There were 15 booked for today’s Zig Zag Railway and the 12:30 train was fully booked several days beforehand.
The riders left the 7Elevan Menai on the dot at 8am and made our way out Bringelly Road to Greendale Road and up the mountains to Glenbrook for a coffee break.
There we were joined by Karen, Rob and Maria travelling in one car and Gerry and Mara who were also travelling by car .
The shortest way to Clarence Station was to turn right at Mt Victoria onto the Darling Causeway Road and then down the Bells Line of Road and this was the way the cars travelled while the Riders went west to Lithgow and back on to the BLOR to Clarence, taking a little longer. The rest of our group joined us there.
We had time for lunch and a toilet break before boarding the train which was packed. Thanks to Karen sweet talking the volunteers we were all able to at least be in the same carriage, not easy since there are no seat reservations.
The Zig Zag Railway was opened in 18th October 1869. Being a single track line it eventually became apparent that it could not handle the traffic and in 1907 work commenced to construct a double line deviation which included 10 tunnels . This was opened in October 1910 and cut more than 30 minutes off the trip to Lithgow.
The Zig Zag fell into disrepair until a group of enthusiasts got to work re laying track and commencing limited operations in 1975.
Since reopening service last year after destructive bushfire damage was finally repaired the line has carried 50,000 passengers and is now looking to add another locomotive to keep up with the demand.
Back to our trip- The train made it’s way down the 3 legs of the Zig Zag, each time disconnecting the Steam Engine to relocate it to the other end. This gave us about 10 minutes each time for photos and to have a look around, plenty of time to see how everything works.
From Bottom Points we made our way back up the 3 inclines , returning to Clarence station just a few minutes late.
The staff are all volunteers and they do a fantastic job keeping this wonderful old line operating and making it into what is now a huge tourist attraction to the area.
Thanks to all who came, I trust you enjoyed it as much as Maria and I did.
Jim Allison
