There were eight of us on this social outing. Ann and Brian Hanrahan, Jennifer and Paul Hopfe with their son Trevor and his friend Dion, and Beryl and Wal Phelps.We all met at Clarence Station before 11.00amd and after some discussion we decided to wait for the 11.40am diesel vintage rail motor tour. This tour took about two and a half hours and combines the trip down the zig-zag on the vintage rail motor, a tour of the rail workshops at the bottom and the return journey to Clarence on the steam train. It also gave us plenty of time to have our picnic lunch at the bottom of the zig-zag.
It was a perfect pre-spring day; comfortably warm, but not too hot; very little breeze and no flies. We had plenty of time before our tour started so we took the opportunity to have either a cup of coffee or an ice-cream before boarding the old rail motor.
Once under way, and as we commenced our descent along the original 1860’s railway line into the Lithgow Valley, the guard gave a running commentary on the Zig-Zag Railway. The line passes through the Clarence Tunnel, over magnificent sandstone viaducts through deep cuttings with stops along the way with views over Lithgow’s last coal mine poppet head and the Zig-Zag Brewery, makers of Wombat Beer.
We made our first special stop at No. 1 viaduct where we were able to leave the train and watch the steam train, that had left about 40 minutes before us, pass below the No. 1 viaduct pulling hard as it made its ascent to the Top Points Station. This stop also provided a grand view of the three magnificent sandstone viaducts and views across the Lithgow Valley. Back on the train again we proceeded on to Top Points Station where we passed the steam train before continuing on towards Bottom Points Station. We stopped again below No. 1 viaduct, where we were again able to leave the train and watch the steam train pass over the viaduct high above us. All these stopping points provided excellent vantage points for those with cameras to get some great photos of the trains and magnificent stonework in these huge viaducts spanning the gaps between the hills where the track descends into the valley.
At Bottom Points we were taken on a tour of the railway depot and workshops and the fully operational signal box. The workshop houses a number of locomotives and carriages in various stages of restoration and maintenance.
We had lunch at Bottom Points Station before boarding the old steam train for the long, hard haul back up the zig-zag to Clarence Station where we said our good-byes home after a thoroughly enjoyable days outing.
Wal Phelps.