6-12-2012

ew South Wales - Australia

Brad Peadon

It seems to be with increasing regularity that I am farewelling friends who have departed this world and moved onto the next, well, if you believe that next world guff anyway. However this sad duty took place 12 months prior and the 6th of December was the 12 month anniversary of the loss of one of my best mates, William (Bill) Sullivan, a party being organised in his memory at the suburban ewcastle suburb of Hamilton. Besides the railways of the Philippines, Bill shared a passionate interest in the history of the old ewcastle coal lines. Given the memorial location in Hamilton was surrounded by such famous old colliery railways as Glenrock, Dudley and John Darling, I felt compelled to return to one that I used to frequent in the 80s and early 90s, until it also departed this earth. Like my other beloved local Hunter line, the South Maitland Railway, this line of the Redhead Cal Mining Company (later sold to the ew Redhead Estate and Coal Mining Company was privately owned and went on to have government owned locomotives world the coal haulage services. The line serviced a number of coal mines in the region, but slowly saw less and less use as these closed down, with the final one, Lambton B, finishing up in late 1991, with the line following very soon after. It would have been the mid to late 80s that I first come across the Belmont line as part of my regular visits to ewcastle. It was way to late for the variety that once existed there, including ALCO mainliners and even a brief quad 73 class experiment, but still in enough time to witness the dying days of trains along this interesting branch line. Most visits to the Hunter coal railways would start with a 4am departure from Sydney that would see us at Toronto station on sunrise to photograph the local passenger shuttles. These services served only three stations, including the junction one at Fassifern and were operated by members of the 620/720 or 660/760 class DMUs. After a couple of hours photographing this line, which lasted only a few years longer than Belmont, we would skirt around Lake Macquarie, not really knowing our way, until we found Belmont and subsequently Redhead and Lambton Colliery, by then the last operating mine along the line.

In the earlier days the tracks still existed beyond here to the former Jewels station and then off the mainline to John Darling Colliery. I cant recall if the former mainline to Belmont was still connected, but the track was certainly still all there. The station building at Redhead was also extant in these days, I managed to get it in some video footage, but was later burned down by local vermin. More good luck than good management, I can never remember a time that we turned up and didnt find a train loading at Lambton. Even better, these trains always had one of the much sought after, by me anyway, 47 class on the front (apparently two 48 class together would derail at the entrance to the Lambton Colliery sidings). Occasionally a second rake would turn up while we awaited departure, meaning that we had two trains to chase (returning from Adamstown for the second) and we would not get deeper into the coalfield territories of Maitland and beyond till well after lunch.

It is pretty hard to believe I was standing on the platform in both of the above shots and photographing the same direction. There were only two variations to this ritual, the first being in the late 80s when travelled by train and bus (322 from ewcastle I seem to remember) to reach Belmont station. This trip was with the rather unusual Charlie Lewis, more commonly known around the hobby as C.A.Lewis, who had expressed an interest in walking the line back to Jewels and Redhead. The sight that greeted us at Belmont did not fill us with abundant hope. The platform and track bed were badly overgrown, very badly, and you could not even easily walk from one end of the station to the other. A photo was taken, sadly though I have likely packed it and cannot include with this report. However the first 50-100 metres beyond the platform appeared to have been used as a walking track, so of we set with Redhead being the goal - should all things go to plan. At this time the former departure signal still existed, albeit with broken glass, guarding the occasional walking human movement than now was all that travelled the section. This signal had gone by a visit in the 90s, possibly souvenired by a lucky railfan, or hopefully a historical group. It didnt take all that long before we started encountering many years of growth along where we wished to walk. ow days I would likely turn back, but back in the time of my youth I was less concerned about such things as spiders, snakes or getting ones self hopelessly lost with no mobile phone. Here things get a bit sketchy, I remember crossing a very low little bridge and then finding the trackbed totally disappear beneath undergrowth and sand. For a while we found ourselves navigating solely through a sense of the right direction. I doubt any sort of search for relics

was conducted at this time, with us just desperately looking for the junction to John Darling Colliery which, given I am writing this some two decades later, I obviously achieved before perishing. Shortly beyond this we were to find Jewels platform, by this time a platform was all it was, along with very high grass.

Looking in Adamstown direction at Jewels station. The left photo shows a tour train from Broadmeadow operated by the Railmotor Society. It was the last of a days worth of shuttle trips and represented the last train to traverse the Redhead to Jewels section, the line onwards to John Darling Colliery was no longer in use. To the right is the scene today looking towards Belmont. Beyond Jewels the walking became far easier. Despite the trains having ceased, the track was still reasonably clear. A few metres from the station the line crossed Kalaroo Road then curved a little to the east before crossing over Crockers Creek. Here Charlies high dislike proved a problem and he opted to return back to the road, cross the creek and then push his way through the bush back towards the track on the other side. This 15 minutes of entertainment, well it was entertaining for me, saw poor ol Charles actually disappear in growth that was much taller than himself. Once Charlie had rejoined me, we walked the final unexciting section down towards Redhead station and Lambton Colliery, obtained some more photos and then boarded the 322 back to ewcastle, after briefly toying with the idea of continuing to Whitebridge. Two views taken from just beyond the points at Redhead and looking towards Belmont. The second last train between Jewels and Redhead is at left.

The second variation was a trip up to witness shuttle services to Jewels from Broadmeadow, these being run by the Railmotor Society and were to be the last trains to ever use the section beyond Redhead. If my ancient memory serves correct, there were three runs that day and we motorcaded the first two, obtaining shots at Whitebridge, Redhead ( ote that station building still existed at this time) and Jewels. We decided to ride the final shuttle back and thus take part in this historical event, something I had earlier done on the local Sandgate Cemetery line and would go on to do at Toronto some years later.

4877 4705 await the arrival of another train before departing Lambton Colliery for Port Waratah. The photo to the right displays a X and arrow signifying the approximate place the left photo was taken. Following the lines closure in 1991, a small group of locals attempted to preserve it as a tourist venture and a related society was set up. At the time a proposal was also put forth to have it converted into the rail trail that it is today. Section by section the Fernleigh Track, as it is now known, was completed all the way to Belmont. An inspection of earMap shows that the branch to Dudley Colliery, and most of that to John Darling, are still quite traceable. However its expected that much bush bashing would be required for at least the later. It is hoped that I shall soon find out.

Belmont Station
Sadly I currently cant find the shot I took of Belmont during our walk, but it was nothing like this. The platform face was barely visible, the sign non-existent and the tracks well covered in bush. Interesting, the derelict frame of one small structure that existed back then is still there to this day. The yard is represented with some of the track, presumably original, left in place. One piece (see bottom photo) is at a strange angle to the line and is thought to represent the old sidings to the south of Belmont station, although it is doubtful that this was the exact alignment that these took. Time was running short, and a disaster awaited me on my return, so I gave up any thought of walking across to the old sidings and headed on back home.

Written: Brad Peadon (2011) PRHS.Society@gmail.com alcogoodwin@yahoo.com.au

Sources: Adamstown via Fernleigh - Ed Tonks (1988) Belmont Railway Line - Wikipedia Semi-Retired Foamer - http://LocoShed.blogspot.com