Magnet Tramway

The Magnet Tramway, often found referred to as the Magnet Tram, was a 2 ft (610 mm) gauge railway in north west Tasmania.It ran between Magnet Junction on the Guildford to Mount Bischoff railway line, and the Magnet mine.[1][2][3][4]

Orenstein & Koppel Mallet
Ford Model T railmotor

History

The track was being constructed in 1901.[5][6][7][8] The construction was led by B.F. Waller, who started to work as managing director and responsible engineer in January 1901. Previously, the route had been roughly surveyed by the former mine manager T.H. Jones. Although the destination was only 6.5 km (4 miles) from the interchange in Waratah, the route had a total of 194 bends and a length of 16 km (10 miles) due to the difference in altitude of 183 m (600 feet). The climb for the first 13 km (8 miles) was 1.9‰ (100 feet per mile) and then it was then less steep. The light rail profiles weighing 15 kg/m (30 lb per yard) were laid on 22,000 sleepers, most of which were made of Huon Pine.[9]

The tramway included the following rolling stock:

I

In 1941 Mount Magnet silver mine closed, the railway and locomotive were bought by sawmiller R.J. Howard of Zeehan.[12]

References
  1. Sometimes identified as The Magnet
  2. Martin, Stephen (1982), The Magnet tramway, Tasmania (1st ed.), APW Productions, ISBN 978-0-949732-19-4
  3. Chapter 11 Mt.Bischoff, Magnet and Balfour Tramways, pp.172 - 188, Magnet 180-1834 Rae, Lou (1984), A history of railways and tramways on Tasmania's West Coast (2nd ed.), L. Rae, ISBN 978-0-9592098-0-8
  4. Page 5 - photo of Mallet in steam Anchen, Nick; Anchen, Nick (2014), Railways of Tasmania's wild west (First ed.), Ferntree Gully, Victoria Sierra Publishing, ISBN 978-0-9807640-7-9
  5. "THE MAGNET TRAMWAY". The North Western Advocate and The Emu Bay Times. Tasmania, Australia. 21 March 1901. p. 2. Retrieved 9 June 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. "THE MAGNET TRAMWAY". The North Western Advocate and The Emu Bay Times. Tasmania, Australia. 5 September 1901. p. 3. Retrieved 9 June 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. "A TRAMWAY FOR MOUNT MAGNET". The North Queensland Register. Vol. XI, no. 11. Queensland, Australia. 18 March 1901. p. 39. Retrieved 9 June 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. "A TRAMWAY FOR MOUNT MAGNET". The Northern Miner. Queensland, Australia. 12 March 1901. p. 2. Retrieved 9 June 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. Paul Ledger. Magnet. The Rise & Fall of A Tarkine Mining Town. 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  10. Trainiac (2016), Magnet tram, retrieved 10 June 2018
  11. Derek A. Bayliss: The origins of Orenstein & Koppel. The Industrial Railway Record, No. 47, April 1973, p. 27-32. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  12. How, Duncan (1992), Historic mines of Western Tasmania : a walking guide, Walk the West Publications, p. 10, ISBN 978-0-646-10651-9
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