Strahan-Zeehan Railway

The Strahan-Zeehan Railway, also known as the 'Government Railway', was a railway from Strahan to Zeehan on the west coast of Tasmania. It linked two private railways: the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company railway line (now known as the West Coast Wilderness Railway) between Queenstown and Regatta Point and the Emu Bay Railway between Zeehan and Burnie.

Early photographs of the Strahan wharf and buildings adjacent taken from the north usually have the railway tracks in the lower section of the photograph, as the line followed the shore from Regatta Point around the bay before passing northward in what is considered to be West Strahan today.

The line ran parallel to Ocean Beach before heading towards Zeehan.

It was a critical link, due to the difficulties of Macquarie Harbour and was essential during the 1912 North Mount Lyell Disaster. The rail gauge of the lines between Burnie was the same all the way to Queenstown.

The line was heavily reliant upon the mining industry and its fortunes, and traffic reduced drastically at times of mining down-turns.

Dates

Opened on the 4th February 1892. Closed June 1960

Stopping Places

• Zeehan
• Silver Bell
• Austral
• Oceana Junction
• Professor
• Grieves Siding
• Eden
• Powell's Siding
• Mallana -- renamed Fowler's Siding
• Henty Bridge -- renamed Kopyule (1926)
• Henty
• Beach Road -- also known as Ocean Beach
• Bellinger
• Opah -- renamed Stella (1903)
• West Strahan
• Strahan Wharf
• Regatta Point

See also

Railways on the West Coast of Tasmania

Sources

• Atkinson, H.K. (1991). Railway Tickets of Tasmania. ISBN 0-9598718-7-X. 
• Blainey, Geoffrey (2000). The Peaks of Lyell, 6th ed., Hobart: St. David's Park Publishing. ISBN 0-7246-2265-9. 
• Rae, Lou (2001). The Abt Railway and Railways of the Lyell region. Sandy Bay: Lou Rae. ISBN 0-9592098-7-5. 
• Whitham, Charles. Western Tasmania - A land of riches and beauty, Reprint 2003, Queenstown: Municipality of Queenstown. 

2003 edition - Queenstown: Municipality of Queenstown.

1949 edition - Hobart: Davies Brothers. OCLC 48825404; ASIN B000FMPZ80

1924 edition - Queenstown: Mount Lyell Tourist Association. OCLC 35070001; ASIN B0008BM4XC

• Whitham, Lindsay (2002). Railways, Mines, Pubs and People and other historical research. Sandy Bay: Tasmanian Historical Research Association. ISBN 0-909479-21-6.