Melba Railway Line
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Melba Railway Line
The Melba Line is a narrow-gauge railway on the West Coast of Tasmania. The line was originally constructed as a private railway line named the Emu Bay Railway and was one of the longest-lasting and most successful private railway companies in Australia. While at present the line travels from Burnie to Melba Flats, it previously ran through to Zeehan carrying minerals and passengers as an essential service for the West Coast community. History In the 1870s, the Van Diemen's Land Company engaged John C. Climie to undertake a survey of a line from near Burnie to Mount Bischoff. On 1 February 1878, a , horse-drawn wooden tramway opened from Emu Bay (Burnie) to Rouse's Camp, near Waratah to serve the Mount Bischoff tin mines. In 1887, the line was taken over by the Emu Bay to Mount Bischoff Railway Company and relaid with steel rails as gauge railway line to allow steam locomotives to operate. In 1897, the Emu Bay Railway Company took over the line, extending it 60 kilometres t ...
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Emu Bay Railway
The Emu Bay Railway was a Tasmania, Australian railway company. The railway was significant during full operation, in that it linked the Tasmanian Government Railways system at Burnie with that at Zeehan that further linked to the Mount Lyell railway allowing connection through to Queenstown. It was listed on the Melbourne Stock Exchange. Following the closure of the Tasmanian government line at Zeehan railway station in 1960, until 1965, it operated the Melba Line on the West Coast of Tasmania following the closure of the Zeehan section until 1998. History The origins of the Emu Bay Railway can be traced back to February 1878 when the Van Diemen's Land Company opened a 71 kilometre, horse drawn wooden tramway line from Emu Bay (Burnie) to Rouse's Camp, near Waratah, to serve the Mount Bischoff tin mines. The line was surveyed by John C Climie. In 1887, the line was taken over by the Emu Bay to Mount Bischoff Railway Company and relaid with steel rails as a gauge railwa ...
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Waratah, Tasmania
Waratah is a locality and town in North Western Tasmania adjacent to Savage River National Park. The town was constructed to support a tin mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ... at Mount Bischoff. It is built at the top of a waterfall, and water was diverted from the stream to provide water for mine Placer mining, sluicing and processing. At the , Waratah had a population of 249. It was also the first town in Australia to have electric street lights in 1886. History Tin was discovered at Mount Bischoff by James "Philosopher" Smith in 1871. The mine operated successfully at first. The easy ore was all extracted by 1893 when sluicing was discontinued. Mining continued opencut on the face of the mountain, and underground. The underground mine closed in 1914, but sur ...
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Guildford, Tasmania
Guildford is a rural locality in the local government area (LGA) of Waratah–Wynyard in the North-west and west LGA region of Tasmania. The locality is about south of the town of Wynyard. The 2016 census has a population of nil for the state suburb of Guildford. History Guildford was gazetted as a locality in 1974. It was a railway station and junction on the Emu Bay Railway in West Coast Tasmania. It was an important junction to the Waratah Branch (Mount Bischoff) railway, and in turn a connection to the gauge Magnet Tramway (Operating 1901 to 1910s). The station and associated buildings no longer exist. Geography The Arthur River forms part of the western boundary. The Hellyer River rises in the south of the locality and flows through to the north. Road infrastructure The Murchison Highway (Route A10) passes through from north-west to south. Route B18 (Ridgley Highway) starts at an intersection with A10 and runs north-east until it exits. Route B23 (Waratah Road) ...
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Pacific National
Pacific National is one of Australia's largest rail freight businesses. History In February 2002, National Rail Corporation, National Rail's freight operations and rollingstock (owned by the Government of Australia, Federal, Government of New South Wales, New South Wales and Government of Victoria (Australia), Victorian Governments) were combined with FreightCorp (owned by the New South Wales Government) and sold to a joint venture between Patrick Corporation and Toll Holdings as Pacific National. In February 2004, Pacific National purchased Australian Transport Network, operator of ATN Access and AN Tasrail. In August 2004, Pacific National purchased Freight Australia, giving Pacific National control of the Victorian non-urban rail track, excluding the interstate network which is controlled by the Australian Rail Track Corporation. As part of the sale conditions, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission attached special conditions to the sale to ensure competition ...
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AN Tasrail
AN Tasrail was an Australian railway operator that operated the Tasmanian rail network from March 1978 until November 2004. Originally a subsidiary of the Federal Government's Australian National, it was sold to Australian Transport Network (ATN) in November 1997. ATN was acquired by Pacific National in 2004 and the AN Tasrail subsidiary was later acquired by the Tasmanian Government in 2009 to become TasRail. History Until March 1978, the Tasmanian Government Railways had operated the state mainline railways since 1890, and had amassed a large and prosperous network over that time, albeit ahead of continued financial losses and the dwindling of freight and passenger workings up into the 1970s. The Tasmanian and Federal Governments entered into an agreement for the transfer of the Tasmanian railways to Australian National on 1 July 1975, but the Tasmanian Transport Commission's Railways Branch retained responsibility for administering and operating the system as an agent for ...
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Australian Transport Network
Australian Transport Network (ATN) was a freight railway operator in Australia that commenced operating in November 1997. The company operated narrow gauge trains in Tasmania and standard gauge trains in New South Wales and Victoria. It was formed as a joint venture with Tranz Rail owning 67% and Wisconsin Central 33%. In February 2004, ATN was sold to Pacific National. AN Tasrail In August 1997, ATN was announced as the successful bidder for Australian National's Tasrail operation in Tasmania with the handover occurring on 1 November 1997. In 1998, Tasrail purchased the Emu Bay Railway from Pasminco. The president of Wisconsin Central, Ed Burkhardt dispatched Mark Rosner to Australia to take control in Tasmania. Amongst Rosner's achievements was the implementing of a new condensed Operating Rule Book, which eliminated some more complex practices in favour of vastly simplified procedures. Single car roadside freight was resumed where customers required it (discontinued under A ...
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Pasminco
Pasminco was an Australian mining company founded in 1988. It was placed in voluntary administration in September 2001 with its assets sold in stages until 2004 when the remaining assets were spun-off to Zinifex. History Pasminco was established in 1988 when Conzinc Riotinto of Australia and North Broken Hill Peko merged their lead and zinc operations. In May 1998 the Emu Bay Railway, which hauled trains from Pasminco's zinc mine at Rosebery to Burnie, was sold to Australian Transport Network. On 19 September 2001, Pasminco was placed in voluntary administration due to a combination of low commodities prices, high debt servicing costs, the adverse impact of a weak Australian dollar on its currency hedging position and a failure to secure appropriate financial accommodation from its financiers. In March 2002, its Broken Hill mining operations were sold to Perilya. Remaining assets including mines in Mount Isa and Rosebery, and smelters in Budel (The Netherlands), Clarkesv ...
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North Limited
North Limited was a diversified mining and resources company. Although based in Australia, its operations eventually extended to six continents. By the late 20th century the company had become the fourth largest iron ore exporter in the world with expansion underway which would have made it equal third. Its biggest asset was a majority stake in Robe River, a major miner of the Pilbara iron ore deposits of Western Australia and the world's lowest cost producer of iron ore. History The company was formed in 1888 as North Broken Hill Silver Mining to exploit the rich silver, lead and zinc deposits at Broken Hill in western New South Wales, the name was shortened to North Broken Hill in 1905. Production at the original North Broken Hill mine wound down and it finally closed in 1993. However over the years the company had diversified into other mining provinces. In 1988 they took over Peko-Wallsend, changing its name to North Broken Hill Peko Limited, then North Limited in 1994. At B ...
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Pieman River Power Development
Pieman River Power Development was a major 1970s and 1980s hydroelectric development of the Pieman River and its tributaries on the west coast of Tasmania. Development The ''Pieman River Power Development'' was approved by the Tasmanian government in 1971, construction began in 1974 and it was completed in 1987. page 24 The damming of the river was the subject of a struggle between conservation groups and Hydro Tasmania, similar to Lake Pedder . The struggle went relatively unnoticed on mainland Australia - and it was the proposed Franklin Dam issue that was to catch a much wider Australian audience, than the damming of the Pieman or King Rivers. The development included three power stations and five dams:- * Lake Murchison and Murchison Dam * Lake Mackintosh, Tullabardine Dam and Mackintosh Dam (Mackintosh Power Station), commissioned in 1982 * Lake Rosebery and Bastyan Dam (Bastyan Power Station), commissioned in 1983 * Lake Pieman and Reece Dam (Reece Power Station), com ...
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EZ Industries
EZ Industries, formerly the Electrolytic Zinc Company, was a zinc miner and refiner in Australia. History EZ Industries was established in 1916 by Amalgamated Zinc as the Electrolytic Zinc Company to operate the Risdon Zinc Works on the banks of the Derwent River in Risdon, Tasmania. It was renamed EZ Industries in February 1957. In 1967, EZ purchased the Emu Bay Railway. In February 1983, EZ opened the Elura Nine near Cobar, New South Wales. It built a 45 kilometre railway line to connect with the Main Western railway line to move zinc to Newcastle for shipping to Risdon. In 1984, EZ was taken over by North Broken Hill Peko. EZ owned a 31% stake in the Ranger Uranium Mine through its Energy Resources of Australia Energy Resources of Australia Ltd () is a public company based in Australia. It is a subsidiary of the Rio Tinto Group which as of 2021 owns 86.3% of the company. The remainder is publicly held and traded on the Australian Securities Exchange. ... shareholdi ...
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Murchison Highway
The Murchison Highway is a highway located in the West Coast region of Tasmania, Australia. The highway runs generally north–south, with Somerset, near Burnie, as its northern terminus and Zeehan as its southern terminus. The highway was opened on 13 December 1963. Part of the highway from to Burnie was known as the Waratah Highway until 1973. Course The highway is susceptible to ice and snow in winter. One of the notorious sections is at the edge of Mount Black; numerous accidents have occurred in the area. Also the Zeehan to Rosebery section has hazardous sections which can be affected by cold and wet weather. Portions of the highway have been made redundant by extra roads built by Hydro Tasmania during their work on the upper Pieman River scheme and the Henty River dam schemes. These provide short cuts from Queenstown straight through to Tullah by going just west of the West Coast Range. The highway crosses the Mackintosh River and the Murchison River near th ...
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