Belmont Railway Line - The Redhead Coal Mining Company

The Redhead Coal Mining Company

In 1881, the Redhead Coal Mining Company Limited obtained rights over 4,123 acres (16.69 km2) of coal bearing lands lying near the headland of that name, and by 1883 had expended some £25,000 in sinking a shaft, installing machinery, and other improvements. In order to transport the coal to Newcastle, the Company was desirous of constructing a railway 6¼ miles long, junctioning with the Government line, then under construction, at Adamstown. The necessary act was passed on 14 April 1885, and five years was allowed for the completion of the line. However, trouble developed in that it was found that the population reserve adjoining Newcastle encroached on the Company's property, and that several other portions had been taken up by different persons. This led to court proceedings and it was not until 1887 that the position had become sufficiently stabilised to warrant the Company proceeding with the construction of the line. As by this time the Company's five-year period prescribed by the act had nearly expired, an amending act was obtained on 5 June 1888, granting a further five year. On 21 December of that year, another amending act was passed authorising, amongst other things, deviations in the route, a branch to the South Burwood Coal Company's colliery, and an extension of the rights of construction to the northern shores of Lake Macquarie, through or near the village of Belmont.

The railway, as authorised in the amended act, was to leave the Great Northern Railway at Adamstown and continue in a southerly direction, passing under Charlestown by a tunnel, continue through the Company’s Burwood Estate (where a coal mine was being opened up) and terminate in the Company's Redhead Estate, a distance of 6 miles 31 chains, also for a branch line to be constructed leaving the abovementioned railway at a point 2¾ miles from Adamstown, known later as Dudley Junction, and running in a south-east direction to the South Burwood Coal Company's Estate, a distance of 1 mile 58 chains from the Junction.