Newnes railway line

Newnes Line

Legend

Newnes Oil Works

Newnes

Constance

Newnes Tunnels

Deane

12 Mile Siding

Newnes Junction

Main West line

Commonwealth Oil Corporation goods wagon

The Newnes railway line (also called Wolgan Valley Railway) is a closed and dismantled railway line in New South Wales, Australia. The line ran for 32 mi (51 km) from the Main Western line to the township of Newnes. Along the way, it passed through a tunnel now known as the Glowworm Tunnel, because it is famous for its glow-worms. The tunnel is now contained within the Wollemi National Park.

Description and history

The line was constructed and operated by the Commonwealth Oil Corporation for their Newnes Oil Shale mine. Surveying and construction was overseen by Henry Deane. The line opened in 1907 and closed in 1932. It was primarily intended to carry goods to and from the mine, but also provided passenger services.

The New South Wales Division of Australian Railway Historical Society published The Shale Railways of New South Wales in 1974 which includes a detailed history of this line.

Allan Watson, the Lessee of the old Newnes Hotel, has a comprehensive website here.

The steep 1 in 25 (4%) gradients along the descent towards Newnes required a different type of steam locomotive. 4 Shay locomotives were imported from the Lima Locomotive Works in the USA. Although rather slow, their unique build which uses crankshafts to propel the wheels made them very suitable, and if a train had to stop on a steep uphill grade, the train could easily start again and keep moving.

Hicks, George; O'Brien, Dennis (1999), Shays in the Valley, ISBN 0-909862-50-8
Treks in New South Wales, Neil Paton (Kangaroo Press) 1986 ISBN 0-86417-079-3
Eardley, Gifford H. (Gifford Henry); Stephens, Eric M; Australian Railway Historical Society. New South Wales Division (2012), The shale railways of New South Wales, Australian Railway Historical Society New South Wales Division, ISBN 978-0-9807721-8-0

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Newnes, New South Wales.

Route map: Bing / Google

Railway lines in New South Wales

Main lines

Broken Hill Main Northern Main South Main Western North Coast South Coast

Country branch lines

Operational	Berrima Binnaway-Werris Creek Blayney-Demondrille Boggabilla Bombala Canberra Cobar Coonamble Grenfell Gwabegar Hay Lake Cargelligo Medway Quarry Mungindi Naradhan Newcastle Oaklands Parkes to Narromine Picton-Mittagong loop Pokataroo Sandy Hollow-Gulgong South Maitland Railway Stockinbingal-Parkes Temora-Roto Tottenham Troy Junction-Merrygoen Unanderra-Moss Vale Walgett Warren Yanco-Griffith

Closed	Ballina Barraba Belmont Boorowa Brewarrina Burcher Camden Captains Flat Corowa Crookwell Dorrigo Eugowra Holbrook Inverell Kunama Kywong Merriwa Molong-Dubbo Morpeth Mount Hope Murwillumbah Newnes Oberon Rand Rankins Springs Richmond Vale Railway Taralga Tocumwal Toronto Tumbarumba Tumut Wallsend Westby

Sydney lines

Commuter rail	Airport Bankstown Carlingford City Circle Cronulla Eastern Suburbs East Hills Epping-Chatswood Main Suburban North Shore Olympic Park Richmond South West

Goods lines	Sydney Freight Network Southern Sydney Freight

Closed	Camden Kurrajong Rogans Hill Ropes Creek Royal National Park Sandown

Proposed or under construction

Inland Railway Maldon–Dombarton Sydney Metro Northwest Sydney Metro City & Southwest Western Sydney Freight Line

Tourist & heritage railways

Glenreagh Mountain Railway Lachlan Valley Railway New South Wales Rail Transport Museum Oberon Tarana Heritage Railway Richmond Vale Railway Skitube Zig Zag Railway

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/14/2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.

Newnes railway line

Description and history

See also

Further reading