag Railway closing

Absolutely disgraceful

Very sad indeed.

However I notice in the article they suggest the line was built in the 1860's, that may be the case but the track from "top points" to Clarence was only re-laid (in narrow gauge) during the 1980s.

IIRC prior to the new track laying, the track from the bottom station to top points was standard gauge and terminated not far from the points themselves with the bare formation making the access road from the Bells Line of Road to the Zig Zag station.

By memory, pre-1910 the standard gauge left the present easement just to the East of Newnes Junction. The extension from ZZR's Clarence towards Newnes Junction is on the old right of way, as is Clarence (ZZR) Station. The railway was shifted sideways ~20 metres where it currently parallels the Bells Line of Road due to the road widening.
Top Points has been altered to have the headshunt away from the cliff face after a locomotive over ran the buffer stops and was left hanging over the drop, but that was 1901:

Bottom Points changed during the early preservation era because the workshop had to be built somewhere and the standard gauge is still on the original easement.

Otherwise it is all on the original trackbed which was built in the 1860s. The gauge was of course 4'8½" until 1910 when the Dargan Deviation (10 tunnels) was made, and relaid in 3'6" gauge for the tourist railway due to the availability of QR and SAR narrow gauge rollingstock.
My parents drove their Series III along the trackbed from top points to the current Clarence ZZR terminus before I was born!

How about a day out before it goes?

Originally Posted by clubagreenie

How about a day out before it goes?

According to news I heard on the radio this afternoon, it has already ceased operations. The Tourism Minister says he is seeking information to see if the state government can do anything to help.

John

It has been in death throes for more than a few months. Rail regulations are pretty severe for a volunteer run organisation, waning levels of volunteer support due to the need for every person involved to have accreditation is the major killer though. Seems you can't hose a toilet block out without having competency checks, never mind working on a locomotive or maintaining the track.
There is an in depth article in the May Railway Digest magazine.

Originally Posted by isuzutoo-eh

.... My parents drove their Series III along the trackbed from top points to the current Clarence ZZR terminus before I was born!

I drove my brand new Subaru 4WD (2 range) along it in 1982, managed to keep the Subi for a whole 11 months before I returned to Land Rover ownership with my first RRc purchase. The Subi just couldn't go places.

The problem with a lot of these tourist railways is they just don't go anywhere people want to go. If it ended up at the Three Sisters or a some other attraction they would be innundated with people adding the railway onto their itinery.

Originally Posted by isuzutoo-eh

It has been in death throes for more than a few months. Rail regulations are pretty severe for a volunteer run organisation, waning levels of volunteer support due to the need for every person involved to have accreditation is the major killer though. Seems you can't hose a toilet block out without having competency checks, never mind working on a locomotive or maintaining the track.
There is an in depth article in either last month's Motive Power or the current Australian Railways Illustrated magazine.

The need for accreditation for (almost) everything and every action has had the Dorrigo to Glenreagh (or at least the section that had been restored) closed down since 2008.
A great pity and a lack of foresight on behalf of Tourism NSW. Anyway, we Landy tragics intend to give Glenreagh a bit of a boost on the October long weekend - see here http://www.aulro.com/afvb/showthread...37#post1696537