ZIG ZAG RAILWAY.

If you travel over the Blue Mountains from Sydney via the Bell Line of road, about 20 kilometres from Lithgow, you come across the Zig Zag Railway. Here you can not only see a steam train in operation, but you can take a ride as the train 'zig-zags' down the step decent. The train operates every day of the year, except Christmas Day.There are also special events, such as Thomas the Tank Engine Day in January, train trips in period costume and the Footplate experience, where you stoke up and drive the engine.

A group of enthusiasts in period costume await the great train ride.

The original Lithgow Zig Zag Railway was opened on October 18, 1869. It carried the railway line down from the Blue Mountains into the Lithgow Valley. At the time it attracted considerable media interest, being described as "one of the most impressive sights and grandest bits of engineering in the world" (Sydney Mail October 24, 1891). The railway has a gradient of 1 in 42 and drops a distance of over 200 metres from the Clarence tunnel to the bottom of the valley. It passes over three sandstone viaducts and through the 164 metre long tunnel.The line is constructed through rugged terrain and virtually follows the original Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson track through the mountains. During construction the surveyors sometimes had to be suspended from the cliff tops by ropes.There were also two very public blasts used to clear rocks from the intended track route. These blasts attracted considerable attention and the second one was triggered by the Countess of Belmore, the governor's wife.

One of the engines working the line.

However the steep gradient meant that steam engines had to work hard to climb back out of the valley and it became a bottleneck in the system. The track continued in operation until 1910 when it was by-passed by a series of 10 tunnels. From 1910 to 1974 the upper levels of the track were abandoned with only the Bottoms Road section used in the new railway route. During World War 11 the Glenbrook, Clarence and Zig Zag tunnels were used to store chemical weapons for the Royal Australian Airforce. This included mainly mustard gas and phosgenes which were stored as bombs or in cylinders. These were all disposed of after the war.

John Compeagnoni on top and Wayne Eagle at the window.

In 1975 a group of enthusiasts decided to restore the line as a tourist attraction. Because of the difficulty obtaining rolling stock from the NSW government it was decided to use a different gauge, 1,067mm wide track rather than the original 1,435mm. Engines were acquired from Queensland and South Australia. The railway now has two operational steam engines DD17 1049 and AC16 218. It also owns a number of non-operational engines and a large collection of rolling stock and carriages.

The train' s furnace.

The line has gradually been extended from Bottom Points to Top Points, from Top Points to the First Clarence Railway Station and from Clarence to Newnes Junction. It now covers a distance of 7.5 kilometres. In 2003 the Railway was used in the production of a Hollywood movie, Stealth. The area represented the mountainous area of North Korea. Train engines were repainted with Korean Chosongul characters.

Carriages awaiting the arrival of passengers and the engine.

The tunnel, 3,658 metres above sea level, was reopened in 1987 after being cleared out by volunteers. Volunteer train driver Wayne Eagle started work on the Zig Zag laying track in 1975. He met his wife working on the railway but says the most exciting thing (after meeting his wife) was driving through the tunnel for the first time. This was the first time it had been driven through since 1916.

The AC16 218.

Damien Garton is another volunteer who is still only a young man. Damien, a train enthusiast, came up from North Rocks, in Sydney, with a friend to have a look at the railway. He was interested in the mechanical side of trains. He has been working as a volunteer fireman and guard ever since. John Compeagnoni has seen it happening since the beginning. He became associated with the Zig Zag in 1972 and continues to work as a driver and engineer.

The signal box at Bottom Points.