The Dargans Deviation was a section of the original
Main Western railway line
The Main Western Railway is a major railway in New South Wales, Australia. It runs through the Blue Mountains, Central West, North West Slopes and the Far West regions. It is with operational & under construction & repairs.
Description o ...
over the
Blue Mountains in
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
, es ...
,
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, sma ...
. It was constructed from 1896 to 1897 in an effort to ease the grades of the original alignment ( 1 in 33 ) from before
Newnes Junction to
Clarence Clarence may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Clarence County, New South Wales, a Cadastral division
* Clarence, New South Wales, a place near Lithgow
* Clarence River (New South Wales)
* Clarence Strait (Northern Territory)
* City of Clarence, a l ...
, with a ruling grade of 1 in 60. Along with a few crossing loops, it enabled much longer trains to use the line. After the construction of the
Ten Tunnels Deviation
The Ten Tunnels Deviation is a heritage-listed section of the Main Western Line between Newnes Junction and Zig Zag stations in Lithgow, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed and built by the New South Wales Government Railways and bui ...
, it was abandoned.
History
The deviation started construction around July 1896 due to a sudden rise in traffic along the Western Line. It was longer than the original alignment but it eased the grades to 1 in 60 and stretched three miles from
Newnes Junction to
Clarence Clarence may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Clarence County, New South Wales, a Cadastral division
* Clarence, New South Wales, a place near Lithgow
* Clarence River (New South Wales)
* Clarence Strait (Northern Territory)
* City of Clarence, a l ...
. During construction, when the line rejoined the original alignment at Clarence, a number of changes had to be made. The original up platform was removed and a new platform was erected a few hundred meters west. This platform is currently used by the
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 th ...
as a terminus. The platform on the loop was also removed. The construction was initially planned to take six months but due to a number of delays, including one incident where among other things a charge exploded prematurely, the line wasn't officially opened until April 1897.
Zig Zag Railway
The
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 th ...
has aspirations to extend the railway from Clarence to Newnes Junction, using the Dargans Deviation.
Further reading
* {{Citation , author1=Langdon, Mark , title=Conquering the Blue Mountains , year=2006 , publication-date=2006 , publisher=Eveleigh Press , isbn=978-1-876568-30-6
References
Rail infrastructure in New South Wales
Main Western railway line, New South Wales
1897 establishments in Australia