THE BLUE MOUNTAIN AREA (Part 4)

On Saturday afternoon, we traveled to Clarence, 10 kilometers east of Lithgow, for a ride on the historic Zig Zag Railway. The Zig Zag Railway was built between 1866 and 1869, and acclaimed a major engineering feat of its time. It was constructed to enable produce to be taken to Sydney from the prosperous farming areas beyond the Blue Mountains and to develop the coal and iron ore deposits found in the Lithgow Valley.

The Zig Zag consists of series of sloping tracks forming the letter "Z" with reversing stations at Top and Bottom Points. The track passes over three magnificent sandstone viaducts, through two tunnels. It takes approximately two minutes to go through one of the tunnels and while you are in the tunnel it is pitch black! You would have thought we were at a concert - all the cell phones came out and even some lighters.

The Railway operated between 1870 and 1910. By then it had become an increasingly inefficient bottleneck owing to the growing traffic on the line between Lithgow and Sydney. It was eventually abandoned in 1910, replaced by The Ten-Tunnels Deviation, a double-tracked route. This is still in heavy use as the Main West line to the central-west of NSW and ultimately the trans-Australia to Perth today.

During World War II, Glenbrook, Clarence and Zig Zag tunnels were used to store chemical weapons for the Royal Australian Air Force. Principally mustard gas and phosgene gas were housed in a variety of weapons from bombs to cylinders. The cache was disposed of after the war. In 1975 it was decided to restore the Lithgow Zig Zag as a heritage railway, which operates as the Zig Zag Railway.

Now every trip from Clarence Station winds its way through the remarkable Blue Mountains' scenery, offering glimpses of grand sandstone viaducts, accompanied by the chugging steam locomotive. At the Bottom Station Point, the engine was transferred from the front to the back so we could go back to Clarence Station. The engine also took on water so it could make enough steam to take us back.