It has had a number of names in WAGR records – including:
Smiths Mill Line (locality later known as Glen Forrest) after the Eastern Railway was moved to the new line to the north – 1890s to 1920s[1][2]
The Mundaring Loop, or Mundaring Line – 1930s to 1950s[3]
There was confusion in the naming of the Mahogany Creek Deviation.[4] The Mahogany Creek railway stopping place was on the Mundaring branch between Glen Forrest and Mundaring.[5] However the Mahogany Creek Deviation was the incorrect name for the new line that followed the line of the Jane Brook to Mount Helena.[6] It was on the second route of the Eastern Railway constructed in the 1880s to early 1890s, and it passed through the Swan View Tunnel, well to the north of the original Mahogany Creek stopping place and the creek itself.
Timetabled passenger services on this branch (until closure in early 1954) tended to terminate at Sawyers Valley.[7]
Closure
Traffic ceased running in 1954;[8] the line was closed by Parliament in 1966, the closure including divestment of the land of the rail route to the local council.[9]
^Le Page, J. S. H. (1986) Building a state : the story of the Public Works Department of Western Australia 1829-1985 Leederville, W.A : Water Authority of Western Australia. ISBN0-7244-6862-5 page 216.
^Spillman, Ken (2003), Life was meant to be here : community and local government in the Shire of Mundaring, Shire of Mundaring, ISBN978-0-9592776-3-0 chapter 7 Unmaking Tracks pp. 105–120 for a good summary of events
^"SERIOUS RAILWAY ACCIDENT". Western Mail. Vol. IX, no. 436. Western Australia. 28 April 1894. p. 24. Retrieved 24 August 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
^"SMITH'S MILL". The Swan Express. Vol. XVI, no. 47. Western Australia. 4 December 1914. p. 3. Retrieved 24 August 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
Further reading
Affleck, Fred (1978). On Track: The Making of Westrail, 1950–1976. Perth: Westrail. ISBN0724475605. OCLC6489347.
Elliot, Ian Mundaring a History of the Shire. 1983. ISBN0-9592776-0-9
Quinlan, Howard & Newland, John R. Australian Railway Routes 1854-2000 2000. ISBN0-909650-49-7
Watson, Lindsay The Railway History of Midland Junction. 1995. ISBN0-646-24461-2