Richmond Vale railway line, New South Wales

The Richmond Vale Railway was a colliery railway line in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, servicing coal mines at Minmi, Stockrington, Pelaw Main and Richmond Main. It was over sixteen miles long and passed through three tunnels, and was the last privately-owned, non-tourist, railway in Australia to use steam locomotives. [http://users.tpg.com.au/users/irener/RVR.html Richmond Vale Railway] ] "Neath Mount Sugarloaf - Book 2", West Wallsend Public School Centenary Committee, 1988, p.104-107, ISBN 0-7316-3401-2 ]

History

The line was privately owned, by J. & A. Brown and Abermain Seaham Collieries Limited and then its successor company, Coal and Allied Industries. It was constructed in sections, the earliest section being from Hexham to Minmi, built by John Eales in 1856 to service his colliery at Minmi (later bought out by J. & A. Brown). At the Hexham Exchange Sidings trains either joined the New South Wales Government Railways main north coast line or instead continued across it to J. & A. Brown's coal-loader at Hexham Wharf, on the Hunter River. (The last ship to load coal there was the '60-miler' collier "Stephen Brown" on 1 November 1967 after which the wharf ceased its operations).

The New South Wales Legislative Assembly passed the Richmond Vale Coal-mine Railway Act in 1900 and a major branch was then constructed from the Minmi line (Minmi Junction) to serve the mines at Stockrington, and from there onwards to Richmond Main Colliery, the line being largely built upon land owned by John Scholey, the founder (c1890) of Richmond Main.

The Richmond Vale railway had two connections to the privately owned South Maitland Railway lines at Pelaw Main, where another large colliery of the same name was situated with locomotive repair facility sheds, and Weston. From 1918 coal from Kurri Kurri's Stanford Merthyr Colliery was taken by rail to the Pelaw Main Colliery (both opened in 1901), and from there transported over the Richmond Vale Railway to either the exchange sidings or the shipping staiths at Hexham. In addition a limited amount of gas coal, from Brown's Stanford Main No.2 Colliery at Paxton, near Cessnock, also destined for the shipping staiths at Hexham, was also shipped over the line. [ Eardley, Gifford H., "The Railways of the South Maitland Coalfields", Australian Railway Historical Society, NSW Division, Sydney, 1969, p.138/142.]

The Richmond Vale railway provided a separate route and connection to the Main north line at Hexham and was occasionally used as an alternate route when the South Maitland lines were flooded. However during the great flood of 1955 the Richmond Vale Railway crossing the Hexham Swamps also gave way on 26 February. It took a week to restore just single-line working from J. & A. Brown's collieries along it, as well as for those served by the wrecked South Maitland Railways. It was not until 8 April 1955 that the latter was returned to service. [ Eardley, Gifford H., "The Railways of the South Maitland Coalfields", Australian Railway Historical Society, NSW Division, Sydney, 1969, p.148.]

The fastest recorded journey on the line was a late passenger train from Minmi to Hexham at convert|60|mph|km/h|0|lk=on|abbr=on. [ "Newcastle Morning Herald", 6 July 1946.]

lump and closure

The 1960s saw a dramatic slump in the coal industry, and J. & A. Brown's Stanford Merthyr Colliery closed. On 14 July 1967, Richmond Main Colliery, in which they held the controlling interest and which had the largest daily production in the State, was also closed (except for its power station, upon which Kurri Kurri relied for their electricity).

J. & A. Brown and Abermain Seaham Collieries Ltd., promptly ceased operations beyond Stockrington No.2 Colliery on the Richmond Vale Railway. All serviceable locomotives were transferred from Richmond Main to the Hexham Exchange Sidings and others transferred to Pelaw Main sheds. Despite Stockrington No.2 Colliery continuing to work at full capacity, following the closure of the line beyond Stockrington the railway began single line working only, on the "up" line, the "down" line being used for the storage of surplus coal hopper wagons. This meant a logjam developed from time to time which necessitated week-end workings on the railway in order to reduce colliery stockpiles. [ Andrews, Brian R., "Stockrington No.2 Colliery Workings" in the Australian Railway Historical Society's "Bulletin" volume XXIII, No.421, November, 1972, p.237-9] The gross train loads including brakevan were between 750 and 900 tons, about 60 wagons. These heavy trains were often seen making quite rapid progress across the Hexham swamps despite the only source of braking power being the locomotive (i.e: non-air trains). [ Driver, R., letter in the Australian Railway Historical Society's "Bulletin" volume XXIV, No.424, February 1973, p.48.]

In 1987 Coal and Allied industries decided it was more economical to ship the coal to port by road and announced the closure of the Stockrington to Hexham line. There followed a vigorous protest by the 8 enginemen, both drivers and firemen, in October, involving the hijack of a locomotive, SMR No 25, to no avail, due to lack of support from fellow rail workers and the miners at Stockrington mine,the line was closed at the end of the year.

Six months later, the Stockrington colliery also closed, as road transport was not the saviour of the mine, as stated previously by mine management,that it would be. It was the forerunner to the planned closure of all coal handling facilities at Hexham. And marked the end of C&A in the lower Hunter Valley.

Today

Of the once extensive system, only the former passenger line (Richmond Main-Pelaw Main) and a short section of the line towards Stockrington (Richmond Main-Leggetts Drive) remains, used for tourist trains by the Richmond Vale Railway Museum. The vast majority of the alignment is in situ, and all three tunnels and two bridges are intact, but in a dilapidated state. The alignment has been encroached just opposite Leggetts Drive by a private landing strip, and near No. 2 Tunnel by a mining access road, where the cutting has been filled. Some track is still in place across Hexham Swamp and at the former Stockrington Colliery site, though not at all useable.

There are still some physical remnants along the route, the aforementioned bridges and tunnels being the most recognisable. There are two dilapidated buildings remaining at the Hexham site, though not much else remains there. It has been suggested that one or some non-air wagons are sitting in a dilapidated state in the former Stockrington sidings, though this is yet to be confirmed.

The Richmond Vale Railway and Mining Museum currently occupies the former Richmond Main Colliery, and operates trains on the former passenger line from Richmond Main to Pelaw Main. The Museum is custodian of a number of historic steam locomotives, including:

0-4-0ST 'Marjorie' (Under light repair)

0-4-0ST 'Kathleen' (Restoration nearing completion)

2-8-2T No. 9 'Pelaw Main' (Static)

2-8-2T No. 10 'Richmond Main' (Static)

2-8-2T SMR22 (Static)

2-8-2T SMR24 (Stored pending overhaul)

2-8-2T SMR25 (Stored)

2-8-2T SMR30 (Operational)

2-8-0 ROD23 (Dismantled, long-term restoration)

The museum also operates a small number of ex-industrial diesels, and owns a wide variety of ex-NSWGR and ex-industrial rollingstock.

Future proposals

There has recently been a proposal for a new freight and coal line to bypass the Newcastle urban area. The line would branch off the Main North railway line at Cockle Creek and use much of the old permanent way to West WallsendFact|date=December 2007 to join the Richmond Vale line near Seahampton, then use the northern (Stockrington-Minmi Junction-Hexham) part of the old Richmond Vale railway to connect to the main government line at Hexham. [ [http://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/plansforaction/pdf/PARTBContext.pdf NSW Planning Dept.] ] [cite hansard | url=http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/lc/qalc.nsf/ad22cc96ba50555dca257051007aa5c8/ca25707400260aa3ca25706f0001fe5f!OpenDocument | house=New South Wales Legislative Council |date=]

The present caretakers of the railway, the Richmond Vale Railway and Mining Museum, are presently pursuing a plan to extend the line to the former Hebburn Exchange Sidings at Weston, in order to link up with the South Maitland Railway. This would follow the former 'Link Line' alignment most of the way, which is still largely intact. Another proposal was also floated some time ago which would have seen the line reinstated between Leggetts Drive and Richmond Vale Junction, then from there to Pelaw Main, giving a round trip. This was discarded in favour of the Weston link.

At the present time, SMR30 is operational, as are diesel locos BHP34 and Planet No. 54 (ex-Coffs Harbour Jetty). Ex-Lysaghts 0-4-0 tank 'Marjorie' is predicted to return to service later in 2008, after some major frame and axlebox work.

Locomotives to be returned to service in the next few years are 0-4-0 saddle tank 'Kathleen' (similar to Marjorie), SMR24 and BHP Centre cab diesel No. 53. A long term project is underway to return ex-ROD 2-8-0 No. 23 (withdrawn as No. 21) to steam, however it requires major boiler work, and other, more pressing projects have set it back somewhat.

References