The North East Dundas Tramway was 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 ...

tramway, that ran between Zeehan and Deep Lead (now Williamsford) on the West Coast of

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

. Opening in 1896 and closing in 1932, it was part of the

Tasmanian Government Railways The Tasmanian Government Railways (TGR) was the former operator of the mainline railways in Tasmania, Australia. Formed in 1872, the railway company was managed by the Government of Tasmania, and existed until absorption into the Australian Na ...

network. The world's first Garratt locomotives, the K class, were used on the line.

History

Construction of the line to carry ore from the Williamsford mines to Zeehan, where it was loaded onto another train for shipment to

Burnie Burnie is a port city on the north-west coast of Tasmania, Australia. When founded in 1827, it was named Emu Bay, being renamed after William Burnie, a director of the Van Diemen's Land Company, in the early 1840s. , Burnie had an urban popu ...

commenced in January 1896, with the first section opened in December 1896. It opened in full on 18 June 1898. The narrow-gauge (2 ft) was chosen because of the extremely difficult terrain that the railway crossed, requiring several big trestle bridges, including one at the foot of

Montezuma Falls The Montezuma Falls (formerly Osbourne Falls), a horsetail waterfall on a minor tributary to the Pieman River, is located on the West Coast Range of Tasmania, Australia. Naming The falls draws its name from Montezuma (1466-1520), an Aztec emper ...

. After some rain the engine and carriages would get soaked by spray from the falls. A detailed description of conditions along the line is included in a report of a journey undertaken in 1900 by the

Fitzroy Fitzroy or FitzRoy may refer to: People As a given name *Several members of the Somerset family (Dukes of Beaufort) have this as a middle-name: **FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855) ** Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset, 8th Duke of Beau ...

Australian Rules football team. During their journey down the mountain to Zeehan, one of the carriages left the rails on a tight bend and the players lifted it back on the rails. There was a

break-of-gauge With railways, a break of gauge occurs where a line of one track gauge (the distance between the rails, or between the wheels of trains designed to run on those rails) meets a line of a different gauge. Trains and rolling stock generally cannot ...

with the mainline system at Zeehan. The tramway was closed on 5 July 1932, although regular services had ceased three years earlier.

Locomotives

North East Dundas Tramway, 1901 08 03 insert 3 (14278046585)

Several tight-radius curves required careful consideration of the locomotives that were suitable to run on them. Operations commenced with two

G class G class or Class G may refer to: Locomotives * NZR G class (1928), a type of steam locomotive used in New Zealand * Tasmanian Government Railways G class, a class of 0-4-2T steam locomotive used in Australia * V/Line G class, a class of diese ...

0-4-2T locomotives. Shortly after entering service, G1 was destroyed in May 1899 after the boiler exploded. The crew were killed and the boiler flung 30 metres into the air landing 230 metres away. A replacement arrived in 1900, assuming G1's identity. After the tramway closed, both were sold to the Isis Sugar Mill in Cordalba,

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

and converted to tender locomotives'.Steam Locomotives of the Tasmanian Government Railways and its Constituents ''

Australian Railway History ''Australian Railway History'' is a monthly magazine covering railway history in Australia, published by the New South Wales Division of the Australian Railway Historical Society on behalf of its state and territory Divisions.J class 2-6-4-0T was delivered. It was the first articulated locomotive to run on the line and was, at the time, the heaviest

locomotive in the southern hemisphere, weighing 42 tonnes. It was more powerful than its gauge counterparts. Its weight played havoc with the light rails it ran over and in 1910 it was replaced by the K class 0-4-0+0-4-0 Garratt locomotives. The J class languished in the Zeehan locomotive shed until 1949, when it was scrapped. K1 was presented back to its manufacturer, Beyer, Peacock & Company of

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

and repatriated to England in 1947. After the closure of Beyer, Peacock & Company, K1 was sold in 1966 to the Ffestiniog Railway. Since 2020, it has been based at the Statfold Barn Railway.

Stopping places

North East Dundas Tramway, Picnic (28749219905)

(distances from Walch's Tasmanian Almanac 1915 p. 237) * Zeehan * Wilson Street * Zeehan Racecourse * King's * Hastings * Nickel Junction – also known as Nickel Show (4.5 miles) * North Dundas Road *

Melba Flats Melba Flats is a railway siding on the Emu Bay Railway east of Zeehan that served as a terminus for trains carrying copper ore from the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company in west coast Tasmania, once the Emu Bay Railway ceased services int ...

* Commonwealth * Japi * Confidence Saddle * Good Intent * Great Northern * Fraser's—also known as Fraser's Mine * Montezuma (14.5 miles) * Fahl Ore * Conliffe * Williamsford—opened as Deep Lead—renamed by 1898 (18 miles) * Connected to Hercules Mine on Mount Read by a

Hercules Haulage The Hercules Haulage, also known as the Mount Read Haulage, the ''Hercules Tram'' and the ''Williamsford Haulage Line'', was a self-acting narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gau ...

incline

Accidents

In May 1899, a locomotive boiler exploded in the Zeehan yard, killing the driver and fireman. The G class locomotive was destroyed.

References

Further literature

* William Prior Hales
''The North East Dundas Tramway, Tasmania.''
The Institution of Civil Engineers-Minutes of Proceedings, Volume 140, 1899-1900 Session. In: Greg Stephenson

1 February 1997. Retrieved on 13 June 2ß18.

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 ...

No. 91, January 1986. Retrieved on 13 June 2018.

External links

{{coord missing, Tasmania 2 ft gauge railways in Australia Closed railway lines in Tasmania West Coast Range Railway lines opened in 1896 Railway lines closed in 1932 Zeehan