Australia Day in the Blue Mountains

Not just Australia Day in fact. A two night stay. Knowing full well how political it gets in Sydney on Australia Day I just had to get out of the city. 

For Australia Day itself (Friday 26th) we booked a ride on the famous Zig-Zag Railway. Finally after more than 3 years of trying we got to see that incredible feat of engineering. Then we stayed in Mount Victoria for a couple of nights.

The Zig Zag Railway

The Zig Zag heritage railway, is situated near Lithgow, on the western side of the Blue Mountains, It was opened by the not-for-profit Zig Zag Railway Co-op as an unpaid volunteer-staffed heritage railway in October 1975. This used to be part of the Main Western line between 1869 and 1910. The line literally zig-zags its way up the mountain to gain height. 

The railway has had its fair share of bad luck. It was suspended in 2012 following accreditation issues with the New South Wales government (bloody politicians eh). Then it was then severely damaged during the 2013 NSW bushfires and then subsequently by torrential rain. After years of repair work it was planned to re-commence limited operations in 2019, until the 2019–2020 bushfires caused more damage. Then our old friend covid-19 further delayed everything. Despite all of these calamities heritage train services resumed on 27 May 2023. And now in early 2024 here we were…

The Lithgow Zig Zag was constructed as part of the Main Western line and opened on the 19 October 1869. Between Lithgow and Clarence, the Main Western line needed to climb the western flank of the Blue Mountains, overcoming a vertical distance of 550 ft (170 m). The line had a ruling grade of 1:42 (~2.38%) on three inclines known as the Top Road (above Top Points), Middle Road (between the two zig zags) and Bottom Road (below Bottom Points). The route between these “points” zig zags to form a “Z” shaped line which includes several tunnels and viaducts.

Of course there was a similar set of zig-zagging tracks on the eastern side of the Blue Mountains to reach the first stop in the mountains at Glenbrook. We saw some remains of that old line on a mountain walk some time ago. Almost 3 years ago in fact, it was the Queen’s Birthday weekend in June 2021 – see here for that post. 

We then spent the next two nights in Mount Victoria, a small township on the western side of the mountain range and an absolute gem of a place. Look out for a future post on Mount Victoria.

If you enjoyed this post please  remember to “like” and subscribe. Also please feel free to share it with friends, family and colleagues.