| When the line from Sydney to the west was being built in the 1860s the builders were faced with the problem of climbing over 600' in less than a mile, far too much for an adhesion railway. Their answer was to zig-zag up the hill using two reversing stations. As traffic increased over the ensuing years the zig-zag became a major bottleneck and eventually this section was replaced by a double-track line through a series of ten curving tunnels, a method not feasible at the time of the original building. The zig-zag section has been reinstated as a tourist attraction using a narrower 3'6" gauge and runs trains daily, with a steam service on week-ends, Wednesdays and holidays. I visited on the 2nd December 2007, travelling by train from Katoomba through the tunnels to Zig-zag station, a request stop on the Sydney to Lithgow line which has a two-hourly service on this busy stretch of line, with many multiple-headed coal trains and container trains pounding up to the summit at over 3,600'. Soon after arrival at the shed I was invited onto the footplate of 1072 which soon moved off to take the ecs up the incline for the first steam service of the day. A diesel railcar had already set off up the incline and we should have waited for it to return but it failed on the way up. When it had been moved out of the way we set off with the ecs running up the middle incline tender first to top points where we ran round and then set off up the top incline. We had to stop half way up to take on more coal from a convenient lineside stockpile. We set off again with just a hint of a slip and passed through a long tunnel (around 2,000') over the summit and had to stop while the crew got down to close the crossing gates to road traffic before we could move into the now crowded platform at Clarence, the current end of the line. I then went to buy my tickets and fill the billy with hot water for the crew, then said my thanks and goodbyes. The intention was to spend the rest of the day photographing the steam train from different locations but the railcars failure was terminal so it could not be used to access many points - it normally stops at several halts for this purpose, so I only have photographs of it running round at top points and climbing the top incline just below the long tunnel. |
