British Australian Tramway (Woolgoolga)

British Australian Tramway
British Australian Timber Company (BAT Co) sawmill at State Jetty
Murray & Paterson Locomotive crosses Woolgoolga Creek between Jetty and Incline
British Australian Timber Company (BAT Co) tramway along Creek Road in Woolgoolga
Former route on a modern map
Route length:	11.25 km
Gauge :	1067 mm ( cape track )
Maximum slope :	20  ‰
Legend km (mi) Jetty 0 (0) Jetty sawmill Woolgoolga Creek 7.25 (4.5) Lower end of the funicular Funicular (Incline) 8 (5) top of the funicular Horse tram 11.25 (7) Bucca Jesse Simpson Range

The British Australian Tramway was a 1907-1916 operated, 11.25 km long forest railway with a gauge of 3 feet 6 inches (1067 mm) in Woolgoolga in the Australian state of New South Wales .

Foundation and construction

The British Australian Timber Company (BAT Co.), founded in 1906 by Dalgety Holdings, bought a sawmill, including machinery and equipment, established by George W. Nichols in 1903, as well as 2.2 hectares (5.5 acres) of land in Woolgoolga and three logging contracts in October 1906 worth £ 3,500 plus two other sawmills in Woolgoolga and south of it. They operated these sawmills and one of the two forest railways in Woolgoogla and the British Australian Tramway (Coffs Harbor) .

The other forest railway in Woolgoolga was operated from 1912 by the Great Northern Timber (GNT Co.) on its narrow-gauge railway line from the Jetty to Corindi .

The Dorrigo ship delivered rails and machines for the sawmill in Woolgoolga with a total weight of 200 t in November 1906. The construction of the Woolgoolga Tramway was necessary because the unpaved roads were badly damaged by carts of oxen and locomotives in wet weather . The laying of the forest railway line began in mid-1907.

Route

The BAT Co. Forest Railway began at the Woolgoolga jetty and ran into the nearby wooded areas in Lower Bucca Creek in the Jesse Simpson Range. By August 1907 she had reached the first timber warehouse. The ship Nymboida then delivered more steel rails weighing 30 tons to Woolgoolga. By the end of January 1908, the forest railway had reached its originally planned destination.

Pulley at the top of the steep section

At the upper end of the steep section with a gradient of 2% (1: 5), a non-powered pulley was attached in 1908 so that the downhill trolleys loaded with long timber could pull empty trolleys uphill over a steel cable like a funicular railway . By the end of March 1909, the forest railway was extended to 8 km (5 miles). By April of the same year it was extended to 10.5 km (6⅓ miles). Above the steep stretch it was operated as a horse-drawn tram .

business

Team of oxen and forest railway tracks at the jetty

Up to 16 logs could be transported per trip. If necessary, two round trips per day were carried out. The sawmills saw the wood faster than it could be shipped from Woolgoolga. At the height of operations, a connection between the forest railways in Coffs Harbor and Woolgoolga was considered, but the plans for this were not implemented. By 1913 six ships were being loaded a week. Wet weather and the outbreak of World War I led the BAT into financial difficulties because orders from Germany, Japan, South Africa, India and Great Britain did not materialize. Operations ceased in November 1916 and all equipment was sold in December 1916.

locomotive

BAT Co. acquired a used 12 ton steam locomotive that had previously been used by Lewis Thomas on its approximately 3 kilometer (2 mile) long works line from Aberdare Colliery in Blackstone to the state railroad station at Bundamba near Ipswich in Queensland. It was manufactured in 1886 with the serial number 205 by Murray & Paterson in Coatbridge, Scotland . As with Andrew Barclay locomotives from this period, their saddle tank was curved the other way around than most other locomotives. She arrived in working order by ship on July 13, 1907 at the Jetty of Woolgoolga Jetty.

According to other sources, the locomotive was acquired from Joadja for the operation of the forest railway in 1908 and transferred to the Boambee Tramway after the mill was closed .

Manufacturer	Factory no.	Construction year	image	Wheel alignment	cylinder	Remarks
Murray & Paterson	205	1886		0-4-0ST	9 inches

Decline and closure

Woolgoolga Jetty after the First World War with wood from the sawmills in Bark Hut and Coramba, remains of the old forest railway tracks and, on the left, a works railway track to ED Pike's sawmill

The construction of the North Coast Railway had a significant impact on shipping in the region, but also on the operation of the BAT Co. The operation ceased in September 1914 and was for sale in November and December 1916 after a fire at the sister company in Coffs Harbor .

Obtained relics

In the 73 Turon Parade, Woolgoolga still laden with a long log is Lore on a 3-meter long rail section before the Woolgoolga Art Gallery. Panels 7 and 8 of the 4 km long Woolgoolga Heritage Walk there and back describe the forest railway. A 65 t trunk of a blue eucalyptus tree was exhibited from 1990 to at least 2014 at the former Clouton & Blacker Mill in 1670 Solitary Islands Way.

Monument protection

The British Australian Timber Company's forest railway is not listed on the Heritage Register or the Heritage Register of the Coffs Harbor Environmental Plan, although it does reflect the social and economic drivers of the area.

further reading

• The Tramways of Woolgoolga, The British Australian Timber Company. Australian Railway History Society, ARHS Bn No. 94, August 1945.
• N. Yeates: Woolgoolga - The History of a Village, North Coast, NSW Advocate-Opinion Press, Coffs Harbor, 1982.
• J. Longworth The Jetty and Sawmill Tramways of Woolgoolga. Australian Railway History Society, ARHS Bn No. 832, February 2007.

See also

• British Australian Tramway (Coffs Harbor)

Web links

Commons : British Australian Tramway, Woolgoolga  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} panel 7 of the Woolgoolga Heritage Walk.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Scott Schache: Bananacoast Railway: Rails of the Coffs Coast A Century Plus of Service 1906–2015.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Coffs Harbor City Council: BAT Co relics, 73 River Street, Woolgoolga 2456. ( Memento of the original from September 26, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. SHI Study Number: 1360009 (now in front of the Woolgoolga Art Gallery in 73 Turon Parade). 
4. ^ ^{A b} Jim Longworth: Timber Tramways in New South Wales. September 2007.
5. ^ ^{A b c d} Neil Yeates: History of Woolgoolga . Quoted in: Coffs Harbor City Council: Pair of former mooring buoys. SHI Study Number: 1360147.
6. ^ Ian McNeil: The British Australian Timber Company Limited (Part 2 - Woolgoolga - NSW). In: Light Railways, No. 240, December 2014.
7. ↑ Plate 8 of the Woolgoolga Heritage Walk.
8. ↑ Langholzlore on Google Street View.
9. ^ Coffs Harbor City Council: Big Log, 1670 Solitary Islands Way Woolgoolga. ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. SHI Study Number: 1360146. 
10. ↑ Non-Aboriginal heritage.

Coordinates: 30 ° 6 ′ 42.4 ″  S , 153 ° 11 ′ 36.2 ″  E