Continuing with mapping the disused rail lines of New South Wales I have now shifted my focus to the area around Newcastle, presently the Hunter Region. One of the other areas I have previously mapped was Wales in the UK, and just as there were many areas of South/Mid Wales that have had extensive coal mining reserves and operations, the Hunter Region has had many coal mines operated historically, with the majority of production ceasing in the 1960s due to the world wide drop in demand. In turn, this has meant quite a number of railways were built around 100 years ago to get the coal out and much of this remained in operation until the 1970s and 80s, and a particular feature of these operations, coming under the grouping of the South Maitland Railways, was the continued use of steam power until closure, as these were a private industrial rail network of considerable mileage. Many of the place names in the area are, in fact, of Welsh origin, as is Newcastle itself.
Wikipedia lists some 30 colliery operations in the South Maitland Coalfields. Some of these were served by the Richmond Vale Railway which had a length in total of some 28 km and included three tunnels. The RVR was first opened in 1856 to the Minmi mine. A branch off the route was built in the early 1900s which took it towards Weston where it joined the South Maitland Railway. It is this branch that constitutes the majority of the length of the route and its various features. Although it closed as long ago as 1962 substantial remnants are still visible and although NSWRail.net claims much has been lifted, GE overheads suggest a good deal of track was simply abandoned in place. I am going to describe the significant features as well as detail them in map views in the rest of this post.
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| Hexham, the main line junction. Originally a line crossed over to the long-gone Hexham Wharf | Minmi Junction. The original line to Minmi continued south, the Richmond Vale line went west. |
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| Minmi. A couple of different lines can be seen which went to different collieries. | Continuing west on Richmond Vale Railway the line crosses the Sydney-Newcastle highway, passing under it via a steel culvert. It then runs through the middle of a swamp. |
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| The first of the three tunnels | Sugar loaf tunnel, the second on the line. |
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| A reasonably substantial bridge at the east side of this view with the third tunnel about 500 metres to its west. | Quite a large bridge remains here. |
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| A junction | Overbridge and Junction near Pelaw |
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| Junction at Weston | Back on the Minmi line, these bridges on the highway crossed over a side line to the Duckenfield Colliery. |
Acknowledgments to NSWRail.net (good maps and coordinates of major features) and Wikipedia.
