North East Dundas Tramway

North East Dundas Tramway
0-4-2T G-Class locomotive from Sharp, Stewart & Co circa 1899 on a mixed train to Zeehan on the Montezuma Bridge
Picnic with Orenstein & Koppel Lok of the Dunkley Brothers (BN 2748) at Kapia
Route length:	29 km
Gauge :	610 mm ( 2 foot track )
Maximum slope :	3.6  ‰
Minimum radius :	30 m
Top speed:	13 or 19 km / h
Legend 0 Zeehan Wilson Street Racecourse King's siding JL Howard's Timber Tram Hastings 7.3 Nickel Junction or Nickel Show North Dundas Road 8.0 Melba Commonwealth Japi Confidence Saddle Great Northern Fraser's or Fraser's Mine 23.3 Montezuma Montezuma Pale Ore Conliffe 29.0 Deep Lead or from 1898 Williamsford Hercules Haulage (funicular) +1.6 Hercules Mine on Mount Read

The North East Dundas Tramway (NEDT) was a 29 kilometer long narrow-gauge railway with a gauge of 610 mm (2 feet ) on the west coast of Tasmania that ran between Zeehan and Deep Lead (now Williamsford ). It was part of the Tasmanian Government Railways. The first Garratt locomotives of the TGR class K were used on this route, as were two 0-4-2T class G locomotives from Sharp-Stewart from Glasgow (built in 1896) and a large 2-6-4-0T - articulated locomotive of class J of the Maschinenfabrik Christian Hagans in Erfurt (built in 1900).

history

The line opened in 1896 to bring ore from the Williamsford Mines to Zeehan, where it was transferred to 3 ft 6 in. (1067 mm) gauge trains for transport to Burnie . The narrow gauge was chosen because of the extremely difficult terrain of the railway line, which required several large bridges, including one at the foot of the Montezuma Falls . The railway was closed in 1932.

Locomotives

Multiple tight-radius curves required careful selection of the locomotives that would run on them. As a result, articulated locomotives were mainly used. Hagans' class J 2-6-4-0T was the first articulated locomotive to run on the line, and at the time it was the heaviest 610 mm narrow gauge locomotive in the southern hemisphere, weighing 42 tons. It was stronger than comparable locomotives with a track width of 1067 mm. She proved herself on the track. The class K 0-4-0 - + - 0-4-0 Garratt locomotives were added later and were in service until the line was closed in 1929.

The Sharp Stewart locomotives were sold a few years before decommissioning, and the K-2 was also scrapped. The K-1 and the Hagans locomotive were still preserved. The K-1, the first of the Garratt locomotives, was returned to its manufacturer, Beyer-Peacock of Manchester , and now operates on the Welsh Highland Railway in North Wales. The Hagans, which was mothballed in the Zeehan engine shed until 1949, has since been scrapped.

Accidents

On May 17, 1899, a boiler explosion occurred in the Zeehan depot . On July 8, 1905, there was a serious derailment.

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  Hagan's Class J in Five Mile (Melba)

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  Garrat Class K in Zeehan

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  JL Howard's Timber Tram branched off at King's Siding

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  Williamsford with ore loading point, Hercules Haulage and train station

Individual evidence

1. ^ William Prior Hales: The North Eeast Dundas Tramway, Tasmania. The Institution of Civil Engineers-Minutes of Proceedings, Volume 140, 1899-1900 Session. In: Greg Stephenson: The North East Dundas Tram - An Engineering Account. February 1, 1997. Retrieved June 13, 1997.
2. ^ North East Dundas Tramway, Tasmania. Light Railways No. 91, January 1986. Retrieved June 13, 2018.
3. ^ Christian Cenac: K1 1st Garratt in Tasmania , self-published, 1996, ISBN 2-950540333 .
4. ^ North-East Dundas Tramway. . In: Zeehan and Dundas Herald (Tas . : 1890-1922) , National Library of Australia, December 3, 1896, p. 2. Retrieved February 6, 2013. 
5. ↑ Hagans' Heros - The Hagans Oscillating-Lever System. May 25, 2003. Retrieved June 13, 2018.
6. ^ Geoff Murdoch: Tasmania's Hagans: the North East Dundas tramway: articulated 'J' class. 1st edition, 1998, ISBN 978-0-646-33442-4 .

Coordinates: 41 ° 49 ′ 48 ″  S , 145 ° 28 ′ 12 ″  E