The Ida Bay Railway is a ,

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

heritage railway. Located south of Hobart,

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

, it is the most southerly railway in Australia.

Early history of the area

Tasmanian aborigines The Aboriginal Tasmanians (Palawa kani: ''Palawa'' or ''Pakana'') are the Aboriginal people of the Australian island of Tasmania, located south of the mainland. For much of the 20th century, the Tasmanian Aboriginal people were widely, and ...

have occupied the island for a time still not precisely measured but confirmed as tens of thousands of years. The

traditional owners Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have right ...

of the land through which the railway runs were the Lyluequonny people. This clan of the South East nation occupied an area centred on what is now called

Recherche Bay Recherche Bay ( ) is an oceanic embayment, part of which is listed on the National Heritage Register, located on the extreme south-eastern corner of Tasmania, Australia. It was a landing place of the d’Entrecasteaux expedition to find missin ...

. In 1793 French scientists on the d’Entrecasteaux expedition encountered the Lyluequonny. For a period in January 1793, with apparent goodwill and mutual respect, the two groups interacted and bemused each other. Because of the French journals kept at the time more is known about the Lyluequonny clan than any other in pre-European Tasmania. Following on from the arrival of the British in Tasmania in 1803, whalers, sealers and convicts were the first non-aboriginal inhabitants of the Far South. By 1822 the first land grant was made at Hythe. The area south of Dover was reserved for timber. Convict probation stations were established at Dover and Hythe in the 1840s. By the early 1850s timber leases were made available and mill towns emerged, including at Lune River, Ramsgate,

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

and Leprena. This was the start of tramways in the area initially with timber rails and horse power.

Ida Bay Railway

Around 1919 an abandoned timber tramway built to serve the Huon Timber Co's Lune River mill was upgraded and extended by the Hydro Electric Power and Metallurgic Company. The purpose was to transport

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

from a quarry at Marble Hill just south of Hastings Cave to a jetty at Brick Point, Ida Bay. The limestone was then loaded onto river ships, taken to Electrona in North-West Bay south of Hobart and used in the preparation of

calcium carbide Calcium carbide, also known as calcium acetylide, is a chemical compound with the chemical formula of Ca C2. Its main use industrially is in the production of acetylene and calcium cyanamide. The pure material is colorless, while pieces of te ...

. This was mainly used for the production of acetylene gas.The Ida Bay Railway and its Locomotives ''

Light Railways ''Light Railways'' is a magazine produced by the Light Railway Research Society of Australia (LRRSA). The subtitle is "Australia's Magazine of Industrial and Narrow Gauge Railways". History The LRRSA started in the 1961 to foster interest in ...

'' issue 157 February 2001 pages 3-8

Heritage Railway

In June 1975, freight operations ceased. Following strong community action in support of keeping the railway operating it was purchased by the

Tasmanian Government The Tasmanian Government is the democratic administrative authority of the state of Tasmania, Australia. The leader of the party or coalition with the confidence of the House of Assembly, the lower house of the Parliament of Tasmania, is invit ...

in 1977 and leased to private operators as a tourist attraction. Various lease holders ran the railway for years struggling to make a profit. After a two year closure, the line re-opened in December 2005. In September 2018 a train derailment highlighted the poor state of repair of the track, and the Ida Bay train has not run since. The lease held by the operator was terminated with Tasmania Parks & Wildlife Service appointed caretaker owner. Little has been done to prevent further deterioration of the line, rolling stock and buildings and urgent maintenance and restoration of this heritage listed railway is needed. The Ida Bay Railway Preservation Society Inc was formed and in December 2020 reached an agreement with the government to restore the line.Ida Bay Railway Confirms Licence
''

Tasmanian Times Tasmanian Times is an online news service in Hobart in Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaC ...

'' 7 December 2020

References

External links

{{Southern Tasmania, state=collapsed Railway lines in Tasmania Southern Tasmania 2 ft gauge railways in Australia 1919 establishments in Australia Tourist railways in Tasmania