Zeehan railway station in

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

, was a major junction and railway yard for numerous different railway and tramway systems in

western Tasmania The West Coast of Tasmania is one of the Regions of Tasmania, regions of Tasmania in Australia. It is mainly isolated rough country and is associated with wilderness, mining and tourism. It served as the location of an early convict settlement ...

in the town of

Zeehan Zeehan is a town on the west coast of Tasmania, Australia south-west of Burnie. It is part of the West Coast Council, along with the seaport Strahan and neighbouring mining towns of Rosebery and Queenstown. History The greater Zeehan a ...

. Its peak of operations was between the 1890s and the late 1920s – reflecting the general fate of the town and the industries that were located in the Zeehan and surrounding districts. A good example of the peak era, is in 1905 with 34 trains in one day at the station.

Terminus

It was the terminus of the

Strahan–Zeehan Railway The Strahan–Zeehan Railway, also known as the "Government Railway", was a railway from Strahan to Zeehan on the west coast of Tasmania. It linked two private railways: the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company railway line (now known as the ...

from the south, the

Emu Bay Railway The Emu Bay Railway was a Tasmania, Australian railway company. The railway was significant during full operation, in that it linked the Tasmanian Government Railways system at Burnie with that at Zeehan that further linked to the Mount Lye ...

from the north and a number of narrow gauge tram systems that utilised the railway yard and radiated out in all directions from the station. The narrow gauge

North East Dundas Tramway The North East Dundas Tramway was a Narrow-gauge railway, narrow gauge tramway (industrial), tramway, that ran between Zeehan and Deep Lead (now Williamsford, Tasmania, Williamsford) on the West Coast, Tasmania, West Coast of Tasmania. Opening ...

line proceeded separately out of the station and yard following the Emu Bay railway alignment, before it turned toward its easterly route.

Yard

The government railway that linked the

Mount Lyell railway The Mount Lyell railway line was a railway operated by the Mount Lyell Mining & Railway Company between 1899 and 1963. Many name variations were used for identifying the line, the most common being the ''Abt railway''. After closing of the rai ...

to the Emu Bay railway, and then to Burnie was an important part of the government railway system. The government looked to improve the facilities over time while the railways were carrying optimum freight loads.

In 1913 the railway workshops were moved from West Strahan to Zeehan and the yard, over half a mile long, with two gauges and many sidings, was one of the biggest in the state

The Zeehan railway station yard was extensive with numerable small tram lines connecting with the yard in the peak of the activity at the station from before the First World War until the beginning of the depression – when most smaller tramways and mines and smelter operations had ceased to operate. A map by C.C. Singleton of the

Australian Railway Historical Society The Australian Railway Historical Society (ARHS) has been a railway organisation concerned with history and preservation of railway heritage at a national level. It has had divisions in every state and the Australian Capital Territory, althou ...

in Bulletin 289 November 1961, and in Bulletin 312, October 1963 offer an understanding of the yard layout:

Operators

*Zeehan Tramway Company *N.E.Dundas Tramway *Government railway to Strahan *Emu Bay Railway Company

Facilities

*Passenger station *Goods shed *Emu Bay Railway engine shed *Workshops shed *Carriage shed *Engine shed *Zeehan Tramway sheds

Tramways

Tramways mentioned here specifically utilised the Zeehan railway station as their terminus. * Comstock Tram * Dunkleys Tram * Federation Tram * Florence Tram * Grubb's Tramway * Howards Tram * New Dundas Tramway commenced in 1891, absorbed into the Mariposa Tramway, and later again into Howard's tramway system * Mariposa Tramway *

was a 2' line leaving Zeehan to the

Mount Read Mount Read is a mountain located in the West Coast region of Tasmania, Australia, and is at the north west edge of the West Coast Range. With an elevation of above sea level, Mount Read has had as colourful a history, similar to that of Mou ...

area. * Oonah Tram * Zeehan Tramway Company - constructed in the 1890s, taken over by the Dunkley Brothers in 1918.

Accidents

A spectacular

boiler explosion A boiler explosion is a catastrophic failure of a boiler. There are two types of boiler explosions. One type is a failure of the pressure parts of the steam and water sides. There can be many different causes, such as failure of the safety val ...

occurred at 7.15 am on 17 May 1899 in the Zeehan railway station yard. The North-East Dundas tram approached the Wilson Street waiting room at the end of the station yard, the engine exploded. The

fireman A firefighter (or fire fighter or fireman) is a first responder trained in specific emergency response such as firefighting, primarily to control and extinguish fires and respond to emergencies such as hazardous material incidents, medical in ...

Thomas Marra was killed instantly and the driver David Biddulph died soon after.

Decline

*In 1905, Zeehan Tramway Company ceased daily passenger service *In 1926, Dundas line regular services traffic ceased and line pulled up in 1940. *In 1929, NE Dundas and Comstock lines traffic ceased and all line up by 1943. *In 1948, the last year of heavy traffic between Rosebery and Zeehan *In 1950, the passenger service was conducted by rail motor. *In 1960, the Emu Bay Railway passenger service ceased in February *In 1960, the Strahan-Zeehan Railway line closed in June. *On 14 August 1965, the Emu Bay Railway goods services ceased.

Post closure status

In 1971, Frank Stamford of ''The Light Railway Research Society of Australia'' wrote in

Light Railways A light railway is a Rail transport, railway built at lower costs and to lower standards than typical "heavy rail": it uses lighter-weight track, and may have more Grade (slope), steep gradients and Minimum railway curve radius, tight curves to ...

A visit on 12th April 1971 showed that the station building has gone, and most of the track has been rather half-heartedly removed. A length of 2 ft gauge track can still be found near where the station building used to be. The various engine sheds and carriage sheds remain, and are still being used by local timber millers, transport contractors, etc.Stamford, F (1971) Light Railways Number 35 Autumn 1971 page 18

Notes

References

* * * {{coord missing, Tasmania Disused railway stations in Tasmania Railway stations in Western Tasmania Zeehan Emu Bay Railway