WEST COAST WILDERNESS RAILWAY
The West Coast Wilderness Railway is a restoration of the
original 35 km of Mt Lyell Mining and Railway Co. railway built in 1896 to get
copper concentrates from Queenstown to export markets. Up to 500 men built the
original railway and the main section from Teepookana to Queenstown was completed
in 19 months and the final section from Teepookana to Strahan in 11 months. The
railway was born out of desperation and the odds stacked against them because
of the rough terrain and harsh climate. Swiss engineer Doctor Roman Abt
invented the world’s most widely used rack system. When the railway opened in
1897 it had broken boundaries on existing technology and it was reported that
400,000 cubic yards of earth were removed and 737,000 feet of timber used.
No comments:
Post a Comment