Mount Dundas – Zeehan Railway

The Mount Dundas – Zeehan Railway (also known as the Maestris Tram) was a railway line running 7 miles (11 km) from Dundas to Zeehan on the West Coast of Tasmania. It operated from 1892 until 1932, and the rails were removed in 1940.

Operation

It was built by the Mount Dundas and Zeehan Railway Company and opened on 25 April 1892.^[1] Under an agreement signed on 4 February 1891, the Tasmanian Government Railways (TGR) operated the line.

On 28 June 1899, the Emu Bay Railway (EBR) agreed to purchase the Dundas railway, however the TGR continued to operate it.

The closure of the Silver Bell smelters in 1913 virtually ended mining in the Dundas district, leaving the railway with only a small amount of passenger and timber traffic. By 1921, Dundas had only 55 people. Between 1922 and 1924, the line carried no revenue passengers and only very small amounts of freight. By 1926, timetables merely listed stations on the line and noted that trains ran 'as required'. After a derailment in August, 1931, the TGR refused to work the line. The EBR provided a locomotive to work whatever trips ran thereafter, until a stop block was placed at the junction in June, 1932.^[1] The official closure date is given as 5 July 1932, after which contractors were permitted to work timber over the line by horse-power. The rails were lifted in 1940.^[2]

Stopping places

As identified in 1916.^[3]

• Zeehan
• Rayna Junction – junction with the Emu Bay Railway from 21 December 1900^[4]
• Brickworks – also known as Brickfield's Siding from 1905
• Mather's
• Leslie
• Nobby's – also known as Nobby's Cutting Siding
• Brewery Junction
• Dundas – also known as Mount Dundas
• Maestris – station for the Comet Mine

See also

• North East Dundas Tramway
• Railways on the West Coast of Tasmania

Notes

1. Atkinson, H.K. (1991). Railway Tickets of Tasmania. p. 138. ISBN 978-0-9598718-7-6.
2. Stokes, H.J.W. (2003) The Tasmanian Government Railways on the West Coast Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, January;February, 2003 pp. 3–21, 43–62
3. https://railtasmania.com/lines/dundas_line.htm - utilising the 1916 Working Time Table of the Tasmanian railways
4. "EMU BAY RAILWAY COMPANY". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 17, 039. Victoria, Australia. 18 February 1901. p. 8. Retrieved 29 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.

References

• Atkinson, H.K. (1991). Railway Tickets of Tasmania. ISBN 978-0-9598718-7-6.
• 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 (2003). Western Tasmania - A land of riches and beauty (Reprint 2003 ed.). Queenstown: Municipality of Queenstown.
• Whitham, Lindsay (2002). Railways, Mines, Pubs and People and other historical research. Sandy Bay: Tasmanian Historical Research Association. ISBN 0-909479-21-6.