Fires are burning in the area of Tenterfield, NSW.  Have these fires had any detrimental impacts on the railway infrastructure of the area?

I would be more concerned about peoples homes and livelihoods than some old, disused piece of rusty railway track.

I would be more concerned about peoples homes and livelihoods than some old, disused piece of rusty railway track.

That is given but reports are surfacing on social media about assets being damaged.

I would be more concerned about peoples homes and livelihoods than some old, disused piece of rusty railway track.

That is given but reports are surfacing on social media about assets being damaged.

There are no longer any recoverable railway assets apart from the rails themselves and only for scrap value in the Tenterfield area.

I would be more concerned about peoples homes and livelihoods than some old, disused piece of rusty railway track.

That is given but reports are surfacing on social media about assets being damaged.

There are no longer any recoverable railway assets apart from the rails themselves and only for scrap value in the Tenterfield area.

Trestle bridges?

I would be more concerned about peoples homes and livelihoods than some old, disused piece of rusty railway track.

That is given but reports are surfacing on social media about assets being damaged.

There are no longer any recoverable railway assets apart from the rails themselves and only for scrap value in the Tenterfield area.

With the fires around Stanthorpe, Q and the old main line, still available for use AFAIK... that's possibly where the rail assets will be potentially hit the hardest.

Stanthorpe will be looking for tourism to help get back on its feet with the recurring drought. It would be good for ARHS to cobble together a Winelander train if the rolling stock is available.

Mike.

I would be more concerned about peoples homes and livelihoods than some old, disused piece of rusty railway track.

That is given but reports are surfacing on social media about assets being damaged.

There are no longer any recoverable railway assets apart from the rails themselves and only for scrap value in the Tenterfield area.

Trestle bridges?

All of which have not been used or maintained for ~30 years and I believe most were timber so likely no longer fit for use and if the line was to be reopened would more than likely need full replacement.

I would be more concerned about peoples homes and livelihoods than some old, disused piece of rusty railway track.

That is given but reports are surfacing on social media about assets being damaged.

There are no longer any recoverable railway assets apart from the rails themselves and only for scrap value in the Tenterfield area.

Trestle bridges?

All of which have not been used or maintained for ~30 years and I believe most were timber so likely no longer fit for use and if the line was to be reopened would more than likely need full replacement.

With the fires around Stanthorpe, Q and the old main line, still available for use AFAIK... that's possibly where the rail assets will be potentially hit the hardest.

Stanthorpe will be looking for tourism to help get back on its feet with the recurring drought. It would be good for ARHS to cobble together a Winelander train if the rolling stock is available.

Mike.

The skinny gauge section is a bit different to its long retired wider cousin south of the border, and significant loss from fire will more than likely see it permanently closed or "services suspended" and yes loss of a potential HR operation.

An infrequent HR operation isn't really a major tourist job generating draw card but it does help and it would be nice to see the Toowoomba - Warwick - Stanthorpe NG section remain active beyond the opening of the Inland after which I think most expect the SW NG line to longer be used by rail freight.

I thought ARHS ceased the Wine-train because of the older lander rollingstock being retired by QR?

With the fires around Stanthorpe, Q and the old main line, still available for use AFAIK... that's possibly where the rail assets will be potentially hit the hardest.

Stanthorpe will be looking for tourism to help get back on its feet with the recurring drought. It would be good for ARHS to cobble together a Winelander train if the rolling stock is available.

Mike.

The skinny gauge section is a bit different to its long retired wider cousin south of the border, and significant loss from fire will more than likely see it permanently closed or "services suspended" and yes loss of a potential HR operation.

An infrequent HR operation isn't really a major tourist job generating draw card but it does help and it would be nice to see the Toowoomba - Warwick - Stanthorpe NG section remain active beyond the opening of the Inland after which I think most expect the SW NG line to longer be used by rail freight.

I thought ARHS ceased the Wine-train because of the older lander rollingstock being retired by QR?

SDSR runs regular heritage trains between Warwick and Wallangarra and is now the only regular operator on the line other than very occasional QR maintenance trains. The last regular freight on the line ended in the mid-2000s with the Golden Circle apple traffic.

There's an outside chance that Watco might find some business on the line, such as container traffic to and from the proposed Guyra Meatworks - the previous and now closed meatworks provided the bulk of the traffic on the QR line during the 1990s. I wouldn't hold my breath for freight returning, but Watco is probably the only company in Queensland that will look into it.

Great to see Watco looking to build a business sorely missed now in Victoria with the demise of El Zorro.

Don’t get me wrong, I like Watco. They’re a business though and they’ve proven so far they’re not an El Zorro type doing whatever backyard train people want run. In Queensland, all they have for certain so far is the reasonably large GrainCorp contract. Anything else is a rumour and if it does happen is just the likely return to rail of past sizeable volumes of traffic dropped by Aurizon. In WA, they operate the CBH trains, a port container shuttle and ballast trains. None of that working was new to rail; it’s just existing work they successfully tendered for a won.

So with that in mind, can with quit day dreaming about Watco being the saviour every time regional traffic in Queensland is brought up? If it stacks up I’m sure they’ll look into it. I can’t see them pulling into Wallangarra any time soon though.

That should read, ‘they’re not another El Zorro type’. Apologies also for the spelling errors. The forum won’t allow me the edit my post via my phone.

EDIT: Fixed - KRviator

Fires are burning in the area of Tenterfield, NSW.  Have these fires had any detrimental impacts on the railway infrastructure of the area?

What about the fires burning around Dorrigo? Any detrimental impacts on the railway infrastructure of the area?

As far as I’m aware the fires have been burning on the Ebor side of Dorrigo. The line runs towards the coast.

A bit like the Tenterfield fires though; it’s hard to impact on a railway that returned to nature decades ago and will never serve as a railway line again.

Just as the Tenterfield burnt over 100Km to cut the North Coast Line at Rappville, the Armidale fire (AKA Bee's Nest fire) has spotted and now burnt the Dorrigo line between Glenreagh and Lowanna, at a place called Twelve Sixty Rd.
Only 11Km of bush separates the Twelve Sixty fire and the North Coast Line at Nana Glen!

Fires are burning in the area of Tenterfield, NSW.  Have these fires had any detrimental impacts on the railway infrastructure of the area?

What about the fires burning around Dorrigo? Any detrimental impacts on the railway infrastructure of the area?

Railway infrastructure?  Is that what we're calling the hoarders yard now?

Err, no, the other end  of the line. The fire has burnt across the line between Glenreagh and Lowanna, that is, the section of the branch operated by the GMR (https://www.gmr.org.au/copy-2-of-about). Not hoarders, operators.

Bushfires from the Gosper's Mountain fire have surrounded Lithgow today, and it doesn't look good. (How can I post photos?).

You can't access many of these areas, as the fire is still very active and vigorous, so actual impacts can't be determined. I'll get to that when I can.

A strong fire is burning in State Mine Gully, home to Lithgow Railway Workshops/State Mine Museum, and home to 26 Class loco 2605. This loco was completely burnt in a fire in 2001, and was rebuilt and restored. http://www.australiansteam.com/2605.htm

Another fire is burning in the Zig Zag Scenic Reserve, from Cape Horn on the Bottom Road to Top Points, and burning easterly towards the Bottom Points Depot, being fanned by a strong hot westerly wind. Zig Zag, of course was devastated in the 2013 fires and is juuust on the cusp of returning to operations after a lot of hard work and perseverance by volunteer members. The fire is also burning burning up on the plateau, and has burnt out the "extension" from Clarence Station (ZZR) to Newnes Junction Station (Sydney Trains), and has most likely burnt Clarence Station environs itself, as well as the embankment area that has recently been reformed and rail laid in a "Golden Spike" ceremony. I don't know, because they haven't let anyone up there for the last day and a half.

Which means, on a personal note, I don't know what's happened to my place either. ACM730 is one of the few remaining Country Branchline Sleepers, and one of a small number of extant Dean-bogied rollingstock. As a timber construction carriage, it probably won't stand up too well to the sort of ferocious fire burning up there that can be seen from Lithgow.

Bushfires from the Gosper's Mountain fire have surrounded Lithgow today, and it doesn't look good.

ACM730 is one of the few remaining Country Branchline Sleepers, and one of a small number of extant Dean-bogied rollingstock. As a timber construction carriage, it probably won't stand up too well to the sort of ferocious fire burning up there that can be seen from Lithgow.

Where is ACM 730 now? It was reported gone from Petra Avenue some months back.

https://www.facebook.com/ZigZagRailway/
The latest post on there is taken from a security camera watching what looks like an old Tasmanian GV guards van body as the fire moves past.


As the caption says, they're going to need more sleepers.

Bushfires from the Gosper's Mountain fire have surrounded Lithgow today, and it doesn't look good.

ACM730 is one of the few remaining Country Branchline Sleepers, and one of a small number of extant Dean-bogied rollingstock. As a timber construction carriage, it probably won't stand up too well to the sort of ferocious fire burning up there that can be seen from Lithgow.

Where is ACM 730 now? It was reported gone from Petra Avenue some months back.

It's still in Clarence, just on another property.

https://www.facebook.com/ZigZagRailway/
The latest post on there is taken from a security camera watching what looks like an old Tasmanian GV guards van body as the fire moves past.


As the caption says, they're going to need more sleepers.

Valiant effort by that camera, surprised it survived the heat. That view is of the recently restored embankment with the freshly laid track and ballast that was only just put in in the last month or two.

I would have thought that the state heritage mine railway would be able to move their rolling stock to safer places since they are on SG and connected to the main west. Unfortunately not much can be done about zig zag again because of their incompatible gauge. If it burns again and the rolling stock with it then they really need to move the track to SG and have a connection to the main line to take advantage of the other historic SG rolling stock around.

I would have thought that the State .. Mine Railway would be able to move their rolling stock to safer places ......

Unfortunately, the reality is that most groups like State Mine and Zig Zag Railway are almost entirely reliant on Volunteers.

With Bells Line of Road closed for several days, and the Great Western Highway and the Castlereagh Highway also closed on the day to dense smoke and the risk of fire, the only Volunteers available were those within Lithgow itself.

If any of those volunteers were not primarily concerned for the safety of their families and own homes first and could be bothered to move rollingstock, then the fact the the roads into both State Mine and Zig Zag were closed by police roadblocks, making access difficult, you are then left with no means to move anything.

And anyway, where would you move the rollingstock to? You are assuming that it is all accredited and would be permitted on the mainline? Or even that the mainline itself is safe. The Main West was closed for days prior due to fire damage between Hartley Vale and Newnes Jct.