Rack Railways of Australia

Rack Railways of Australia

by David Jehan

Published by the author.

112 pages A4 size, soft cover, 83 photographs, 6 chapters, 36 maps/diagrams/drawings, References and bibliography

This book was first published in 1997. This edition, published in 2003, includes a one page review of changes since 1997, notably the re-opening of the Mount Lyell Railway as a tourist operation, and the closure of the Ellalong Colliery underground colliery railway.

This book describes the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company’s rack railway in Tasmania, which closed in 1963; the Queensland Government Railways Kabra – Mount Morgan rack railway operated until 1952; the Skitube Rack Railway in the Kosciusko National Park; an underground colliery rack and adhesion railway; and an underground rack railway used in tunnel construction.

Also included is an introductory chapter describing the development of rack railways, and the different types used throughout the world, and a chapter describing the steam locos used on the Mount Lyell and Mount Morgan lines.

The photographs are excellent, and the text is backed up by well presented diagrams, drawings and maps. Apart from the high quality of the graphics, the great strength of this book is that it presents technical details in an easy to read non-technical way.