Lapstone Zig Zag
Encyclopedia
The Lapstone Zig Zag was a ##Zig Zag #railway#|zig zag railway## built near ##Lapstone, New South Wales|Lapstone## on the ##Main Western railway line, New South Wales|Great Western Railway## of ##New South Wales## in ##Australia## between 1863 and 1865, to overcome an otherwise insurmountable climb up the eastern side of the ##Blue Mountains #Australia#|Blue Mountains###John Low #1991# Pictorial Memories Blue Mountains Kingsclear Books The ##ruling grade## was already very steep at 1 in 33 #3%##William A# Bayley #1980# Blue Mountains Railways Locomotion Productions The original plan had been to build the whole line across the Blue Mountains on a completely different route through the Grose Valley with a 3 km long tunnel, but this was beyond the resources of the state of New South Wales at the time## The track included a now abandoned station called Lucasville which was built for the Minister for Mines, ##John Lucas #Australian politician#|John Lucas## who had a holiday home nearby#
The rail route across the mountains reached as far as ##Wentworth Falls## #then called "Weatherboard"# by 1867 but the Lapstone Zig Zag, which included Lucasville station, soon ran into problems: the length of the top points and bottom points limited the length of trains and the single track meant that trains travelling in opposite directions had to stop at crossing points# The first crossing point after Lapstone Zig Zag was at Wascoe's Siding at what is now ##Glenbrook, New South Wales|Glenbrook### The single track would contribute to a fatal accident at ##Emu Plains## in 1878 where eastbound and westbound goods trains collided# A ##Glenbrook Deviation 1892, New South Wales|deviation## including a tunnel was built around 1890 to replace the zig zag, but it too experienced problems as it was built at too steep a grade causing the locomotives to slip, and smoke became a problem for uphill trains# The building of the tunnel is the subject of ##Arthur Streeton|Arthur Streeton's## famous painting Fire's On#
Nineteenth century
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- Image:FiresonLapstone#jpg|thumb|##Arthur Streeton|Arthur Streeton's## depiction of the tunnel at Lapstone entitled Fire's On##
The rail route across the mountains reached as far as ##Wentworth Falls## #then called "Weatherboard"# by 1867 but the Lapstone Zig Zag, which included Lucasville station, soon ran into problems: the length of the top points and bottom points limited the length of trains and the single track meant that trains travelling in opposite directions had to stop at crossing points# The first crossing point after Lapstone Zig Zag was at Wascoe's Siding at what is now ##Glenbrook, New South Wales|Glenbrook### The single track would contribute to a fatal accident at ##Emu Plains## in 1878 where eastbound and westbound goods trains collided# A ##Glenbrook Deviation 1892, New South Wales|deviation## including a tunnel was built around 1890 to replace the zig zag, but it too experienced problems as it was built at too steep a grade causing the locomotives to slip, and smoke became a problem for uphill trains# The building of the tunnel is the subject of ##Arthur Streeton|Arthur Streeton's## famous painting Fire's On#
Twentieth century
By 1910, the line as a whole was being duplicated #made into ##double track### and the "rathole" tunnel was replaced on a different deviation with a gentler alignment with 1 in 60 #1#67%# grades and the ##Glenbrook, New South Wales|Glenbrook## tunnel# From then on the lower section of the track, including the historic Knapsack Gully Viaduct, was converted into a road, the Great Western Highway, the main road up the Lapstone hill until the M4 motorway replaced it in 1993##http://infobluemountains#net#au/rail/lower/lapstone#htm Lapstone Hill Railway Routes- Blue Mountains, Australia# The older tunnel was converted for mushroom growing but was also used by the ##RAAF## for storage during ##World War II####http://infobluemountains#net#au/rail/lower/glen-tunnel-old#htm Glenbrook's old Railway Tunnel - Blue Mountains## During 1943 to 1946 Glenbrook tunnel stored chemical weapons #http://www#mustardgas#org/depots#htm##Present day
The line of the old track and cuttings #including the long abandoned platform of Lucasville station#, and the old Knapsack Gully bridge is now a popular bushwalking track##http://www#wildwalks#com/bushwalking-and-hiking-in-nsw/glenbrook-eastern-blue-mountains/lapstone-bridge-zigzig-walk#html Wildwalks# Although the original tunnel is closed there is also a bush walk that will take you close to its entrance##http://www#wildwalks#com/bushwalking-and-hiking-in-nsw/glenbrook-eastern-blue-mountains/lapstone-train-tunnel-walk#html Bushwalking on the Lapstone train tunnel walk hiking trail#Additional references
- Full Steam Across The Mountains - ##Phil Belbin## & David Burke - Methuen Australia 1981
External links
- #http://maps#msn#com/%28zi4tu5z152jenzectnm4xm45%29/map#aspx?lats1=-33#766667&lons1=150#616667&alts1=1®n1=2 MSN Map#