Zig Zag (railway)
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Zig Zag (railway)
A railway zig zag or switchback, is a method of climbing steep gradients with minimal need for tunnels and heavy earthworks. For a short distance (corresponding to the middle leg of the letter "Z"), the direction of travel is reversed, before the original direction is resumed. Some switchbacks do not come in pairs, and the train may then need to travel backwards for a considerable distance. A location on railways constructed by using a zig-zag alignment at which trains must reverse direction to continue is a reversing station. One of the best examples is the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site railway in India, that has six full zig zags and three spirals. Advantages Zig zags tend to be cheaper to construct because the grades required are discontinuous. Civil engineers can generally find a series of shorter segments going back and forth up the side of a hill more easily and with less grading than they can a continuous grade, which must contend wi ...
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Buffers And Chain Coupler
Buffers and chain couplers (also known as "buffers and screw", "screw", "screwlink", and "English" couplers) are the de facto UIC standard railway stock coupling used in the EU and UK, and on some surviving former colonial railways, such as in South America and India, on older rolling stock. Buffers and chain couplers are an assembly of several devices: buffers, hooks and links, or turnbuckle screws. On the modern version of the couplers, rail vehicles are mated by manually connecting the end link of one chain which incorporates a turnbuckle screw into the towing hook of the other wagon, drawing together and slightly compressing the buffer pairs, one left and one right on each headstock. That limits slack, and lessens shunting shocks in moving trains. By contrast, vehicles fitted with the semi-automatic Janney Type E coupler can experience significant jarring during mating and shunting. Very early rolling stock had "dummy buffers", which were simple rigid extensions of the ...
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Mundaring Weir Branch Railway
The Mundaring Weir Branch Railway was constructed from Mundaring, Western Australia to the site of the Mundaring Weir, and opened on 1 June 1898. Overview One of the rail lines constructed by the Public Works Department in the early 20th century, the line was specifically built for the construction of the weir, and incorporated a zig zag. The line taken over by the Western Australian Government Railways some years after its construction. The branch was popular for picnics and excursions to the weir between the 1920s and 1940s. The current route of Mundaring Weir Road crosses the formation of the railway at two locations before the site of former No 2 Power station, and is parallel from the Weir road junction to the Mundaring Weir Hotel. Difficulties Due to the steep grades down to Mundaring Weir, a limited range of locomotives were permitted to be run on the line. In the 1940s the declining availability of Msa Garratt steam locomotives affected the number excursion train ...
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Lapstone Zig Zag
The Lapstone Zig Zag was a Zig Zag (railway), zig zag railway built between and stations on the Main Western railway line, New South Wales, Main Western line of New South Wales in Australia. Constructed between 1863 and 1865 to overcome an otherwise insurmountable climb up the eastern side of the Blue Mountains (Australia), Blue Mountains, the zig zag and associated Knapsack Viaduct, a Hawkesbury sandstone, sandstone arch bridge, arch viaduct, were designed by John Whitton, Engineer-in-Charge of New South Wales Government Railways, and were built by William Watkins. The zig zag was listed on the City of Blue Mountains, Blue Mountains local government New South Wales Heritage Database, heritage register on 27 December 1991; while the adjacent Knapsack Viaduct was listed on the New South Wales Heritage Database on 2 April 1999. The Lapstone ZigZag was the world-first ZigZag constructed on any main-line railway. The ruling grade was already very steep at 1 in 33 (3%). Another of th ...
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Tasmania
) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_date = Colony of Tasmania , established_title2 = Federation , established_date2 = 1 January 1901 , named_for = Abel Tasman , demonym = , capital = Hobart , largest_city = capital , coordinates = , admin_center = 29 local government areas , admin_center_type = Administration , leader_title1 = Monarch , leader_name1 = Charles III , leader_title2 = Governor , leader_name2 ...
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Lake Margaret Tram
The Lake Margaret Tram was located on the western side of Mount Sedgwick in the West Coast Range on the West Coast of Tasmania in service for the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company to the Lake Margaret community. Construction By 1903, the timber areas having been cut out around Queenstown itself, the wood cutters moved to Howard's Plains situated on the plateau north west of Queenstown. As access onto the plateau was steep, a self-acting narrow gauge dual haulage was built. From the top of the incline, a tramway was laid and was extended, over a period of time, some 4¼ miles towards Lake Margaret. Following the decision to build the Lake Margaret Power Station, the Howard's Plains Tram was extended from its then terminus at the 4¼ mile peg. Work commenced on the extension on 19 August 1912. The Howard's Plains tram was completely upgraded. The total distance from the haulage to the power station being 7 miles, including a zig zag along the line. Following the co ...
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Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Australia is Australia's largest state, with a total land area of . It is the second-largest country subdivision in the world, surpassed only by Russia's Sakha Republic. the state has 2.76 million inhabitants  percent of the national total. The vast majority (92 percent) live in the south-west corner; 79 percent of the population lives in the Perth area, leaving the remainder of the state sparsely populated. The first Europeans to visit Western Australia belonged to the Dutch Dirk Hartog expedition, who visited the Western Australian coast in 1616. The first permanent European colony of Western Australia occurred following the ...
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Kalamunda Zig Zag
The Kalamunda Zig Zag was a zig zag rail line that was part of the Upper Darling Range Railway line in Western Australia, opening in July 1891 and closing in July 1949. Most of it was converted to a public road in 1952, part of which is now a tourist drive called Zig Zag Scenic Drive that offers views of Perth from the hills. History The Kalamunda Zig Zag was completed in July 1891, as part of the Upper Darling Range Railway line in Western Australia which was built by the Canning Jarrah Timber Company from a junction with the Midland line at Midland Junction to Canning Mills to transport railway sleepers to Perth's growing railway system. On 1 July 1903, the line was taken over by the Western Australian Government Railways.History of the Railway
Pickering Brook Heritage Group
To overcome a steep gr ...
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Zig Zag Railway
The Zig Zag Railway is an Australian heritage railway, situated near Lithgow, New South Wales. It was opened by the not-for-profit Zig Zag Railway Co-op as an unpaid volunteer-staffed heritage railway in October 1975, using the alignment of the Lithgow Zig Zag line that formed part of the Main Western line between 1869 and 1910. The line climbs the western flank of the Blue Mountains, using railway zig zags to gain height. Operation of the heritage railway was suspended in 2012 following accreditation issues with the Government of New South Wales. The railway was aiming to resume services in October 2013, but was then severely damaged during the 2013 NSW Bushfires and then subsequently by torrential rain. Repairs are ongoing and trials of restored rail vehicles and track commenced in August 2016 and it was planned to re-commence limited heritage operations in 2019, until the 2019-2020 bushfires damaged key infrastructure. The COVID-19 pandemic further delayed restoration a ...
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New South Wales
) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_date = Colony of New South Wales , established_title2 = Establishment , established_date2 = 26 January 1788 , established_title3 = Responsible government , established_date3 = 6 June 1856 , established_title4 = Federation , established_date4 = 1 January 1901 , named_for = Wales , demonym = , capital = Sydney , largest_city = capital , coordinates = , admin_center = 128 local government areas , admin_center_type = Administration , leader_title1 = Monarch , leader_name1 = Charles III , leader_title2 = Governor , leader_name2 = Margaret Beazley , leader_title3 = Premier , leader_name3 = Dominic Perrottet (Liberal) , national_representation = Parliament of Australia , national_representation_type1 = Senat ...
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Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by area in Oceania and the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, sixth-largest country. Australia is the oldest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent, with the least fertile soils. It is a Megadiverse countries, megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and climates, with Deserts of Australia, deserts in the centre, tropical Forests of Australia, rainforests in the north-east, and List of mountains in Australia, mountain ranges in the south-east. The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians began arriving from south east Asia approximately Early human migrations#Nearby Oceania, 65,000 years ago, during the Last Glacial Period, last i ...
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Tren A Las Nubes
The Tren a las Nubes ( en, Train to the Clouds) is a tourist train service in Salta Province, Argentina. The service runs along the eastern part of the Salta–Antofagasta railway line of the Belgrano Railway (also known as the "C-14" line) that connects the Argentine Northwest with the border in the Andes mountain range, over above mean sea level, the fifth highest railway in the world. Originally built for economic and social reasons, it is now primarily of interest to tourists as a heritage railway, though cheaper tickets are also available for locals to use the train as transport. Overview The railway line has 29 bridges, 21 tunnels, 13 viaducts, 2 spirals and 2 zigzags. Because of the design decision not to use a rack-and-pinion for traction, the route had to be designed to avoid steep grades. The zigzags allow the train to climb up driving back and forth parallel to the slope of the mountain. The train departs from Salta every Saturday at 07:05, and returns around ...
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