South Maitland Railway - Lines Worked By The SMR

Lines Worked By The SMR

The first section of the line was opened to East Greta in 1893. This line was built by the East Greta Coal Mining Company to service their East Greta Colliery. This colliery was joined in 1896 by the East Greta No.2 Colliery which was located towards Maitland.

In 1901 the railway line was extended from East Greta to Stanford Merthyr Colliery which was also owned by the East Greta Company. This line initially also served Pelaw Main Colliery (owned by J & A Brown) & Heddon Greta Colliery. Haulage from Pelaw Main only lasted a short period as, after the 1905 opening of the nearby J & A Brown owned Richmond Vale Railway, the coal from this colliery was hauled over the RVR line to Hexham. Several small collieries were later opened along the Stanford Merthyr branch.

In 1901 The Australian Agricultural Company and the Aberdare Collieries of NSW Ltd commenced construction of the Aberdare Railway to Cessnock, this line branched off the Stanford Merthyr line at a point that was named Aberdare Junction. This line was opened in stages, the section to Weston being opened on 29 December 1902, with the final section to Cessnock being completed in February 1904.

A passenger service was run over this line terminating at Cessnock Station. Several collieries were soon opened adjoining this line, being Hebburn Colliery (later Hebburn No.1) at Weston by the AA Co. in 1901, Abermain Colliery (later Abermain No.1) at Abermain by the Abermain Coal Co. in 1903, Neath Colliery at Neath by the Wickham & Bullock Island Coal Co in 1906 and Aberdare Colliery at Caledonia by Caledonian Collieries Ltd in 1905.

With the expansion of traffic the single track main line was duplicated in sections, the first being from East Greta Junction to East Greta in August 1903, followed by East Greta to Aberdare Junction in September 1906. Duplication to Cessnock was completed in February 1912. The Stanford Merthyr branch from Aberdare Junction to Standford Merthyr remained single track.

In 1906 an end-on junction was made at Cessnock station for a short branch to Aberdare Extended Colliery. In 1911 a branch line was constructed off the Aberdare Railway main line at Bellbird Junction (near Cessnock) to Bellbird Colliery by the Hetton Coal Co., which entered into an agreement with the East Greta Co for coal haulage. In 1916 this branch was extended to Pelton Colliery which was being developed by the Newcastle Wallsend Coal Co. In 1913 Caledonian Collieries constructed a branch line off the Aberdare railway main line to Aberdare South Colliery, and this was followed in 1914 by a separate branch to Aberdare Central Colliery.

In 1917 a second branch line was constructed from Bellbird Junction by the Wickham & Bullock Island Coal Co. to their new Cessnock Colliery (later Cessnock No.2). In the 1920s they extended this line to Kalingo Colliery (later Cessnock No.1). Several branch lines were built off the Kalingo extension to service collieries owned by other companies.