The Mundaring Branch Railway is a historical section of the original Eastern Railway main line across the Darling Scarp in the Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) system.
It has had a number of names in WAGR records – including:
There was confusion in the naming of the Mahogany Creek Deviation. [4] The Mahogany Creek railway stopping place was on the Mundaring Branch Railway between Glen Forrest and Mundaring. [5] However the Mahogany Creek Deviation was the incorrect name for the new line that followed the line of the Jane Brook to Mount Helena. [6] It was on the second route of the Eastern Railway constructed in the 1880s to early 1890s, and it passed through the Swan View Tunnel, well to the north of the original Mahogany Creek stopping place and the creek itself.
The Branch commenced at Bellevue railway station, moving up the slope to Greenmount. Steep gradients and deviation inclines occurred through to Glen Forrest.
It connected with the newer line at Mount Helena.
Mundaring was the junction point where the Mundaring Weir Branch Railway commenced.
Timetabled passenger services on this branch (until closure in early 1954) tended to terminate at Sawyers Valley. [7]
Traffic ceased running in 1954; [8] the line was closed by Parliament in 1966, the closure including divestment of the land of the rail route to the local council. [9]
Following closure, it eventually became part of the Railway Reserve Heritage Trail.
John Forrest National Park is a national park in the Darling Scarp, 24 km (15 mi) east of Perth, Western Australia. Proclaimed as a national park in November 1900, it was the first national park in Western Australia.
Mundaring is a suburb located 34 km east of Perth, Western Australia on the Great Eastern Highway. The suburb is located within the Shire of Mundaring.
Darlington, Western Australia, is a locality in the Shire of Mundaring on the Darling Scarp, bisected by Nyaania Creek and north of the Helena River.
The Eastern Railway is the main railway route between Fremantle and Northam in Western Australia. It opened in stages between 1881 and 1893. The line continues east to Kalgoorlie as the Eastern Goldfields Railway.
Bellevue is an eastern suburb of Perth, Western Australia in the local government areas of the City of Swan and the Shire of Mundaring. It is at the foot of the slopes of Greenmount, a landmark on the Darling Scarp that is noted in the earliest of travel journals of the early Swan River Colony.
Greenmount is a locality and a geographical feature in the Shire of Mundaring, Western Australia, on the edge of the Darling Scarp. It is a vital point in the transport routes from the Swan Coastal Plain into the hinterland of Western Australia.
The Swan View Tunnel is a former railway tunnel located on the southern side of the Jane Brook valley in the outer Perth suburb of Swan View in the John Forrest National Park on the edge of the Darling Scarp. After its closure as a railway tunnel, it reopened as part of the John Forrest Heritage Trail, a rail trail.
The Railway Reserves Heritage Trail – also on some maps as Rail Reserve Heritage Trail or Rail Reserves Historical Trail, and frequently referred to locally as the Bridle Trail or Bridle Track – is within the Shire of Mundaring in Western Australia.
Glen Forrest is a suburb within the Shire of Mundaring, south of John Forrest National Park, west of Mahogany Creek, east of Darlington, and north of the Helena River. Its northern boundary is determined by the Great Eastern Highway.
The Mundaring Weir Branch Railway was constructed from Mundaring, Western Australia to the site of the Mundaring Weir, and opened on 1 June 1898.
Mundaring Weir is a concrete gravity dam located 39 kilometres (24 mi) from Perth, Western Australia in the Darling Scarp. The dam and reservoir form the boundary between the suburbs of Reservoir and Sawyers Valley. The dam impounds the Helena River.
Swan View is an eastern suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Its local government areas are the City of Swan and the Shire of Mundaring. It is 25 kilometres (16 mi) from Perth in the Perth Hills on the edge of the Darling Scarp, just to the west of the John Forrest National Park, east of Roe Highway and north of the Great Eastern Highway.
Boya is a locality on the Darling Scarp, in the Shire of Mundaring, Western Australia; it is on the south side of Greenmount Hill, and just west of Darlington.
Mahogany Creek is a suburb of Perth, the state capital of Western Australia. It is part of the Shire of Mundaring local government area.
Sawyers Valley is sited on the Great Eastern Highway about 40 kilometres from Perth, Western Australia in the Shire of Mundaring. The community began as a sawmill and railway siding to process timber from the forest surrounding the Helena River to the south. Local employment included forest and Goldfields Water Supply Scheme maintenance, small orchards, and the Midland Railway Workshops. The suburb's name comes from the occupation of many of the first European settlers to the area in the 1860s, who were sawyers working at the local saw-pits. The Sawyers Valley Tavern, which sits on the Highway opposite the Railway Reserve Heritage Trail, was first established in 1882 and the Sawyers Valley railway station was built in 1884.
Helena Valley is the name of a river valley and a locality in the foothills of the Darling Scarp in Perth, Western Australia.
Nyaania Creek is a creek in Western Australia. It is a seasonal tributary that flows into the Helena River with a catchment that moves through a number of hills suburbs just east of the Darling Scarp. Its source is in Mahogany Creek, and it flows through Glen Forrest, Darlington, and Boya before meeting the Helena River at Helena Valley.
The Shire of Mundaring is a local government area in eastern metropolitan Perth, the capital of Western Australia. The Shire covers an area of 645 square kilometres (249 sq mi) and had a population of approximately 38,000 as at the 2016 Census.
Bellevue railway station was a junction station on the Eastern Railway in the Perth suburb of Bellevue.