The Fernleigh Track is a multi-use rail trail near Belmont in New South Wales. The track was constructed in the way of the former Belmont railway line. The project is a joint venture between

Newcastle City Council Newcastle City Council is the local government authority for the city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne. The council consists of 78 councillors, three for each of the 26 wards in the city. It is currently controlled by the Labou ...

and

City of Lake Macquarie The City of Lake Macquarie is a local government area in Greater Newcastle and part of the Hunter Region in New South Wales, Australia. It was proclaimed a city from 7 September 1984. The area is situated adjacent to the city of Newcastle and ...

. The track extends from Adamstown to Belmont over an approximate distance of . The former railway closed in December 1991. The first section between Adamstown and Burwood Road opened in 2003. Construction has continued in stages with the final section between Jewells and Belmont completed in March 2011. The abandoned Belmont railway line was a coal

haulage Haulage is the business of transporting goods by road or rail between suppliers and large consumer outlets, factories, warehouses, or depots. This includes everything humans might wish to move in bulk - from vegetables and other foodstuffs, to cloth ...

and passenger rail line from Adamstown to Belmont. In 1880 a rail line was built to

Redhead Red hair (also known as orange hair and ginger hair) is a hair color found in one to two percent of the human population, appearing with greater frequency (two to six percent) among people of Northern or Northwestern European ancestry and ...

with the line being extended to Belmont in 1916. At one stage there was talk of extending the line to Swansea. A feature of the conversion of the former railway to a multi-use trail is the retention of many industrial heritage features. The trail passes through the brick-lined Fernleigh Tunnel under the Pacific Highway. At the site of the former

Kahibah Kahibah is a suburb of the City of Lake Macquarie, Greater Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia, located from Newcastle's central business district. Kahibah is the closest suburb to Glenrock Lagoon, and is drained by Flaggy and Little Flag ...

station, the

cycleway Cycling infrastructure is all infrastructure cyclists are allowed to use. Bikeways include bike paths, bike lanes, cycle tracks, rail trails and, where permitted, sidewalks. Roads used by motorists are also cycling infrastructure, except wher ...

is crossed by the

Great North Walk The Great North Walk is a walking track which runs from Sydney to Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia. The main track, in length, runs between the Obelisk in Macquarie Place in Sydney to Queens Wharf in Bicentennial Park in Newcastle and ...

, a walking trail connecting

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

and Sydney. The track also passes through the centre of the

Glenrock Lagoon Glenrock Lagoon, an intermediate fresh water small coastal creek, is located within the Lake Macquarie local government area in the Newcastle and Hunter regions of New South Wales, Australia. The lake is located near the Newcastle suburbs of ...

catchment.

Track details

Station/platform (distance)

* Adamstown: (0) * Fernleigh: () *

: () * Dudley Junction: () * Burwood Platform: () * Whitebridge: () *

: () * Redhead South: () * Jewells: () * John Darling Platform: () * Belmont: ()

Track statistics

* Level crossings, 5 * Tunnels, 1 (curved - ) * Over Bridges, 2 * Drive through culvert, 1 (Little Flaggy Creek) * Stations or Platforms, 10 * Signal Boxes, 4 * Major colliers served, 5 * Maximum gradient, 1 in 40 * Minimum elevation, (nr Belmont Station) * Maximum elevation, (on main line) * Length of Line,

History of the line

* 1880 - Rail line opened to Redhead * December 1916 - Rail line extended to Belmont * 12 October 1922 - Special train left Newcastle for the opening of "Soldiers' Memorial Hall" at Kahibah. * January 1925 - Redhead Loop name changed to Fernleigh Loop * 1967 - Last passenger steam train to Belmont * 8 April 1971 - At 17:10 the last rail passenger train to Belmont via Kahibah left Newcastle Station. * 19 December 1991 - Rail line closed * 2 February 2003 - Adamstown to Kahibah Station stage of the Fernleigh Track (cycleway) opened * August 2004 - Dudley Junction to Whitebridge Station section of Fernleigh Track completed * 7 May 2005 - Kahibah Station to Whitebridge Station section officially opened. * November 2009 - Whitebridge Station to Redhead Station section of Fernleigh Track completed * November 2010 - Redhead Station to Jewels section of Fernleigh Track completed * 12 March 2011 - Fernleigh Track fully completed.

References

External links

Rail Trails Australia

Lake Macquarie City Council

Premiers Council for Active Living

NSWRail.net diagram of Belmont line

Curve and gradient data including the Belmont line
{{Hunter Region places and items of interest City of Lake Macquarie Newcastle, New South Wales Rail trails in Australia History of Newcastle, New South Wales