Re: Helena Valley Line WA

["David & Jan Winter" <winterd@nospam-icenet.com.au>]

If I may pick up the threads here again.

Clearly some contributors live outside WA. I would encourage you to consult
your old maps.

The lines in Question are:

1. Midland Junction (not West) - Kalamunda - Pickering Brook (triangle
junction) - Karagullen.

This was called the Upper Darling Range Railway. It ran through the
meatworks, and had a spur serving a brickworks on the other bank of the
Helena River. Much of the trackbed is intact. Notable exceptions are the
Ambulance station and Library at Kalamunda,
and its use as a road in Walliston. The Tonkin Hwy construction has
obliterated a stretch of
trackbed at Hazelmere.


This is the Zig Zag line, and has magnificent views. Perhaps we could
think of it as WA's "Great Zig Zag".

2. Original main eastern line.

>From Midland Junction through Bellevue, Koongamia (a very late addition
after the through line had been closed), Greenmount, Boya, Darlington, Glen
Forrest, Mahagonay Creek, Mundaring, Sawyers Valley to Mt Helena, thence
Chidlow('s Well) and on to York, etc.


At Mundaring, a branch was built to Mundaring Wier for contruction purposes.
It remained in service for many years afterwards for excursion trains until
the motor car took its toll.

It used a zig zig to drop into the Helena River's valley. Perhaps we could
call this the "Little Zig Zag".
(There were of course zig zags used on the timber company lines.)


This is the line of route of the dual gauge, until the junction at Bellevue,
where the modern line turns along route 3. below for a short distance.There
is no significant logistical reason why the line to Mundaring could not be
restored, and worked by high horsepower diesel railcars - there are major
economic negatives, however.

3. Replacement main line.

Diverted at Bellevue, through Swan View, National Park and Parkerville to Mt
Helena. Up trains (downhill) ran through the tunnel, down trains ran uphill
around the cut, added later. Still in use to Great Eastern Hwy crossing,
where dual gauge main line swings through site of Helena Vale racecourse
sidings and onto points east and north.

Correspondents seems to have confused these three lines. Please consult your
maps.

A second thread seems to have opened up about the suburban extension via
Canning Vale to points south and south west. The freight operator opposes
use of its line for
passenger working, though current thinking is to single the freight line,
and add a third track. The reasons lie in the policy of separating suburban
and freight movements - there is negligible freight under the wires. If a
15-min interval service was adopted for the Southern line (as applies for
off-peak weekdays on the existing sparks), the performance demands on
freight would add to the cost of metro movements, which the freight
operators naturally oppose. They also fear peak period curfews, like Sydney.
As for height clearance, perhaps we could mention that Perth's sparks have
been generally so successful they are overfull. Only 5 extra units have been
ordered, and they will barely soak up the existing overload. Thus, the
Southern line would need additional rollingstock. Suitable pans for a 6.25m+
wire could be specced, so that's not a core problem.

I support the suggestion that extending the route from Fremantle be the
first stage. But I found over 10 years ago that I was swimming uphill ....
When I was trying to get into Transperth employment, I talked to people
there. Even back in the mid-80s, the mindset was firmly against a Fremantle
route. The fact of existing, underused infrastructure is of little
attraction when there is an adverse mindset. Perhaps, with the degree of
"open access" (Hotham Valley get to use their own drivers - which is a
change from my last trip with them) now applicable, there is an opening for
a low budget railcar outfit to test market along the existing
infrastructure.

There have been "Metro Circle" workings around Perth, using the freight
avoiding route from Woodbridge Junction at West Midland via Forrestfield and
Canning Vale through Cockburn Junction. Trains tended to run anticlockwise
(Perth to Fremantle to Forrestfield to East Guildford to Perth), and
ARHS(WA) operated until their DD (I think it was) 4-6-4T needed repairs
beyond the Society's funding. Since then, Hotham Valley have done some runs
using the ubiquitous W's.

There is a lot of freight traffic on this route but almost all of it now
turns south at Cockburn Junction. There had been short haul grain transfer
trains from North Fremantle to Kwinana. Some suggestion of container
transfer traffic into the Inner Harbour container facility has floated
lately. Info, anyone? So, between Fremantle and Cockburn Junction is now in
danger of closure and recovery of trackwork.

As for widening the Narrows Bridge - well Eric Charlton is no longer
Transport Minister. He's got his monument, the City North Bypass (Graham
[Polly] Farmer Freeway). Better lane management would get quite a few more
years out of the old girl, at a fraction of the cost. And, by the way, the
traffic is not dominated by peak direction CBD radial. There's much
intersuburban north-south movement, and much contraflow traffic. These flows
are less easy to channel into high-volume fixed infrastructure, so some
North-South road capacity increase is inevitable. Getting Tonkin Hwy to
freeway standards (it's like Mr Cain's legacy in Melbourne, the South-East
Car Park! - a freeway with traffic lights) will draw some of this traffic
volume away probably a lot cheaper than widening the bridge. The new
bottleneck is the Mt Henry Bridge, where work began yesterday on squeezing a
bus lane in with the 6 traffic lanes. So, to juxtapose the cost as a bad
alternative to a proper railway is to confuse similar but not
interchangeable investment types. Perth will need BOTH, and some pollie will
want a monument.

One writer asked about putting rail down the freeway median. This would be a
larger scale operation than the Joondalup line. South of Leach Hwy, yes -
much the same as north of Stirling. But from the CBD to Leach Hwy throws up
a few "minor" logistical problems - like where does the City Station go. The
Busport will probably disappear under a cultural centre. If the existing
station is used, there's big civil works to get from north of CBD to south
and over the river. The median beyond the Narrows Bridge is too narrow for
most of the route alongside the rivers, so road relocation would be needed.
The pedestrian overpasses would need to be replaced - and no doubt a whole
bevvy of environmental and NIMBY issues will arise, not to mention
disruption of Perth's busiest traffic artery. Then there's Mt Henry, which
needs widening already. With two river bridges, major road relocation, and a
city terminal to provide, why don't we suggest an underground system
instead? - And that might not be as far fetched as it sounds!

With regard to Jarrahdale, I'm saddened to learn that cannabalisation of the
route is likely. If the rail (is it 50kg/m?) is taken up, but sleepers not
recycled, then we have a sporting chance of seeing it relayed with lighter
stuff (say 80lb) within a tourist/council venture funding level - with a
work-for-dole project, maybe? If those who get to talk get talking, maybe
this will get onto the right agendas?

Mundijong-Kwinana would not be taken up - it keeps the Bunbury line freight
off the sparks route. As for a circular route - let's crawl before we run a
4-min. mile. There's some talk in Armadale and Heritage Country about
extending the suburban service again to Byford - this time immediately ahead
of a major urbanisation project in the area south of Byford. Even this in
unlikely to get up unless a staged project with a diesel railcar feeder in
the early years is used to "seed" rail traffic. Having sold off its diesel
railcars, Perth now has no way of trialling prospective routes over existing
rail infrastructure unless someone makes it their business to put some on
rails here again. HVR has a few ADGs, but I wouldn't expect a very positive
response to their use, by owners or by passengers. What is needed is a
light, 110km/h capable, ground-level loading car - a narrow gauge Budd car -
now there's an idea?!

With regard to ARHS (WA) leasing locos, I'm not aware that they have any
serviceable. Hotham Valley does have a rather healthy and exciting stable. I
saw on Sunday that the local council (Murray Shire) is now promoting
Pinjarra as a Steam Town - and it is great to see the sidings full of locos
and rollingstock.

With Pemberton having a V in steam, and use of the line from Manjimup Mill;
and with HVR and its own routes and diverse programme over the residual
narrow gauge network, we certainly are well off in terms of main line
through access for preserved routes in WA. There are some things for which
we should be thankful.

Regards

DW