South Maitland Railway

v t e South Maitland Railway
East Greta No1 Tunnel Colliery coal loader
Legend
km Station 0 Main North line at Maitland East Greta Junction East Greta No.2 Colliery East Greta East Greta No.1 Colliery Aberdare Junction 6 Stanford Merthyr Branch Glen Ayr Colliery Ayrfield No.1 Colliery Ayrfield No.2 Colliery Heddon Greta Bee Siding Kurri Road North Kurri Kurri Stanford Merthyr Colliery Pelaw Main Colliery Richmond Vale railway 14 Weston Hebburn No.1 Colliery Greta Main Colliery Hebburn No.2 Tunnel Colliery Abermain Abermain No.1 Colliery Neath Neath Colliery Abermain No.3 Colliery Hebburn No.2 Colliery Abermain No.2 Colliery Elrington Colliery Aberdare South Colliery Aberdare Central Colliery 22 Caledonia Aberdare Colliery Bellbird Junction 25 Cessnock Aberdare Extended Colliery Cessnock No.2 Colliery Bellbird Colliery Cessnock No.1 Colliery Pelton Colliery Stanford Main No.2 Colliery Maitland Main Colliery Millfield Colliery

The South Maitland Railway was once an extensive network of privately owned colliery and passenger railway lines which served the South Maitland coalfields in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia and were the second last system in Australia to use steam haulage, having used steam locomotives until 1983.^[1]

The last section was mothballed in March 2020 after operations at the Austar coal mine in Pelton were suspended.^[2][3]

Aboriginal heritage

The location of the South Maitland railway corridor was a songline and travel route for the original inhabitants.^[4]

Lines worked by the SMR

The first section of the line was opened to East Greta in 1893.^[5] This line was built by the East Greta Coal Mining Company to service their East Greta Colliery. This colliery was joined in 1896^[6] by the East Greta No.2 Colliery which was located towards Maitland.

In 1901, the railway line was extended from East Greta to Stanford Merthyr Colliery which was also owned by the East Greta Company. This line initially also served

In 1901, The Australian Agricultural Company and the Aberdare Collieries of NSW Ltd commenced construction of the Aberdare Railway to Cessnock, this line branched off the Stanford Merthyr line at a point that was named Aberdare Junction. This line was opened in stages, the section to Weston being opened on 29 December 1902, with the final section to Cessnock being completed in February 1904.^[9]

A passenger service ran over this line terminating at Cessnock station. Several collieries were soon opened adjoining this line, being Hebburn Colliery (later Hebburn No.1) at Weston by the AA Co. in 1901,^[10] Abermain Colliery (later Abermain No.1) at Abermain by the Abermain Coal Co. in 1903,^[11] Neath Colliery at Neath by the Wickham & Bullock Island Coal Co in 1906^[12] and Aberdare Colliery at Caledonia by Caledonian Collieries Ltd in 1905.^[13]

With the expansion of traffic the single track main line was duplicated in sections, the first being from East Greta Junction to East Greta in August 1903, followed by East Greta to Aberdare Junction in September 1906. Duplication to Cessnock was completed in February 1912.^[14] The Stanford Merthyr branch from Aberdare Junction to Standford Merthyr remained single track.

In 1906, an end-on junction was made at Cessnock station for a short branch to Aberdare Extended Colliery.^[15] In 1911, a branch line was constructed off the Aberdare Railway main line at Bellbird Junction (near Cessnock) to Bellbird Colliery by the Hetton Coal Co, which entered into an agreement with the East Greta Co for coal haulage.^[16] In 1916, this branch was extended to Pelton Colliery which was being developed by the Newcastle Wallsend Coal Co.^[17] In 1913, Caledonian Collieries constructed a branch line off the Aberdare railway main line to Aberdare South Colliery,^[18] and this was followed in 1914 by a separate branch to Aberdare Central Colliery.^[19]

In 1917, a second branch line was constructed from Bellbird Junction by the Wickham & Bullock Island Coal Co to their new Cessnock Colliery (later Cessnock No.2).^[20] In the 1920s, they extended this line to Kalingo Colliery (later Cessnock No.1).^[21] Several branch lines were built off the Kalingo extension to service collieries owned by other companies.

Lines worked by the coal companies

In 1912, the Abermain Coal Co. constructed a branch line to Abermain No.2 Colliery at Kearsley. This branch line and the existing Abermain No.1 Colliery sidings were then worked by the Abermain Co. using their own locomotives to the exchange sidings at Abermain where the East Greta Co. (& later SMR) would then work the trains to and from East Greta Junction. In 1923, Abermain Seaham Collieries Ltd opened Abermain No.3 Colliery on this branch.^[14]

When opened by the AA Co., Hebburn No.1 Colliery was worked by locomotives owned by the AA Co. which shunted the trains to and from a set of exchange sidings that were adjacent to Weston station. In 1918, the Hebburn Limited (the successors to the AA Co.) constructed a branch line from the exchange sidings to Hebburn No.2 Colliery, and this line was also worked by Hebburn Ltd using their own locomotives. In 1924, the Hebburn branch was further extended to Elrington Colliery which was jointly owned by Hebburn Ltd and BHP.^[22] This extension was also worked by the Hebburn locomotives to the exchange sidings at Weston.

Passenger services

In June 1902, a passenger service commenced between East Greta Junction and Stanford Merthyr. Intermediate stations were at East Greta and Heddon Greta, and, with the construction of the Aberdare Railway to Cessnock, a station named Aberdare Junction was opened at the junction of the Aberdare & Stanford Railways. Stations were also initially opened at Weston, Abermain, Caledonia and Cessnock, with further stations latter opening at B Siding,

These trains were operated by the East Greta Coal Mining Co, initially using a number of second hand ex New South Wales Government Railways (NSWGR) 4 and 6 wheel passenger carriages. In the following years, additional similar carriages were obtained with the total of these ex NSWGR railway carriages reaching 20. From 1908 to 1925, 16 new bogie end platform carriages similar to the carriages running on the NSWGR were also obtained.^[24][25] A carriage shed was constructed at East Greta Junction to house the passenger carriages when not in use.^[26] With the opening of the line to Cessnock, passenger services were also operated from Cessnock to Maitland. Stations on this line were located at Aberdare Junction, Bee Siding, North Kurri Kurri, Weston, Abermain, Neath, Caledonia and Cessnock.^[27]

Between 1929 and 1930, a lengthy industrial dispute known as the 'lockout' occurred which effectively shut all of the collieries on the South Maitland Coalfield. The railway was soon involved in this dispute with both coal and passenger services being stopped during the dispute. During the dispute, the majority of SMR's passenger carriages were destroyed on 1 March 1930 when the carriage shed at East Greta Junction was burnt down. Negotiations were then entered into with the Department of Railways, New South Wales, for the government railways to take over the passenger service, which occurred on 13 April 1930. In February 1940, a direct Sydney to Cessnock express service was introduced.^[28]

The NSWGR operated services lasted until 1961 when SMR took over the majority of the services when they introduced three railcars built by Tulloch Limited.^[29][30] The services run by SMR lasted until 1967, when the SMR railcar services were withdrawn, with only the few through services run by the NSWGR to and from Broadmeadow remaining.^[31] These ceased in May 1972 when all passenger services ended.^[32][33]

Locomotives

East Greta Coal Mining Co / South Maitland Railways

^[36]

Upon the formation of South Maitland Railways in 1918 the new company took over the existing locomotive fleet of the East Greta Coal Mining Co.^[37] In 1935, with the withdrawal of all the other classes except the three passenger locomotives, the fourteen 2-8-2T wheel arrangement 10 Class became the main motive power, assisted on the shorter runs by the three ex passenger locos (15,16 & 29).

Upon steam working finishing on the SMR in June 1983, operation of the coal trains was taken over by the State Rail Authority with 47 and 48 class locomotives. Following track strengthening Pacific National began operating EL class locomotives on the line in January 2011.^[41][42]

Abermain line

^[43][44]

The three locomotives purchased by the Abermain Coal Company are shown above. In 1922 the Abermain Coal Co. merged with the Seaham Coal Co. to form Abermain Seaham Collieries Ltd. In 1931 Abermain Seaham Collieries merged with J & A Brown to form J & A Brown & Abermain Seaham Collieries Ltd (JABAS). The two Avonside locos kept their Abermain numbers but were transferred to Hexham when requiring major repairs.^[45]

J & A Brown No.5 also worked the Abermain line on loan from the Richmond Vale Railway from October 1936 to September 1939.^[46]

Hebburn line

^{[47][48][49][50][51]}

Locomotives 1, 2, 3, 62xx, 2017 & 2020 were Hebburn Ltd locomotives and worked the branch lines to Hebburn Nos.1 & 2 Collieries & Elrington Colliery. 62xx, 2 & 3 were transferred from the AA Co's Newcastle railway system. 62xx was also used on Aberdare Railway construction trains.^[47][48][49] When loco No.1 failed in 1967 and since Hebburn Ltd was now part of Coal & Allied, J & A Brown No.26 was placed on loan to Hebburn. No.26 soon developed problems and was replaced by J & A Brown 3013, which although despite being bought for the Richmond Vale Railway was transferred to Hebburn upon purchase from the Department of Railways. Upon closure of Hebburn No.2 Colliery in 1972, 3013 was transferred to the RVR at Hexham where it was used until 1976.^[51] J & A Brown No.26 never returned to the RVR & was cut up at Hebburn No.1 Colliery in 1970.^[50]

Wickham & Bullock Island/ Cessnock Collieries

^[20][52]

Safeworking