The Zig Zag

Out and about today and just happened to be in the area when the zig zag train was due to leave (happens only 3 times daily) and is about a 25 minute drive from our village.

The Zig Zag Railway was built between 1866 and 1869, and was constructed to take produce to Sydney from the farming areas beyond the Blue Mountains and to develop the coal and iron ore deposits found in the Lithgow Valley.

At the time The Great Zig Zag was regarded as one of the engineering wonders of the Victorian age.

A by-product of such construction was the development of locomotive boilers which could cope with steep slopes and this led to the construction of mountain railways in other parts of the world, particularly the Americas (or so I'm told)

The Zig Zag consists of a series of sloping tracks forming the letter "Z" with reversing stations at Top and Bottom Points.

The track passes over three magnificent sandstone viaducts, through two tunnels. There are great views over the surrounding countryside.

By the end of the 19th century rail traffic over the Blue Mountains was heavy and the single track had become a bottleneck. They then built of a ten tunnel deviation through the escarpment, completed in 1910. Soon after the track was removed and the land reverted to bush. During the Second World War Clarence Tunnel was used as an ammunition store and after for growing mushrooms.

In 1972 a group of railway enthusiasts formed a Co-operative, started to rebuild the track and buy suitable rolling stock. The Zig Zag Railway Co-op Ltd. still owns and operates the railway. Trains first ran again in 1975 on Middle Road only. In 1986-7, with the aid of a NSW Bicentennial Grant, the track was extended along Top Road to Clarence, opening in 1988.

Until 1994 the railway operated on weekends, public holidays and NSW school holidays only using steam. Since then the railway has expanded operations and now runs daily with vintage diesel Railmotors providing midweek services.

I'll have to go back on the weekend for the full steam experience.