Line south of Canberra

zipitidoodah · Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2004 9:17 pm

I was wondering is the railway south of Canberra used at all? I have been in Sydney for the past week or so and we drove there via Cann River and Cooma. I know that the whole thing has pretty much been abandoned, but I noticed the close to Canberra it appears as though the line is in use. I noticed that the telegraph wires are still there, and there also appear to be some signals and signs present, whereas there's none of this further south. All road/rail crossings appear to have stop/hazard signs in place.

A few more questions:
1. What is the name of the station that has the abandoned tank wagon plus a couple of other wagons in it?
2. If the line is still operational, where does it go to?
3. Since we turned off the highway to go to Cann River we didn't follow the line much south past Bombala, so where did it go to from there? (I could look up a map but can't be bothered right now while I'm asking other questions here anyway!)
4. Why are road signs used for the railway? For instance, the standard yellow and black railway crossing road sign appears to have been used on the railway in advance of road crossings. I would have expected a railway sign here, not a road sign. This is what got my attention initially - a bright yellow and black sign apparently by itself in the paddock without a road in sight! Additionally, there's a standard green and white road sign showing an intersection of sorts, with a turnoff to Canberra or straight through to Sydney, or something like that, however it's placed next to the railway.

This all seems a bit wierd, having road signs next to the railway! I always thought anyway that the line south of Canberra was non-operational. Any comments/answers would be much appreciated.

Skindog the Hawk · Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2004 11:00 pm

The line in question is the old Canberra - Cooma line. There is a society which runs trains some way down the line, however the problem is (and this has been dealt with in previous threads a long, long time ago) that the road has been tarred straight over the tracks, so reopening the line would take a bit of work.

But yes, it used to go to Cooma.

Skindog.

Can we Darwinise or euthanase ChromeDome??

raven · Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2004 8:04 am

I think I can answer most of the original post as following:

1. The station with the tank wagon is Royalla. Operational tourist trains with the ARHS (ACT) regularly run to Royalla. I did a steam train ride last year.

2. The line is effectively operational to Michelago (next station south from Royalla) but trains are not currently running to Royalla until a few repairs are carried out on the Royall-Michelago section. It is my understanding upon speaking to ARHS on my steam train ride last year that even when the repairs are finalised, probably only a railmotor will run as far as Michelago.

The line is also operational from Chakola-Cooma and it is run by Cooma Monaro Railway. They are based in Cooma and run railmotors to Chakola every weekend. Once again I have had a run with them and thoroughly recommend it.

3. The line terminated at Bombala even when operational.

4. Depending where you saw those signs ( I assume it was on the Queanbeyan-Royalla section) I hazard a guess it is warn the train drivers of the road crossings to llok out for the cars as car drivers really havent seen regular trains for 20 years and may think the line is inactive.

As a general note, the line has been cut in 3 places between Michelago and Chakola by road realignments and the removal of the level crossings.

Between Cooma and Bombala it is also cut in a few places by road realignments etc. The corridor is still owned by RIC (now the ARTC??).

Sammy D · Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2004 8:43 pm

I was up at Michelago not long ago and it is no where near running condition although they do have an impressive and new looking shed.

Sammy D The Vice-President of the Diamond Valley Railway.

All comments are my own and do not reflect the views of the above mentioned railway unless otherwise stated.

Fireman Dave · Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2004 7:48 am

Sammy D · Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2004 6:06 pm

Riccardo · Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2004 6:23 pm

Lucky flanges are stronger than blades of grass!

If you need to get in touch, drop a comment at the Transport Textbook or on my blog.

zipitidoodah · Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2004 8:09 pm

Yes, Michelago was the furthest I noticed all the signage etc. I just couldn't remember the name of the town. I had noticed that after Michelago the track was still there all the way to Bombala, albeit cut off/sealed over at the LXs and roads, and of course wires and signals removed.

Also it would have been the Canberra - Royalla section that I saw the newish signs. I had worked out why there were level crossing signs for the drivers - the thing that got me was why they wanted to use road signs and not some sort of traditional railway level crossing sign, like an X.

I did look for threads relating to this topic before I posted it, and I found two that gave it some mention, but neither appeared to be suitable enough so I just asked again!

JZ · Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2004 1:48 am

JZ · Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2004 8:14 pm

ANYONE?

RTT_Rules · Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2004 3:32 pm

ravenoak · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2004 9:11 am

It is interesting that you mention how long the lines will survive.

I approached Rail Estate (SRA real estate division) a couple of years ago to buy a section of the Bombala line near Holts Flat for a country property (the adjoining property was on the market). They advised me there are no plans to sell off the corridor (indeed the act of Parliament is required first) but in any event there is no interest in realising the corridor as an asset.

I guess the cost of selling off the land (i.e ripping up the track, resurveying, valuation etc) and the political flak that an act of parliament would bring doesnt make it worth it.

ravenoak · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2004 9:13 am

BTW I think the last train to Bombala was either in 1985 or 1986.

gippslander · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2004 9:37 am

JZ · Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 4:10 pm

It's funny that Michelago Tourist Railway operate trains only to Royalla but still keeps name Michelago Tourist Railway. I emailed them and asked if there would be any runs to Michelago in future but there was no answer on that. Maybe someone from ARHS here on forum could answer that question.

If we would have trains to all the way to Michelago only small section of line from Michelago to Cooma would remain closed.

Could anyone provide detailed map of the line?

Thanks