Derwent Valley Railway (Tasmania)
The Derwent Valley Railway Preservation Society is a heritage railway in Tasmania, Australia. It operates from New Norfolk. It is 3' 6" narrow gauge.
History
Tasmanian Government Railways opened the Derwent Valley Line in 1886. Initially, it ran from the junction at Bridgewater along the main north-south Hobart to Devonport line to New Norfolk, a distance of 18 km. It was extended another 29 kilometers to Plenty in 1887, and then a further 41 kilometers to Glenora in 1888. It closely follows the course of the River Derwent for the first 39 km as far as Coniston, and crosses the river at three different points.
The following years saw a number of plans to extend the line further up the Derwent Valley or to connect it to the West Coast. Finally, twenty one years later, in 1909, it was extended along the Tyenna River, another 49 kilometers to what is now Westerway. In 1917 another extension was added to extend the railway to Fitzgerald(66km), and a final extension was opened in 1936 to Kallista (74km), making it a total of 316 kilometers in length. The last extension replaced an earlier wooden tramway on the same alignment. The primary usage of the line was to provide a service to the rural areas and the the logging areas around Kallista. In 1940 there was a significant increase in log traffic along most of the line with the opening of a paper mill at Boyer, 14km from Bridgewater. This increased traffic resulted in the construction of two deviations and additional facilities at a number of stations.
Sometime later, parts of the railway began to close. Firstly, the logging branches around Kallista, and then the section from Kallista to Florentine were closed. In 1995, TasRail completely closed the line beyond New Norfolk after floods and heavy rain substantially damaged the track.
Restoration
In 1990, Derwent Valley Railway Preservation Society was formed. It purchased the assets of the Tasmanian Locomotive Company, who had been operating excursion trains on the line. The Society established its operating base at New Norfolk, although initially operating out of the Hobart suburb of Claremont. It continued operating passenger trains on the line to Maydena. The Derwent Valley Line was closed beyond New Norfolk in 1995, and so the Society operated to other destinations. In 1999 the line was reopened to Hayes, then in 2000 to Westerway and then to National Park in 2003 (37km from New Norfolk). The society now trades as Derwent Valley Railway Inc. The Society now has 8 locomotives (steam and diesel), 9 carriages, and 11 wagons.
Two of Tasrail's freight services regularly used the section from Bridgewater to the Norske Skog paper mill at Boyer, carrying paper to Burnie for export, and the other supplying the plant with coal and timber from the north of the State.
The present
In October 2005, Pacific National, who had taken over commercial running of the TasRail network, closed the Derwent Valley Line west of New Norfolk. This effectively stopped the running of the heritage railway. In February 2006 the Tasmanian Government granted Derwent Valley Railway $60,000 to help them with their financial difficulties. In May 2006, Pacific National came to a new agreement with the Tasmanian Government which included returning all tracks and rail lands to Government ownership.
