Burnie Railway Station

Burnie Railway Station was the terminus for a regional railway network for both commercial and passenger trade. Built railway infrastructure is increasingly rare in Tasmania, and the Station building is a very good example of its type. The Burnie Railway Station has a special association with the work and development of the Emu Bay Railway Company, one of the longest lasting and most successful private railway companies in Australia. The railway was of vital importance to West Coast mining operations, and from its establishment provided essential passenger services in an area with few roads.

The site consists of the rail yard and the 1914 railway station constructed for the Emu Bay Railway Company in the Federation Free Style of architecture, with decorative gable details and timber fretwork to the verandah valances and balustrades.


Photo: TasPorts

Burnie Railway Station and associated rail yard adjoins the Port of Burnie. Being the nearest Tasmanian port to Melbourne and the Australian mainland, it handles a large proportion of the general cargo freight in and out of Tasmania. It is Tasmania's largest general cargo port and was once Australia's fifth largest container port. As with other ports in Tasmania, it is operated by the government owned TasPorts.

Burnie Railway History

In 1875, the VDL Co. began works on constructing a horse drawn tramway from Waratah to Burnie, over a distance of some 45 miles. At the coast, the line extended to the port and a station was erected near Spring Street, and a large stable block was built nearby. This first permanent transport solution guaranteed Burnie’s role as a major port for the shipping of West Coast minerals, a role that continues to this day. The tramway opened in 1878, but was soon found to be inadequate. From 1883-84, the wooden horse drawn tramway was replaced by a 3ft 6in gauge railway to be powered by steam locomotives. This reliable and more efficient system was of great benefit to the West Coast settlements, and to Burnie itself, particularly when linked with the Government railway in 1901, giving Burnie a direct connection with Launceston and Hobart (Mercer, 196 (171- 173).

In 1887 the VDL Co. sold the railway to the Emu Bay and Mount Bischoff Railway ompany. The decline in production at Mount Bischoff threatened the success of the railway, and it was extended to the further fields of Zeehan, Dundas, Mt Read and Rosebery under the operation of the Emu Bay Railway Company. This connection ensured that Burnie retained the economic benefits from mining, and the railway company played a major role in both the town and the port. Its foundry and engineering workshops in South Burnie had become the largest employer by the early twentieth century.

Sentinal Steam wagon at Burnie yard 1930's

Burnie’s industry, including the Emu Bay Railway Company played a role in the war effort on the home front during World War Two. The Company carried out extensive munitions production, as well acting as direct contractors and sub-contractors for the Transport Department. In meeting the demand, the Railway Company worked almost continuous shifts during the early years of the war. The works carried out included producing a large quantity of machine tool parts for all classes of lathes, shaping machines and drop hammers, construction of a five-ton crane, sets of trolley wheels and axles for the use in other factories, panel bridging, pontoons, anchor windlasses, winches, equipment for the Tasmania Shipbuilding Board and casting of moulds for ammunition factories.

All the patterns for this work were made by the Railway Company and all castings were produced in its foundry. All the castings were machined in their workshops with the exception of one or two of the extremely large items.

By the 1880s, a sandy track followed the coast to the east and west of Burnie, and was being travelled by regular coach services. In turn, coaches were replaced by buses and private cars. The road to Launceston was macadamised in 1885. In 1901, the Government Railway was extended to Burnie, and later to Circular Head in 1922. In conjunction with the Emu Bay Railway Company, Burnie became the centre of a regional rail network during the early twentieth century. The Emu Bay Railway was purchased by Australian Transport Network on 22 May 1998, thus merging that line with the remainder of the system that company then operated. Today known as the Melba line, it was excluded from the 2007 lease arrangement.

Tasman Limited

Though there are no passenger sevices on the line today - in fact the line now stops at Burnie - there was once a passenger train which ran from Wynyard to Launceston, and then on to Hobart. Called the Tasman Limited, the service started in 1954 running from Hobart to Launceston to Wynyard, with 26 stops in between, and ended in 1978. It was considered the state’s great luxury passenger train.”

The patriarchal, eight-hour train service allowed Tasmanians, especially those living in regional areas, to travel and see other places in the state. It was very comfortable for its time, there was a buffet car to get something to eat, and people really enjoyed the trip. The train used to carry a name board, so the Hobart to Launceston was called the Tamar and the Launceston to Wynyard was called the Table Cape, but going Wynyard to Launceston it was called the Launcestonian, and when it left for Hobart, it changed to the Derwent,” Mr Brun said.

Toni-Anne Carrol worked the Wynyard to Western Junction line. Her most vivid memory of the train was when it derailed near Campbell Town; passengers were loaded onto a bus, driven across paddocks and fed at the Campbell Town pub, before being driven to Hobart. “I was 19 and it was my first year of uni - there was no warning, just a massive thud and over we went. I went flying from my window seat.” Carol later worked on the Tasman Limited as a hostess and was famous for her amusing commentary, and everyone used to mimic it.

The Tasman Limited was very well patronised in the ‘50s and ‘60s but by the 1970s everyone was traveling in cars and the train became unnecessary. During its most popular time the train is believed to have carried up to 200 passengers, but towards its end, numbers dwindled to around 15 passengers per trip.

In common with many railway systems, Tasmania's was of necessity exploited by overuse and under-maintenance during the Second World War. By the 1970s passenger patronage was in such decline, there was insufficient revenue being generated to warrant upgrading Tasmania's passenger trains, and a decision was made to withdraw the service. The last passenger train from Wynyard to Hobart ran on 18th July 1978. The the ABC studios have been built on the site of the former Hobart railway station. Much of the passenger rolling stock went to the Tasmanian Railway Museum at Glenorchy, with some going to the Don River Preservation Railway based in Devonport.

The Melba Line

The Melba Line is a 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) narrow-gauge railway on the West Coast of Tasmania. It is the line originally constructed as a private railway line named the Emu Bay Railway. While at present the line travels from Burnie to Melba Flats, it previously ran through to Zeehan carrying minerals and passengers as an essential service for the West Coast community.

In the 1870s, the Van Diemen's Land Company engaged John C. Climie to undertake a survey of a line from near Burnie to Mount Bischoff. On 1 February 1878 a 71 kilometres (44 mi), horse drawn wooden tramway opened from Emu Bay (Burnie) to Rouse’s Camp, near Waratah to serve the Mount Bischoff tin mines. In 1887, the line was taken over by the Emu Bay to Mount Bischoff Railway Company and relaid with steel rails as 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge railway line to allow steam locomotives to operate. In 1897 the Emu Bay Railway Company took over the line, extending it 60 kilometres to Zeehan on 21 December 1900.

At its peak as a steam operation the railway had approximately 23 stopping or named places (including names for watering locations and other passenger operation related points) on its line and adjacent lines. For a short period in the 1960s before the completion of the Murchison Highway, the railway had a passenger and road vehicle train named the West Coaster between Burnie and Zeehan from 1961 to 1964. On the 8th March 1964 the last train to Zeehan was run as a (A.R.E.A) Special train.

Following the opening of the Murchison Highway, the line was closed between Rosebery and Zeehan in August 1965. After being sold in 1967 to EZ Industries, the line was upgraded to carry heavier trains and in January 1970 reopened from Rosebery to Melba Flats. During the construction of the Pieman River hydro electric scheme in the late 1970s the line was diverted in places and new bridges were built.

The Melba Line was included in the October 1984 sale of EZ Industries to North Broken Hill Peko, which in 1988 merged with CRA Limited to form Pasminco. In 1989 an 11 kilometre branch opened from Moorey Junction to serve Aberfoyle’s Hellyer Mine. On 22 May 1998, the line was sold by Pasminco to the Australian Transport Network and integrated into its Tasrail business. In February 2004 it was included in the sale of Tasrail to Pacific National and in September 2009 to the government owned TasRail.

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