1871-1925: Railways and Tramways

Introduction

It is said that the first railway or tramway in Tasmania was near Port Arthur. It opened in 1836 and ran 8km from Oakwood to Taranna. The tramway was powered by convicts for the movement of supplies, officials, and the coal that was mined nearby.

The first steam powered railway was constructed by a private company in 1871 from Launceston to Deloraine. It was intended to move primary produce to different river ports. This line was constructed to the Irish 5 ft 3 in gauge, similar to Victoria.

Another private company constructed a line from Hobart to Western Junction and was opened in 1876. It was constructed to the narrow gauge of 3 ft 6 in. The section from Western Junction to Launceston was converted to dual gauge, possibly the first use in Australia.

The Government then constructed a series of 3 ft 6 in branch lines in the 1880s from New Norfolk to Glenora in the Derwent Valley, Oatlands, Elwick Racecourse, St Marys, Scottsdale, and Deloraine to Devonport plus several branches around Hobart.

An isolated line was constructed from Bellerive to Sorell in 1892.

The original broad gauge line was converted to 3ft 6 in gauge by 1888 and the government gradually took over most of the private lines by 1890, except for most of those on the West Coast. New construction generally halted until just before World War One. About 1895 NSW Chief Commissioner Eddy undertook a review of the operations in Tasmania and came to the conclusion most lines would never pay.

A number of branch lines, often for mining or forestry access, were opened between 1911 and 1916 and again there was little hope of making money.

Tasmania also had many privately owned tramways and railways, particularly on the West Coast, to access mining resources. Many ceased to exist when payable ore had run out and were often short lived. The most famous was the Emu Bay Railway (Burnie to Waratah and Zeehan), Mt Lyell (Queenstown to Strahan), North Mt Lyell and the North-East Dundas. The Mt Lyell line was rebuilt and reopened as a tourist line and is government owned.

By the start of the 21st century only part of the main line, two branch lines to Fingal and Boyer and the Emu Bay remain in use and are now government owned.

Locomotive and Rolling Stock

Most steam locomotives were the product of British manufacturers or second hand from other Australian railways. The notable exceptions were the world’s first two Garratt locomotives used on the North East Dundas line, the third and fourth orders of Garratts, and the Australian designed Q and R class locomotives. The latter were designed to the specification of William Deeble, the TGR Chief Mechanical Engineer. The detail design was done by contract and all manufacturing was undertaken in Australia. Until the early 1950s the Q class was the most powerful non articulated narrow gauge locomotive in Australia.

Similarly, most of the early diesel locomotives were imported. Thereafter most diesel locomotives were made in Australia except for the most recent order. Some second hand locomotives arrived via New Zealand. A small number of locomotives were made in the Launceston workshops.

The passenger rolling stock had some Australian firsts, particularly articulation applied to both for railcars and for the Tasman Limited carriages. To date no other railway in Australia has used articulated carriages.

Like Western Australia, Tasmania used vacuum brake, different to most other Australian railways.

Bridges

Bridges usually dated from the construction era using imported ironwork. Some spectacular bridges were constructed on the West Coast in almost impossible terrain. In more recent times most of these bridges on lines in use were renewed in modern materials.

Tunnels

Despite the nature of the country, tunnels were few in Tasmania. All were of normal construction. The Rhyndaston tunnel on the Hobart - Launceston Main Line required widening in the 1960s to cope with modern traffic and diesels. The Hydro Electric Commission came to the rescue and modified their TBM to do the job. This was probably the first use of a TBM for railway tunnel construction in Australia.

Track

Track was often laid with fairly light rails within narrow rights of way. Because of lack of funds rails were often used well beyond the normal use by date.

Workshops

The 1920s were period of renewal and works included an innovative reinforced concrete workshop in Launceston and one of the first electric powered turntables in Australia in the roundhouse in Hobart.

Electric Street Transport

Hobart became the second city in Australia to have an electric tramway system. Built and financed by the English company, Siemens Bros., it was opened on 21 September 1893. It was significant in that for much of the life of the system most of the trams were double deck and collection was by bow collectors rather than the normal trolley poles or pantographs. The tramway was closed by 1960 and largely replaced by trolley buses and they in turn was removed by 1968.

Like Hobart, Launceston had to have a tramway but it did not open until 1911. It was a relatively small system and closed in 1952. it was replaced by trolley buses which began operating in 1951 and closed in 1968. The trams in Launceston differed from those in Hobart by being relatively conventional single truck type. The trams in use on the opening day were still in use on closing day. Launceston was the only non-capital city in Australia to use trolley buses.

Bush Tramways

Many small timber and mineral tramways were constructed for the hauling of timber in the bush. These were basic but fit for purpose, some even had timber rails. Once the timber was cut out or the mineral exhausted the tramways were dismantled. Although some underground tramways were electrically powered there was only one above ground electric mineral tramway in Tasmania, being brought into use at Mt Bischoff in 1907.