Blue Mountains Railway – the train that thought it could!

The making of the Great Western Railway from Penrith to Bathurst

The Impossible Task

“when the question of railway extension had to be considered, grave doubts generally existed as to the possibility of getting a railway across the mountains at all, except at a prohibitive cost”NRS 17514/1/1[3] p.6

John Whitton – Chief Railway Engineer

• Whitton designed the Great Western Railway from Penrith to Bathurst

• 166 km/103 miles long• Climb eastern

escarpment and use tunnels to descend western escarpment

Compromise

Victoria Bridge, Penrith

Heavy duty wrought iron girder bridge on stone piers covering three spans

Section of contract plan for Victoria Bridge, 1866 clearly showing piers.

Working plan of approach to Victoria Bridge

Knapsack Viaduct

“an admirable and imposing structure by the genius of John Whitton”

Little Zig-Zag, Lapstone

Bottom Points on Little Zig-Zag, Lapstone, c. 1870

Early Blue Mountains Stations

Glenbrook & Lawson Railway Stations

Wentworth Railway Station

Weatherboard to Mt Victoria

Great Lithgow Zigzag

One of the engineering wonders of the Victorian

age

Building the Lithgow Zigzag

• Took 600-700 men 2 ½ years to build

• Workers used hand augers for drilling – 3 men per hole

• Surveyors lowered down cliffs in baskets

• Whitton sat at Engineer’s Lookout

Lithgow Zigzag – Bottom Points

1901 derailment

Lithgow to Bathurst

Lithgow Station (above), Bowenfels Station (top right) and Wallerawang Station (bottom left)

Bathurst Railway Station

Bathurst Railway Station – from the plan to the reality

I think I can … I thought I could!

In 1936 day trippers could take the Caves Express and be in the Mountains in just over two hours!

Katoomba

References

• NRS 17514/1/2[47] The Railways of NSW 1855-1955

• NRS 17514/1/1[3] Thirty-five years on the New South Wales Railways: The Work of the late Mr. John Whitton, C.E., 1898

• Robert Lee, Colonial Engineer: John Whitton 1819-1898

• Robert Lee, The Greatest Public Work: The NSW Railways, 1848-1889

• www.zigzagrailway.com.au