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Sun 26 Apr 1953 - The Sunday Herald (Sydney, NSW : 1949 - 1953)
Page 13 - The Great Zig-Zag Was Engineering Wonder
?Part of the great Zig-zag near Lithgow, replaced in 1910 by a series of tunnels. Help
?Part of the great Zig-zag near Lithgow, replaced in 1910 by a series of tunnels.
ïk Great
fe-Zajj Was Engineering Wonder
TRAVELLERS "by rail'
from Sydney to the
western districts of New '
South Wales up to 1910 '
and the thrill of descending ,
from the western end of the
Blue Mountains to the
plains by the Great West-
ern Zig-zag.
This was one of the most
remàrkable railway engineer
ing works in Australia, and
attraced the attention of rail
way engineers in other parts
of the world.
Substantial parts of the Zig- <
Zag remain near Lithgow and
and among the sights of the
district.
The remarkable work was
opened on October l8, 1869,
having been constructed by
John Whitton, Chief Engineer
of the New South Wales Rail
ways, assisted by George
Cowdery and other engineers
of the department.
The highest level reached
by the rails. 3,658 feet, was at
Clarence Siding, past which
the rails suddenly descended
iO feet in little more than a
miie "as the crow flies." The
Zig-zag, with its approaches,
was 15 miles 10 chains long,
and four miles of zig-zag track
had to be cut out of the pre-
cipitous cliff.
In October, 1910, the pre-
sent series of tunnels replaced
the Zig-zag.
There was a- smaller Zig-
zag over Knapsack Gully, be-
tween Penrith and Glenbrook,
and one of the viaducts of
that work is now incorporated
in the main vehicle highway to
the west.
The section of the western
railway line to Penrith was
opened in Penrith on July 7,
1862. On July 11, 1867, the
next section was opened to
Weatherboard (now Went-
worth Falls), and included the
Knapsack Gully Zig-zag. The
line was extended to Mount
Victoria on May 1, 1868, and
the next section of the line
from Mount Victoria to
Bowenfels, which included the
Great Zig-zag, was opened on
October l8, 1869.
The ascent by the railway
from the coastal side had been
difficult, trains, having to
climb 1,000 feet in nine miles,
but that was elementary rail-
way building compared witlii
the descent from the moun-
tains on the western side.
A journey over the Great
Zig-zag by day provided many
glorious views, and there was
excitement in abundance by
night during heavy mountain
thunderstorms. There was only
a single line over the Zig-zag.
and passengers could easily
imagine that the train was
clinging to the side of the pre-
cipitous mountains. One could
not wish for a greater thrill
as the train descended from
the Top Points near Clarence
Siding to the Bottom Points
near Eskbank, with dazzling
lightning playing round the
valley, the booming of thun-
der echoing among the moun-
tains, and heavy rain pelting
against the windows of the
railway carriages.
The Little Zig-zag was the
first to be eliminated. The
Glenbrook tunnel was opened
on December l8, 1892, and
another deviation was carried
out on the duplication of the
line in May, 1913. The Great
Zig-zag survived its little bro-
ther by eight years.
I -G. A. KING.
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