Presentations and Papers
Summary - Rail Extinguishes Road - A Wilderness Railway Freight/Passenger Railway Service
Presenter: John Tomlin
The Mt Lyell Abt Railway (referred to locally simply as the Abt), once the lifeblood of the Mt Lyell Mining & Railway Company, hauling ore from the mines in Queenstown to the Macquarie Harbour ports of Teepookana and Strahan, ceased operations in 1963 after 65 years in service. Its unique feature was the rack and pinion system developed by the Swiss engineer, Dr. Roman Abt, to negotiate inclines of 1:13.
Following the Railway’s closure, the rail was removed and most of the track and its many bridges fell into disrepair. However, the railway track formation east of the Strahan township provided road access to farm properties and the valuable Huon pine and Leatherwood honey resources of the Teepookana Plateau.
The project to restore this unique and historic railway as a tourist operation that commenced in 2000, had also to provide for the continued access to the Teepookana Plateau and other State Forest Reserve resources located beyond the King River. The eventual decision to close road access altogether and adopt a roll-on/roll-off rail freight service, operating in conjunction with the passenger services, was chosen principally on grounds of safety and operational efficiency.
Since 2002, the restored railway, now know as the West Coast Wilderness Railway, has operated its passenger service over the full 34.5kms between Queenstown and Strahan and the freight train service between Lowana and Lower Landing a distance of 7.2kms.
This paper provides some background material on the restoration project as a whole, but with particular focus on the infrastructure and operation of the freight service and its interaction with the passenger service.
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