Thread: South Maitland Railways.

Thought I would share some memories of one of the last steam operated coal haulage railways in Australia, (I think they were second last) they operated in the Newcastle area and finished operations in the late 1980's, from memory.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ3puIl_IVo]1987 - South Maitland Railway - YouTube[/ame]


Older Newcastle people will remember them operating between Cessnock and Hexham!!

A bit of history on the railway system, which in its heyday was quite extensive!!

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Maitland_Railway"]South Maitland Railway - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

Always remember when I was a young bloke in the 1960's, the rail line that ran near Maitland Road at Neath, it ran on the other side of the road from the Neath Hotel before it crossed the road to join the main coal line (which is still in use). If you drive from Weston toward Cessnock and you pass the Neath Hotel, you can still see the embankment where the railway used to run.

Anyrate, back in those days the train, complete with wagons full of coal used to stop at the Hotel and the Engine Driver and the Fireman used to walk across to the hotel for a quite ale. The engine was left steaming quitely, unattended, while the crew had a beer.


Wouldn't get away with that nowadays!!!