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After our visit to the steel foundry, we rode up the mountain to Clarence and the Zig Zag Railway. We took a ride on a restored steam locomotive train into the valley. The railway is incredible, and is an engineering feat now, let alone 150 years ago. The Zig Zag Railway is in the Blue Mountains between Bell and Lithgow and is an incredibly steep railroad line completed in 1869 and replaced in 1910. It was designed to handle very steep descents into a valley in a abrupt way, and it was built into a side of a cliffside in the shape of a 'Z'. It literally zig-zags down the valley, reversing at two points to make it down. It was a great day out, and alot of fun. And the fire was growing even closer to us...

We rode up to the top of Mt. Bell after visiting the foundry ruins, this is a view towards Katoomba   Lookig towards Clarence, that is the railway on the left of the road   The fire is one valley over...   ...and the Bell's Line of Road is closed now.               The riding was great here as well.   A view of the valley the train passes thru, with the fire in the background   The railway station at Clarence. We were concerned they were not running due to the fire, but we lucked out   The Hogwarts Express train stops here too....               The trains, the station, everything has been restored by an all volunteer staff....   ...who run and manage the entire operation as well.   The 'City of Lithgow' is a locomotive engine built in 1956   The steam locomotives only runs on Saturday, you get a diesel-electric during the week, and we arranged our trip around to ride it.               Steam locomotives need alot of water, and we enjoyed watching them prep for our journey.   The cab and controls   Filling the tender   The engineers let you in and would answer any questions you had               Another view of the cab   The Zig Zag Railway was built between 1866 and 1869, and acclaimed a major engineering feat of its time.   Everyone loves trains!                 The hill at the top of the photo is where I took the 2nd photo in this set   The Top of the 'Z' is Top Road, then Middle Road. The bottom Road is now only a short section leading to the Depot; the rest remains part of NSW State...   The track passes over three magnificent sandstone viaducts, through two tunnels.   There are striking views over the surrounding countryside.               Our fist stop, the train changes directions here for the middle part of the 'Z'   The Zig Zag consists of a series of sloping tracks forming the letter "Z" with reversing stations at Top and Bottom Points.   No turntables, the train backs up and the reverses   and now it is at the rear, pushing the train, so the engineer can see the track               Looking down into Lithgow from the second pass   One of the viaducts, you can really see the 'Z' from here   The fact it was built in 4 years is amazing when you really see the terrain                     The second turn around...   ..and the locomotive changes directions again               On our way back up     Pulling into the station   After the train, we headed west towards Tarana               It was a great riding road, and you can see the effects of the drought   The Tarana Hotel was reccomended to us, and it was worth the detour.   A pint and a great sandwich were to be had here,   On to Katoomba and the Blue Mountains

 

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