| Mundaring Weir branch | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 A WAGR Ms class Garratt locomotive with a passenger train at Mundaring Weir, 1930s. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Overview | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Closed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Owner | PWD - then WAGR | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Termini | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Service | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Type | Heavy rail | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| System | WAGR | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operator(s) | PWD - then WAGR | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| History | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opened | 1 June 1898 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Closed | 14 November 1952 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Technical | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Number of tracks | Single | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Track gauge | 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Mundaring Weir Branch Railway was constructed from Mundaring, Western Australia to the site of the Mundaring Weir, and opened on 1 June 1898. [1]
One of the rail lines constructed by the Public Works Department in the early 20th century, the line was specifically built for the construction of the weir, [2] and incorporated a zig zag. [3]
The line taken over by the Western Australian Government Railways some years after its construction. [4]
The branch was popular for picnics and excursions to the weir between the 1920s [5] and 1940s. [6] The current route of Mundaring Weir Road crosses the formation of the railway at two locations before the site of former No 2 Power station, and is parallel from the Weir road junction to the Mundaring Weir Hotel.
Due to the steep grades down to Mundaring Weir, a limited range of locomotives were permitted to be run on the line.
In the 1940s the declining availability of Msa Garratt steam locomotives affected the number excursion trains that could run to the weir. This was a particular problem during times when the weir overflowed, because the Msa Garratt seemed to be the only engine in service capable of negotiating the steep gradients.
Due to lack of activity on the line in the early 1950s it was closed on 14 November 1952. A bill to officially close the line passed state parliament in December 1952. [7] [8]
Services on the connecting line, Mundaring Branch Railway, ceased traffic on 23 January 1954. The line was closed by parliament in 1966. [9]
Different proposals since 1966 to resurrect the railway line as a tourist attraction have not materialised.
The branch commenced to the east of the Mundaring Railway Station yard.
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.
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.
The Helena River is a tributary of the Swan River in Western Australia. The river rises in country east of Mount Dale and flows north-west to Mundaring Weir, where it is dammed. It then flows west until it reaches the Darling Scarp.
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 Upper Darling Range Railway was a branch railway from Midland Junction, Western Australia, that rose up the southern side of the Helena Valley and on to the Darling Scarp via the Kalamunda Zig Zag. At the time of construction it was the only section of railway in Western Australia to have had a zig zag formation.
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.
The Flinders Bay Branch Railway, also known as the Boyanup to Flinders Bay Section ran between Boyanup and Flinders Bay, in South Western Western Australia. The section from Flinders Bay to Busselton has now been converted into a rail trail for bushwalkers and cyclists, called the Wadandi Trail.
The WAGR Msa class was a class of 2-6-0+0-6-2 Garratt articulated steam locomotives. The class was built at the Midland Railway Workshops and operated by the Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) between 1930 and 1963. It was the first Garatt type to be designed and constructed entirely in Australia.
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.
The Midland Junction railway station was an important junction station on the Eastern Railway of Western Australia until its closure in 1966.
The Goldfields Water Supply Scheme is a pipeline and dam project that delivers potable water from Mundaring Weir in Perth to communities in Western Australia's Eastern Goldfields, particularly Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie. The project was commissioned in 1896 and completed in 1903.
The South Western Railway, also known as the South West Main Line, is the main railway route between Perth and Bunbury in Western Australia.
Swan View railway station, Perth was a railway station of significance on the Eastern Railway in Western Australia. In all working timetables during the operation of this line, the station was the point of control for the Swan View Tunnel.
The WAGR V class was the last class of steam locomotive to enter service with the Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR). The class was part of the post war regeneration plan for the WAGR, intended for the heavy coal traffic between the Collie coal fields and Perth.
The H class was a class of two steam locomotives operated by the Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) introduced in 1889.
The Adelaide Timber Company was a family saw mill company that had timber mills and timber railway lines across a number of locations in Australia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
Kattamordo Heritage Trail is a walk track in the Shire of Mundaring and the City of Kalamunda in the Darling Range.
The Northcliffe Branch, also known as the Northcliffe Section or Picton to Northcliffe Line, is the railway route between Picton and Northcliffe in Western Australia.
