Melba Line

The Melba Line is a 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) narrow-gauge railway on the West Coast of Tasmania. The line was originally constructed as a private railway line named the Emu Bay Railway and was one of the longest-lasting and most successful private railway companies in Australia. While at present the line travels from Burnie to Melba Flats, it previously ran through to Zeehan carrying minerals and passengers as an essential service for the West Coast community.

Not to be confused with Emu Bay Railway, the company that ran the railway line for 101 years.

Melba Line
The Melba Line at Rosebery
Overview
StatusOpen
OwnerGovernment of Tasmania
LocaleWest Coast, Tasmania
Termini
Stations3
Service
TypeHeavy rail
Operator(s)TasRail
History
Opened1 February 1878 (1st stage)
21 December 1900 (in full)
Technical
Line length130 km (81 mi)
Track gauge1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) (after relaying)
Highest elevation670 m (2,200 ft)
Route map
Left arrow Western Line Right arrow
 Old Surrey Road 
Cascade Road
Metaira Road
Metaira Road
Circular Road
Ridgley Highway
Oonah Road
Tena Road
Ridgley Highway
Sugarloaf Road
Upper Natone Road
Silvermine Road
North Goderich Road
 Hellyer River
Bunkers Road
Guildford Road
 Wey River
 Left arrow
Waratah Line
to Waratah
 Muddy Creek
Clipper Road
 Hellyer River
Hellyer Line
to Hellyer Mine
Right arrow
Murchison Highway
Huskisson Road
 Hatfield
 Hatfield River
 Suprise Creek
 Que River
 Que River
 Sawmill Creek
 Boco
 Boco Creek
Pieman Road
 Lake Rosebery
 Pieman River
 Chasm Creek
Rosebery Mine
 Primrose 
Baillieu Street
 Barker Creek
Max Fitzallen Drive
Nicholas Street
Belstead Street
 Rosebery
 Chamberlain Creek
 Natone Creek
 Josephine Creek
 -41.775072,145.444586
 Argent River
Murchison Highway
 Argent River
Murchison Highway
 Melba Creek
 Melba Flats
 Nevada Creek 
 Argent Tunnel
 Parting Creek
 Little Henty River
Mount Dundas Line
to Mount Dundas
Right arrow
 Zeehan
Strahan Line
to Strahan
Down arrow

History

In the 1870s, the Van Diemen's Land Company engaged John C. Climie to undertake a survey of a line from near Burnie to Mount Bischoff.[1] On 1 February 1878, a 71 kilometres (44 mi), horse-drawn wooden tramway opened from Emu Bay (Burnie) to Rouse's Camp, near Waratah to serve the Mount Bischoff tin mines.[2] In 1887, the line was taken over by the Emu Bay to Mount Bischoff Railway Company and relaid with steel rails as 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge railway line to allow steam locomotives to operate.[3] In 1897, the Emu Bay Railway Company took over the line, extending it 60 kilometres to Zeehan on 21 December 1900.[4][5]

Following the opening of the Murchison Highway, the line was closed between Rosebery and Zeehan in August 1965.[6] After being sold in 1967 to EZ Industries, the line was upgraded to carry heavier trains and reopened in January 1970 from Rosebery to Melba Flats.[7] During the construction of the Pieman River hydro electric scheme in the late 1970s, the line was diverted in places and new bridges were built.

The Melba Line was included in the October 1984 sale of EZ Industries to North Broken Hill Peko, which merged with CRA Limited to form Pasminco in 1988. In 1989, an 11-kilometre branch opened from Moorey Junction to serve Aberfoyle's Hellyer Mine. On 22 May 1998, the line was sold by Pasminco to the Australian Transport Network and integrated into its Tasrail business.[5][8][9][10] In February 2004, it was included in the sale of Tasrail to Pacific National, and was purchased by the newly established government-owned TasRail in September 2009.[11]

Stopping places
Map of the original route

At its peak as a steam operation, the railway had approximately 23 stopping or named places (including names for watering locations and other passenger operation related points) on its line and adjacent lines:

Beyond Zeehan the Tasmanian Government Railways line continued to Regatta Point to connect with the Mount Lyell line to Queenstown.

See also

Notes
  1. TASMANIA. HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY. TRAMWAY : (No. 90.) Report on Survey of proposed by Mr. J. C. Climie, CE. laid upon the Table by the Minister of Lands, and ordered by the House to be printed, 16 August 1882
  2. Fenton, James (1884). The History of Tasmania From its Discovery in 1642 to the Present Time. J. Walch and sons; [etc ., etc.] p. 391.
  3. "Railway from Emu Bay to Mount Bischoff". The Sydney Morning Herald. 1 August 1887 – via Google News.
  4. "Emu Bay Railway Company Annual Meeting". The Age. 30 March 1901 – via Google News.
  5. Oberg, Leon (2010). Locomotives of Australia 1850s-2010. Dural: Rosenberg Publishing. pp. 109, 330. ISBN 9781921719011.
  6. "Emu Bay Railway Act 1965". Government of Tasmania. 22 June 1965.
  7. "Emu Bay". The Age. 23 August 1968 – via Google News.
  8. "ATN grabs Emu Bay". The Examiner. 7 April 1998.
  9. "Tasrail to take over Emu Bay Railway". Railway Digest. May 1998. p. 16.
  10. Tranz Rail Holdings (22 May 1998). "ATN Officially Adds Emu Bay Rail Operation to Its Tasrail Business" (Press release) – via PRNewswire.
  11. "Emu Bay Railway (Operations & Acquisition Act) 2009". Government of Tasmania. 27 October 2009.

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Melba Line.
  • Along the Line in Tasmania. Book 2. Private Lines. Traction Publications. 1972. ISBN 0-85829-003-0.
  • Atkinson, H.K. (1991). Railway Tickets of Tasmania. ISBN 0-9598718-7-X.
  • Blainey, Geoffrey (2000). The Peaks of Lyell (6th ed.). Hobart: St. David's Park Publishing. ISBN 0-7246-2265-9.
  • Lou Rae (1997). The Emu Bay Railway. ISBN 0-9592098-6-7.

Further reading
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.