Mount Dundas – Zeehan Railway

Mount Dundas- Zeehan Railway (Also known as the Maestris Tram)

The Dundas to Zeehan railway line was a seven mile (11 km) long railway line on the West Coast of Tasmania.

Operation

It was built by the Mount Dundas and Zeehan Railway Company and opened on 25 April 1892.[1] Under an agreement signed on 4 February 1891, the Tasmanian Government Railways [TGR] operated the line.

On 28 June 1899, the Emu Bay Railway [EBR] agreed to purchase the Dundas railway, however the TGR continued to operate it.

The closure of the Silver Bell smelters in 1913 virtually ended mining in the Dundas district, leaving the railway with only a small amount of passenger and timber traffic. By 1921, Dundas had only 55 people. Between 1922 and 1924, the line carried no revenue passengers and only very small amounts of freight. By 1926, timetables merely listed stations on the line and noted that trains ran 'as required'. After a derailment in August, 1931, the TGR refused to work the line. The EBR provided a locomotive to work whatever trips ran thereafter, until a stop block was placed at the junction in June, 1932.[2] The official closure date is given as 5 July 1932, after which contractors were permitted to work timber over the line by horse-power. The rails were lifted in 1940.[3]

Stopping Places

See also

Notes

  1. Atkinson, H.K. (1991). Railway Tickets of Tasmania. ISBN 978-0-9598718-7-6. page 138
  2. Atkinson, H.K. (1991). Railway Tickets of Tasmania. ISBN 978-0-9598718-7-6. page 138
  3. Stokes, H.J.W. (2003) The Tasmanian Government Railways on the West Coast Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, January;February, 2003 pp3-21;43-62

References

2003 edition - Queenstown: Municipality of Queenstown.
1949 edition - Hobart: Davies Brothers. OCLC 48825404; ASIN B000FMPZ80
1924 edition - Queenstown: Mount Lyell Tourist Association. OCLC 35070001; ASIN B0008BM4XC