The Blue Mountains’ historic train is steaming again

There’s nothing like observing the sheer joy of a train enthusiast. Little kids shriek when we rattle through our first tunnel, spooked and thrilled as the carriage goes unexpectedly dark. Then there’s the grown men with their long lenses, photographing every facet of the red-and-green locomotive, polished within an inch of its life. They crowd the platform and the railway bridge, clicking away, enthralled as the train pumps out steam and the guard shovels in the coal.

Full steam ahead,

The Zig Zag Railway has been well and truly back on the rails now for months after being mothballed in a siding in the Upper Blue Mountains for 11 years. It tootled off on its first trip in May last year, making a jagged journey from Clarence Station down the valley to Bottom Points and back again. It’s heaven for train buffs, and I’m one of them. I beam when the driver, Michael Marriott-Statham, lets me climb into the cab and chug along for a few kilometres, hanging out the window as we whizz over a viaduct.

Also onboard is chief executive Daniel Zolfel, who’s acting as the fireman and giving a trainee lessons on the correct angle to heave the coal into the firebox.

Everyone involved with the Zig Zag, bar five employees, are volunteers; Michael has been driving steam locos for 40 years having joined the Zig Zag Railway Co-Op 50 years ago.

It takes 90 minutes from start to finish, travelling through two tunnels and over three viaducts. Every one of the 305 seats is taken and every trip has been booked solid since operations re-started.

Many are on board for the nostalgia, reliving the trip they took on the tourist train as kids.

Train buffs gather to snap the historic railway as it zooms past.

The Zig Zag railway dates to 1869 when it was built as part of the Main Western Line that connected Sydney with Lithgow and onto the Western Plains. It was built into the escarpment using zig-zags – switchbacks – enabling the train to climb a steep flank, overcoming a vertical distance of 170 metres. The line closed in 1910 and lay unused until the newly formed Co-Op launched the tourist train in 1975. That chugged along for years but closed in 2012 following changes to railway safety laws. It remained off the rails for a decade owing to bushfires, floods and vandalism.

Its recent rebirth is a testament to the passion of the volunteers who helped restore the 1943-built locomotive and who are rostered on for each trip as drivers, signallers and guards. Essential works including the rebuilding of the locomotive workshop and a new 300-vehicle car park were funded by a $5.9 million Crown Lands and Department of Regional NSW grant.

When my train returns to Clarence, the platform is buzzing with another 300 passengers eager to board the lunchtime ride.

I drive off to Lithgow to see how the former coal-and-steel town is also revitalising, while respecting its industrial past. In Main Street, I discover new eateries like Cafe.bar128 where I have lunch and then stroll past new street art and the futuristic sculpture of Olympian Marjorie Jackson, the “Lithgow Flash”.

The Foundations Silos in nearby Portland.Credit: David Hill

Further down the road is Gang Gang Gallery, which showcases local artists in the former refreshment rooms of the 19th-century Theatre Royal.

Later I linger in the ruins of Blast Furnace Park. Its decaying buildings are eerily gothic and I’m fascinated by the story of iron smelting, which provided the town with so many jobs.

Twenty kilometres away in Portland, the former cement works have been recreated as The Foundations, its old factories repurposed for markets and art galleries. The centrepiece, six silos painted by renowned Australian Guido van Helten, draws visitors from far and wide.

While industry has dominated this western side of the Blue Mountains, its beauty is no less spectacular. The view from Hassans Walls Lookout is a stunning sweep that takes in the glorious Hartley Valley below and the Kanimbla and Megalong Valleys to the south.

Driver at the engine … a mecca for train buffs.

I end my Lithgow visit with dinner in Frankie’s restaurant attached to the Zig Zag Motel. Named for Francesco Inzitari who emigrated from Italy in the ’50s and opened a fruit shop before buying the motel, the place is buzzing on a weeknight, evidence that things are anything but stagnant in the old coal town.

The writer travelled courtesy of Lithgow District Chamber of Commerce. See escapetothehighcountry.au

THE DETAILS

VISIT
Clarence Station is a 132-kilometre drive from Sydney via the Great Western Highway. Or take the Blue Mountains Line train from Sydney and alight at Zig Zag Station (a special request stop) and walk to Bottom Points Station. Zig Zag tickets are $45 (adults); $27.50 (children). See Zig Zagrailway.com.au