West Coast Wilderness Railway

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In 1882 Dr Carl Roman Abt patented his rack and pinion railway system that was used to enable trains to travel in the mountains. The same system was used by Bowes Kelly to build the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company in 1897 to transport copper from the mines of Queenstown to Strahan. Today the operates as a premium tourist experience sharing the history of the railway line, the mining and of the settlers of the West Coast.

The Pinion and the Rack - A Heritage Journey.

When you plan your trip to Tasmania make sure to include a journey on the heritage steam train. It is a half day of pure enjoyment on the Rack and Gorge tour through Tasmania wilderness and along the King River Gorge. It is a great way to learn about the history of the historical railway line, the struggle of the miners and the difficult life of the first settlers.

The steam train ride Rack & Gorge starts in Queenstown and finishes at Dubbil Barril. The train can climb the steep slope on the side of the mountain because of the Abt Rack and Pinion system.

The train stops at the remote stations of Lynchford and Rinadeena and traverses the areas where early pioneers were positioned to build the unique railway line.

The three carriages have very knowledgeable guides who share stories on how the railway line was built, the connections with the mining and the first settlers.



Details.

The journey has a duration of about 5 hours.
Price range from $120 for adults, $60 child, and $270 for families in the Heritage Carriage.

Adult and child are $189 in the Wilderness Carriage.

The steam train departs from Queenstown at 10 am and returns at 2:30 pm.

The address is Queenstown Station, 1 Driffield Street, Queenstown.



Features of the journey.

1 Travel along the western Tasmanian cool temperate forest.
2 At Lynchford Station you can pan for gold.
3 Climb the steep mountain at Rinadeena Saddle with the Abt rack and pinion railway system.
4 The large windows on the train allow you to view the great King River Gorge.
5. Once you arrive at Dubbil Barril take a short walk in the rainforest and watch the train to be turned at the turntable to return to Queenstown.



The Heritage and the Wilderness Carriages.

All carriages offer comfortable seating and they have air conditioning.

The Heritage Carriage doesn't provide refreshments, but you can bring your own food or buy snacks and drinks at the station of Lynchford.

The Wilderness carriage offers a more luxurious experience, starting the journey with a glass of Tasmanian wine or a juice and savoury small meals served during the journey.

Book the Rack & Gorge railway experience at the Rack & Gorge website.



Personal Experience.

I organised a 12 days journey in Tasmania with the group Hiking South East Qld and More from the end of February to the beginning of March.

My personal experience started in Strahan. When early in the morning, we travelled to Queenstown travelling on the winding road which connects the two towns. When approaching Queenstown is possible to see the famous moonscape due to the colours of the mountains mined for minerals and left exposed to the elements.

We entered the station and got the tickets we have booked many weeks earlier to make sure to find the seats on the heritage train. There is a nice cafe to have some refreshments at the railway station and a small gift shop.



Lynchford Township.

The train departed on time and we were entertained by our guide with stories about Queenstown, the mining, the construction of the railway line and the life of the early settlers.

We arrived at the remote railway station in Lynchford that has a shed where it is possible to pan gold. When all the passengers disembark the train they could start the experience of panning gold, like in the old days. A few people found a small nugget and it was put into a small bag and packed for them.





Lynchford was founded in the 1880s by gold prospectors and it was a pioneer town with basic roads and services.

Lynchford was built with the hope that it would become an important town in Tasmania. But the goldfield did not produce much gold and the town turned out to be a base for woodcutters. Its population reached a peak of about 200 people and then Lynchford gradually disappeared by the 1920s.

In 1914 was introduced hydroelectricity for mining and timber was no longer required for furnaces in Queenstown. The forest went quiet and people started to abandon the township, with only a few families remaining.





Nearby the Lynchford station the King River waters has turned an orange colour. The river has been polluted for more than a century by waste materials and run off from mines on Mount Lyell near Queenstown, where copper and gold has been mined since the 1880s.





Rinadeena Township.

We returned on the train to continue our journey. When the train arrived at the locality called Halls Creek Siding it start to climb up with the Abt Rack and Pinion system to reach the station of Rinadeena, the second railway station along the railway line.



Many families use to live in the town of Rinadeena. A few families lived along the line and rely solely on the railway for supplies and communication. There were no roads or even a pack horse track to reach the remote area.

Rinadeena was isolated for weeks at a time when the railway had to deal with landslides, bushfires, snow and floods.

When the train was running it was so slow that the children had the opportunity to jump off the train and eat blackberries and return on the train with their hands all stained with blue.

In the Rinadeena station there is a short trail for a stroll in the forest. There is a bridge that gives great views over the station.
At Rinadeena station there is a small cafe where you can purchase hot and cold drinks and snacks.



Mining, a Hard Way to Make a Living.

Try to image being a miner in the 1880s in the remote and rugged west coast of Tasmania. Miners were panning for gold in freezing waters up the thighs or crawling through a tunnel with only candles or a kerosene lamp. It was a very dangerous work since the tunnel could collapsed at any moment.



Mount Lyell Picnic Days.

The trains used to take the Queenstown passengers on their way to the annual Mount Lyell Picnic Days, from 1897 until 1963.

The wagons, that normally would carry coke, were packed with excited adults and children for an event that was a local institution.

Once in Strahan, people enjoyed picnics, rivalry in chopping, tug o'war and footrace competitions. Other people enjoy themselves swimming and feasting on ice creams and lollies.

In later years, three picnic trains ran at 45-minute intervals. Local lore has it that the last train returning from Strahan was the drinker special, carrying those who stayed to help empty beer kegs provided by the company. At the end was the lover's carriage, for those who lingered for different reasons.







The steam locomotives of the heritage train were named after the Swiss inventor Dr Roman Abt. The locomotives were designed to use a rack and pinion system to haul themselves over grades nearly four times steeper than the average railway.

The journey through the ancient forests of Tasmania is the steepest steam railway journey in the southern hemisphere.

On the track there is a third rail running down the middle which is called 'rack'. Then there is a cog, or pinion wheel, under the engine that fits into the rack and they work together like cogs in a clock, which Dr Abt was inspired to invent the new system.


Dubbil Barril Township.

After the stop at Rinadeena and refilling with caffeine, the train continued its journey to the township of Dubbil Barril.





Dubbil Barril was one of the string of settlements along the railway. Several workers cottages were located between the line and the King River, uphill from the station.

The Kerrison Family.

Dubbil Barril was home to the Kerrison family, who lived there with ten children and operated one of Australia's most remote dairy farms, sending billycans of milk by train to Queenstown. Cows that broke out of the paddocks had to be rounded up in the steep hills nearby.

In winter the family faced heavy rain and ice. In summer they have to contend with snakes and the threat of bushfires. The children along with others living at settlements at Rinadeena, Teepokana and Lowana, were the 'train kids' who rode the line to school at Strahan, only a few of them had shoes. Their packed lunch was often bread and jam, except in winter when the jam was sometimes replaced by meat from salty mutton birds.



At Dubbil Barril, the locomotive, turns back to return to Queenstown. It managed to turn thanks to the turntable pushed by the two train drivers.




Anthony Edwin Bowes Kelly.

Anthony Edwin Bowes Kelly was the father of the railway line that runs from Queenstown to Strahan. In 1891 Bowes Kelly formed the Mt Lyell Mining Company, one of the richest mines in the world of copper. Because there were no roads in the wilderness, there were no ways to transport the copper to markets. Bowes Kelly thought about buidling a railway line, but there were mountains, gorges, rivers and forests to cross.

Bowes Kelly sent a team of surveyors to check the land but when they returned from their mission, they said the rail could not be built. Then Bowes Kelly sent another team of surveyors and they returned with more positive news. The railway line was to be built with the new system of the rack and pinion mechanism invented by the Swiss engineer Dr Roman Abt.



After many years of existance, the railway line ceased to be operative in 1963 due to the high costs of maintenance and the costruction of roads in the West Coast.

Local people asked to reconstruct the famous railway line and it was until the 1990s that people started to campaigned for the Abt Railway to become a heritage tourist attraction.

The restored railway became operational in 2006 as the Abt Wilderness Railway featuring the unique rail system and the history connected to the mining.



**Getting There.
**
From Strahan it takes about 45 minutes by car, 41.2km, to reach . Travel east-north on Lyell Hwy and enter in Queenstown.

Address: 1 Driffield St, Queenstown TAS 7467

Queenstown.

Queenstown is a historic mining town with many nineteen century buildings. Near Queentown railway station is the Empire Hotel with its striking facade, a reminder of the richness of the town when the hills were mined for copper, silver and gold.



After the ride on the heritage steam train, it is possible to have a stroll in town and have something to eat. If you have time visit the Eric Thomas Galley Museum in 1/7 Driffield St, Queenstown TAS 7467.

The museum is managed by dedicated volunteers and features 30 rooms of historical items including personal effects, documents, cameras, theatre projectors, household items, gems and minerals, military, emergency services, and mining artifacts depicting the varied aspects of West Coast heritage.



Reference.
www.wcwr.com.au/tours/rack-gorge
www.wcwr.com.au/tours
www.meetup.com/hikinginseqldandmore
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Lyell_Mining_and_Railway_Company
www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-24/fix-the-rivers-challenge-for-tas-phd-students/7874112

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