Zig Zag Railway

Zig Zag Railway

The Zig Zag Railway is a heritage railway at Lithgow in New South Wales, Australia on the site of the famous Great or Lithgow Zig Zag which operated between 1869 and 1910. As built, the line formed part of the Main West line from Sydney across the Blue Mountains and served to lower the line from its summit into the Lithgow valley on the western flank of the mountains.

History

In 1975 it was decided to restore the Lithgow Zig Zag as a heritage railway, albeit on a different gauge (RailGauge|42 instead of the original RailGauge|ussg). Rolling stock for the museum thus comes from states other than New South Wales – Queensland and South Australia in particular.

As of 2005 the railway is operated as the Zig Zag Steam and Diesel Tourist Railway.

The line has gradually been extended:
* Bottom Points (depot) to Top Points.
* Top Points to the first Clarence railway station.
* Clarence to Newnes Junction (under construction in 2008).

In 1944 the tunnel was used to store chemical weapons. [http://mustardgas.org/depots.htm]

Trivia

In 2003, the railway was used in the production of the Hollywood film Stealth (film). The area was supposed to stand in for mountainous regions in North Korea and locomotives were specially painted with Korean Hangul characters.

References

* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0382992/ IMDB Stealth 2005]

Further reading

* Full Steam Across The Mountains - Phil Belbin & David Burke - Methuen Australia 1981
* Blue Mountains Railways - William A. Bayley - Locomotion Productions 1980

External links

* [http://www.zigzagrailway.com.au Official website]

See also

* Zig Zag (railway)
* Spiral (railway)
* Hillclimbing (railway)
* Kalamunda Zig Zag in Western Australia
* List of Australian heritage railways


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