Had a good day out on the resurrected Mt Lyall mining railway. It covers about 35 km between Strahan (the port) and Queenstown (the copper mine). About 2/3 is conventional diesel loco but there is about 10 km which uses a specialised steam engine and 3 rail track. The Abt system (that's the inventor's name) uses a double rack and pinion to tackle the steepest grades in Australia. You can see the third rail in the photos.
The owners have a good system with twin trains running in opposite directions; the diesel loco from Strahan to the mid changeover point and the Abt steam loco from there to Queenstown. You can see the steam loco going on to the turntable to change ends. A coach/bus returned us to Strahan.
It was a very pleasant day with three stops along the way so you could get up close to the rainforest. The biggest treeferns I've seen.
The original builders are to be commended as most didn't believe a railway could be built in such mountainous terrain. The mine switched to road transport in the 60s and it took a determined group to resurrect the railway and bring it into the 21st century as a major tourist attraction. The steam loco is over 100 years old and has been completely rebuilt. It originally came in pieces from Scotland with no 'how to build an Abt loco' instructions. It took the engineers just 30 days to get it up and running.
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