Wee Georgie Wood Railway
| Wee Georgie Wood Railway | |
|---|---|
| Overview | |
| Coordinates | 41°43′48″S 145°37′27″E / 41.72987°S 145.62417°E |
The Wee Georgie Wood Railway is a 2 ft (610 mm) narrow gauge tourist tramway running from Tullah, on a 1.9 km (1.2 mi) short track by the edge of Lake Rosebery in the West Coast Municipality of Tasmania.
The originally 10 km (6.2 mi) long narrow gauge railway connected the North Mount Farrell mine and its associated township at Tullah with the 3 ft 6 in (1067mm) Emu Bay Railway. It is close to the Pieman River hydro-electric scheme, Lake Rosebery, Lake Mackintosh, and Lake Murchison. Some sections of the old track have been flooded, after the hydro-electric damns had been built. East of the Murchison Highway, the remaining 600m of railway to the mines was repurposed into part of the Mackintosh Dam Road.
The original name varied between being known as the North Mount Farrell Tramway,Farrell Tramway or Tullah Tram. Today's 1.9 km (1.2 mi) long tourist railway is named after its narrow gauge steam engine, which was due to its small size named the British actor and comedian Wee Georgie Wood, who was only 4 ft 9 in (1.45 m) when fully grown.
Galena, the most important lead ore mineral and a frequent source of silver, was discovered in the district of Tullah in 1892. Getting the ore to market was very difficult: The North Mount Farrell mine first shipped out ore by pack horse in 1899, because there was no road or track to Tullah, until the Murchison Highway was opened in 1962.
A tramway was proposed in northerly direction to Boco Siding on the Emu Bay Railway, over a distance of 8 mi (13 km). Originally planned to be laid with iron rails, it was eventually opened as a horse tram in 1902 with timber rails. The tramway could handle the transportation of the ore at reasonable cost, but as output from the mine increased, was unable to handle the traffic. A shorter route to the railway was surveyed, running on the north side of the Pieman River. The steel-railed steam tramway line was constructed by Dunkley Brothers, who were well known in Tasmania for their activities in the timber industry and was taken in service in 1909. It met the Emu Bay Railway at Farrell Siding, which was located on a continuous 1:40 grade as that railway dropped down to the Pieman River bridge. Therefore, complicated transhipment facilities needed to be erected.
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