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Upcoming Events

    • 11 Apr 2024
    • 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM
    • This meeting will be conducted online using Zoom
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    John Dennis will present on the following subject:

    Stannary Hills Tramway  

    When tin was discovered west of the Atherton Tablelands in remote Far North Queensland, access to the mines was a significant problem. The 2 ft gauge Stannary Hills Tramway was constructed through spectacular countryside alongside Eureka Creek, servicing the mines, to a battery located alongside Walsh River. This tramway allowed the Irvinebank Co. to construct its own connecting line providing easy access for the mill and smelter to the outside world. This presentation will describe the history of these two tramways. 

    • 13 Jun 2024
    • 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM
    • This meeting will be conducted online using Zoom
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    Bill Hanks will present on the following subject:

    Some Railroads of the Sierra Nevada mountains

    The Sierra Nevada is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin, it reaches almost 4,300m at it’s highest point. Situated primarily in central and eastern California, it has many notable features including Lake Tahoe, Yosemite National Park and groves of giant sequoias which are the largest trees in the world. The California gold rush occurred in the western foothills from 1848 to 1855, but the range was not fully explored until 1912. The giant sequoias trees were seen as a resource to be exploited and that required railroads. Many railroads were built to gauges ranging from 3ft to 4ft 8-1/2in, to access the Sierra Nevada for a variety of purposes, some of which will be covered in this presentation.

    • 8 Aug 2024
    • 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM
    • This meeting will be conducted online using Zoom
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    Ross Sadler will present on the following subject:

    The Nepal Railway

    Today, the small republic of Nepal is the subject of so many proposed railway scenes that it resembles 19th century England. Only one of these has so far materialized and that is a 5’6” gauge line, which links Jaynagar in Bihar State In India with Janakpur in southern Nepal.  But this route has a history far longer than the modern broad gauge line.  It was actually one of two narrow gauge railways (both laid to 2’6” gauge) that were constructed during the second and third decades of the 20th century, to provide a link between India and Nepal.  The first of these lines joined Raxaul in India with Amalekhagunj in Nepal and construction began in 1927.  Stretching for 47 kilometers, the railway line was closed down in 1965, after the construction of the modern highway, now known as the Tribhuvan National Highway, linked Kathmandu all the way to the southern border. 

    In 1937, construction on a second 2’6” gauge line was begun and this was the line from Jaynagar in Bihar State to Janakpur and extending to Bisalpura – a total distance of 53-kilometers. Trains ran between Jaynagar and Janakpur, with separate services between Janakpur and Bisalpura. For most of the line’s life, the motive power was steam, with an assortment of locomotives whose wheel arrangements varied from a standard three-coupled right up to 0-10-0s and Beyer Garratts.  The fleet had received an augmentation with the closure of the Raxaul- Amalekhagunj line, some of the better members of that line’s fleet having been moved across country.  The Jaynagar-Bisalpura line was dieselized in the later part of 1993, with second-hand diesels from India.  Severe washouts forced the closure of the Janakpur-Bisalpura section in 2001 and the remainder of the line was closed in 2014, pending the construction of the broad gauge connection.

    The presentation will show the variety of steam engines in use on the line and steam in action during its final months of 1993.

    • 12 Sep 2024
    • 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM
    • This meeting will be conducted online using Zoom
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    Scott Clennett will present on the following subject:

    A Lost Reward - Mt Balfour Tasmania

    The Balfour mining field in western Tasmania had its origins in 1875 with the discovery of tin by two itinerant prospectors, as legend would have it, when pulling a wombat out of a hole!

    By mid-1887 about six parties were there sluicing for tin but they were hampered by lack of water, and drifted south, and the Balfour workings were generally abandoned. Soon there were only three men working there, brothers Bill & Tom Murray, and Fred Smith. They discovered copper in Tin Creek and gained a copper reward lease in December 1901. Smith soon left to be replaced by William Ford, and a mysterious ‘fourth partner’ who was destined to become the major figure in the future of Balfour. They were slow to benefit from this discovery, and it was 1907 before any mining began.

    From 1908, many others had arrived, and a boom was under way, but this had petered out by 1912, with abandonment of many leases, and huge capital losses.

    Perhaps the bust happened because of over-enthusiasm for poor prospects, and because of serious difficulties of transport. Two proposals were made for a tramway to run west to coastal Whales Head but only one was ever built. Another tramway from an unsuccessful timber mill hoped to capture the market for bridge timbers and sleepers for tramways.

    An ambitious 3’-6” gauge 47-mile electric railway was proposed to run from the port of Stanley, on the northern coast south to Balfour. But it was beset with financial and parochial problems and accusations of fraud, and its formation barely reached half-way, and plate-laying for less than 3/4 mile. It was only ever to be built that half-way as the Government’s Trowutta Railway, opening in 1919, far too late for the Balfour boom.

    • 10 Oct 2024
    • 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM
    • This meeting will be conducted online using Zoom
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    Mark Langdon will present on the following subject:

    Hartley Vale

    Today, Hartley Vale is a sleepy village with a handful of houses and a pub. In its heyday, it was a major industrial centre, with a refinery producing kerosene and lubricants. The shale mined in the valley was not only retorted to produce crude oil but exported overseas. Two companies were created in the mid 1860s, to exploit the resources at Hartley Vale. One built a small refinery at Harley Vale and the second built retorts and refinery at Botany in Sydney. In 1871, the two companies were amalgamated and retorting and refining was concentrated at Botany. The initial problem at Hartley Vale that had to be overcome was that the nearest railway was on the Darling Causeway above Hartley Vale. To solve this problem a cable worked incline was built connecting Hartley Vale to the top of a spur running off the Darling Causeway. A horse drawn tramway system was created in Hartley Vale to connect the mine to the incline and the incline to Hartley Vale siding on the Great Western Railway.

    In 1877, retorts were erected at Hartley Vale and, from this point onwards, the character of Hartley Vale changed. In 1879, a locomotive was purchased from Mort's Dock & Engineering in Sydney to operate the tramway between the top of the incline and Hartley Vale Siding. In 1881, a second locomotive was purchased, this time from Dubs & Co. in Scotland. After its arrival, this locomotive was used on the tramway at the top of the incline and the Mort's Dock locomotive was used in the valley on the tramway connecting the mines and retorts to the incline. In 1887, the Botany refinery was closed and a new refinery opened at Hartley Vale. From this time onwards, until all activities ceased at Hartley Vale in 1914, the tramway would be used to transport, shale, crude oil and the products of the refinery, to and from the railway at Hartley Vale siding.

    • 12 Dec 2024
    • 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM
    • This meeting will be conducted online using Zoom
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    Nigel Holmes will present on the following subject:

    Kiama quarry, its operation and locomotives

    Kiama's Terralong St quarry

    - Origins of the people who developed it

    - The first attempt to transport basalt to Kiama harbour by the unsuccessful 3' 6" gauge railway

    - The then second attempt of a very successful 2' gauge railway

    - The description of the locomotives 

    - The crushers at the main quarry

    • 13 Feb 2025
    • 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM
    • This meeting will be conducted online using Zoom
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    Guenter Oczko will present on the following subject:

    Steam in South America - 1979 - 1998

    An impressions of "Steam in South America" - between  1979 and 1998

    in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Columbia.

    Steam locos built in Great Britain, Germany, USA, Czechoslovakia and Japan

    in regular service and with charter trains. Plenty of narrow gauge!
    • 13 Mar 2025
    • 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM
    • This meeting will be conducted online using Zoom
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    Geoff Maynard will present on the following subject:

    Cuming Smith & Company

    Geoff's address will cover the formation of Cuming Smith & Company in Melbourne in 1872 and their establishment of a Sawmilling and timber Distillation works in the Yarra Valley at Yarra Junction and Warburton from 1907 onwards.

    It covers their various entities including :  Brittania  Sawmills 1907

                                      Mississippi Sawmilling Company

                                      Enterprise Sawmills

                                      Yarra Junction Distillation Works

                                      Warburton Sawmills & Seasoning Works

    It will also cover the arrival in Melbourne in 1872 of James Cuming, a veterinary surgeon, from St Johns New Brunswick, and his vision for agriculture. 
    • 10 Apr 2025
    • 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM
    • This meeting will be conducted online using Zoom
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    Scott Clennett will present on the following subject:

    The Magnet Silver Lead Mine - The Waller Connection

    George Waller had been chief brewer at the Guinness brewery in Ireland, but developed an antipathy towards alcohol, and following failure of a pottery venture in Leitrim, he, his wife and six of their surviving sons emigrated to Tasmania in 1882. Two more sons were soon born in Hobart. This is a history of three of those sons, the oldest Richard, the fourth George and the tenth and youngest, James. By 1900, Richard had become a mining engineer, and was the manager/engineer of the Magnet silver lead mine in western Tasmania and George was the Assistant Government Geologist, based in Zeehan. With their parents having returned to Ireland, Richard had become 16-year-old James’s de-facto guardian, and on leaving school in Hobart in 1899, James went to Magnet to work at the mine, initially as a navvy, and later as a miner.

    Richard was building a two-foot gauge 10-mile steel-railed tramway through difficult gorge country from the mine to the EBR’s Waratah railway. In 1902, he wrote up the project as his thesis for submission applying for full membership of the Institution of Civil Engineers in London. It is possibly the most complete report of the technical aspects of such tramway construction in Australia. On the other hand, James had a very successful life as an engineer on the World scene which he wrote up in an unpublished autobiography for the benefit of grandchildren in retirement at Totnes in Devon in 1947.

    This presentation will look at the legacy Richard and James left in the Tasmanian mining and Engineering history, based on their own writings.

    • 12 Jun 2025
    • 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM
    • This meeting will be conducted online using Zoom
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    Roderick Smith will present on the following subject:

    Queensland and Fiji Sugar Tramways in the 1960s and 70s

    From the earliest days of VLRRS morphing into LRRSA, our Queensland coverage was dominated by the sugar lines.  Most were 2 ft [610 mm] gauge; some matched QR, 3 ft 6 in [1067 mm].

    They too have morphed: small steam locos and diesels on lightweight track hauling long-cut cane on 4-wheel wagons, to large diesels on heavy rail hailing machine-cut cane on bogie wagons.

    Quaint and narrow, but capable: these lines hauled more absolute tonnage than Victorian Railways did in some years.

    Many mills have been closed, but that has resulted in extension of territory for surviving mills, and also the taking over and regauging of minor QR branches.

    Roderick Smith's presentation looks mainly at the mid 1960s to mid 1970s: transition years, with surviving steam pockets and some tourist operation.

    Friends and LRRSA members have extended the coverage into the modern era.

    • 10 Jul 2025
    • 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM
    • This meeting will be conducted online using Zoom
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    Nigel Holmes will present on the following subject:

    Exploring Tramways Only Accessible by Boat

    In late December 2023, I set sail on a 9 day trip that would see me spend both New Years Eve and New Years Day exploring and documenting tramway remains on a remote bass straight island. Deal Island is part of the Kent group located about half way between Wilson Promontory and Flinders Island, or about 1/3 of the way to Tasmania mainland. It is the site of a now disused lighthouse, which gave necessity to build two funicular railways on the island. The island is only accessible to the public by boat (recreational or charter), however there is a small grass airstrip for use in emergencies and by the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service when dropping off or picking up the volunteer caretakers
    • 14 Aug 2025
    • 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM
    • This meeting will be conducted online using Zoom
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    Ross Sadler will present on the following subject:

    Fiji Cane Trains

    Sugar cane was fist planted commercially in Fiji in 1873 and two years later the first mill was established – capable of producing three tonnes of sugar per day!  It was not long before the early mills started to lay tramways (2’6” gauge originally being chosen) and these were worked either manually or by bullocks.  Steam power had an inauspicious start in June 1882, when the fist engine (built by Falcon Works in Loughborough) could not haul five empty cane trucks up the steep grades of the tramway at Holmhurst Mill.  The next year, a more powerful engine arrived, quickly proved its worth and the tramway era in Fiji had begun in ernest.  Although both Holmhurst Mill and 2’6” gauge were quickly abandoned, tramways win Fiji were there to stay.

    The presentation will include historic photos from 1976 of Hudswell Clarke Sigatoka Class locos laid aside at Lautoka Mill and the small 0-4-2ST that shunted the docks preserved on a plinth at the mill. (Along with one of the Sigatoka Class locos, this engine has been returned to the UK and restored to working order).  The 1976 views will also include three Joy geared Fowler locos laid aside at Rarawai Mill, plus a vintage Hudswell Clarke diesel.    We take a brief look at the situation in 1979, when Lautoka Mill overhauled steam locos No. 11 and No. 19 to haul special trains to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the opening of the mill and the commissioning of a new bulk sugar store, before jumping to 2002, for video action at Lautoka, Rarawai and Penang Sugar Mill tramways
    • 9 Oct 2025
    • 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM
    • This meeting will be conducted online using Zoom
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    Andy Becker will present on the following subject:

    The Emu Bay in a Day

    In the summer of 1991, an opportunistic meeting with an Emu Bay Railway driver at the Don River Railway resulted in an extraordinary trip down Tasmania’s West Coast.  This talk will describe the events leading up to that trip as well as the day trip from Burnie to Primrose and return.  Fantastic people, trains and scenery in a nutshell.

    • 11 Dec 2025
    • 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM
    • This meeting will be conducted online using Zoom
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    Peter Lucas will present on the following subject:

    South Australian Light Railways

    There were seven hundred light railways in South Australia; now only nine remain. Peter Lucas will provide an overview of the State’s light railways, the types of propulsion and what they were used for. The slide show will include many historic photographs plus some videos of light railways in action. It will finish with a brief introduction to the South Australian Light Railway Centre at Milang.

    • 13 Aug 2026
    • 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM
    • This meeting will be conducted online using Zoom
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    Ross Sadler will present on the following subject:

    Darjeeling Action 1996

    The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) is a world heritage listed site, some 88 kilometres long which connects Siliguri (New Jalpaiguri) and Darjeeling.   In the process, this 2 ft gauge line climbs from about 328 ft above sea level at Siliguri to 7,407 ft at Ghum, before descending to Darjeeling (7,218 ft above sea level), using six zig-zags and five loops to gain altitude. Construction took place between 1879 and 1881, with subsequent modifications such as the Batasia Loop which was built in 1919 to ease the grade for trains climbing out of Darjeeling.  Over the years, the line has seen a variety of motive power, ranging from the 0-4-0ST B-Class, built by Sharp, Stewart and Company and later the North British Locomotive Company, through Beyer Garratts to diesels, which are the present-day motive power on the line.  Attempts to covert one of the 0-4-0ST B-Class into a modern steam locomotive were unsuccessful, Indian Railways turning their back on offers from DLM (formerly SLM Switzerland).

    Today, steam is restricted to running special trains on the upper sections of the line, but in 1996, the DHR was a 100% steam operation.  The presentation is the result of three days’ linesiding on the DHR in that year, at a time when the track was fortunately free of the avalanches that have bedevilled its operation throughout its history.

Past events

8 Feb 2024 February 2024 LRRSA Members Zoom meeting - Richard Warwick - An overview of tramways used by the Victorian SRWSC
14 Dec 2023 December 2023 LRRSA Members Zoom meeting - David Jehan - The Clyde Engineering Company Limited
25 Nov 2023 25th and 26th of November 2023 The Walhalla and Tyers Junction Tour
12 Oct 2023 October 2023 LRRSA Members Zoom Meeting - Frank Stamford - 1972 ARE Visit to Indonesia
10 Aug 2023 August 2023 LRRSA Annual General Meeting and Members Zoom meeting - Ross Sadler -Articulated Locomotives in Indonesia
8 Jun 2023 June 2023 LRRSA Members Zoom meeting - Frank Stamford - A 1968 Jet Search for Steam
13 Apr 2023 April 2023 LRRSA Members Zoom meeting - Mark Langdon - Mortlake Gasworks
9 Feb 2023 February 2023 LRRSA Members Zoom meeting - John Browning - A Tour of Queensland's cane railways during a time of Covid
8 Dec 2022 December 2022 LRRSA Members Zoom meeting - Bundy's Last Great Adventure
13 Oct 2022 October 2022 LRRSA Members Zoom meeting - BHP's operations in Whyalla and the Middleback Ranges
11 Aug 2022 August 2022 LRRSA Members Zoom meeting - Rail haulage in Australian underground metal mines.
14 Jul 2022 July 2022 A BONUS MEETING! LRRSA Members Zoom meeting - Tramways, Coconuts & Phosphate
9 Jun 2022 June 2022 LRRSA Members Zoom meeting - Early Australian Railed-ways: 1788-1855
14 Apr 2022 April 2022 LRRSA Members Zoom meeting - ARHS Vic. Div. Queensland Tour of 1964 with special emphasis on sugar tramways and the quirky and unusual
10 Feb 2022 February 2022 LRRSA Members Zoom meeting - A survey of local government, private, and industrial railways of Queensland
9 Dec 2021 December 2021 LRRSA Members Zoom meeting - A hike along the Yan Yean tramway alignment
14 Oct 2021 October 2021 LRRSA Members Zoom meeting - Eyre Peninsula tramways, and some weird and wonderful items from the South Australian Railways
12 Aug 2021 August 2021 LRRSA Members Zoom meeting
17 Jun 2021 June 2021 LRRSA Members Zoom meeting
8 Apr 2021 April 2021 LRRSA Members Zoom meeting
11 Feb 2021 February 2021 LRRSA Members Zoom meeting
10 Dec 2020 December 2020 Members Zoom meeting

This page is prepared and maintained by the Light Railway Research Society of Australia Inc. and is copyright © by LRRSA. 


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