Mundaring Branch Railway

Last updated May 24, 2022

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.

Name variation

It has had a number of names in WAGR records – including:

Smiths Mill Line (locality later known as Glen Forrest) after the Eastern Railway was moved to the new line to the north – 1890s to 1920s^[1]^[2]
The Mundaring Loop, or Mundaring Line – 1930s to 1950s^[3]

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.

Connections

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]

Closure

Traffic ceased running in 1954;^[8] the line was closed by Parliament in 1966.^[9]

Following closure, it eventually became part of the Railway Reserve Heritage Trail.

Stopping places and sidings

Bellevue
Greenmount
Greenmount Quarry siding
Mountain Quarry siding
Boya
Hudman Road Quarry siding
Darlington
Glen Forrest (originally Smith's Mill)
Statham Brickworks Siding
Nyaannia
Zamia (highest point on line at 1,007 feet)
Mundaring
Mundaring Weir line just outside Mundaring railway yard
Sawyers Valley
Mount Helena

Related Research Articles

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 and the second in Australia after Royal National Park.

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 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 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.

Mundaring Weir is a 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.

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.

Bellevue railway station was a junction station on the Eastern Railway in the Perth suburb of Bellevue.

References

↑ "SMITH'S MILL RAILWAY SERVICE". The West Australian . Perth: National Library of Australia. 9 January 1909. p. 9. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
↑ "SPECIAL EXCURSION to MUNDARING WEIR". The Sunday Times . Perth: National Library of Australia. 26 October 1913. p. 16. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
↑ "HILLS TRANSPORT". The West Australian . Perth: National Library of Australia. 9 December 1937. p. 14. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
↑ "THE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT". The Inquirer & Commercial News . Perth: National Library of Australia. 22 November 1895. p. 12. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
↑ "HILLS ALLOTMENTS". The West Australian . Perth: National Library of Australia. 25 May 1933. p. 15. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
↑ Le Page, J. S. H. (1986) Building a state : the story of the Public Works Department of Western Australia 1829-1985 Leederville, W.A : Water Authority of Western Australia. ISBN 0-7244-6862-5 page 216.
↑ "SAWYER'S VALLEY REQUESTS". Western Mail . Perth: National Library of Australia. 21 January 1898. p. 48. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
↑ "Railway Closure Draws Protest". The West Australian . Western Australia. 7 January 1954. p. 7. Retrieved 16 January 2020– via Trove.
↑ Spillman, Ken (2003), Life was meant to be here : community and local government in the Shire of Mundaring, Shire of Mundaring, ISBN 978-0-9592776-3-0 chapter 7 Unmaking Tracks pp. 105–120 for a good summary of events