History
Tasmanian Government Railways opened the Derwent Valley Line in 1886. Initially, it ran from the junction at Bridgewater, on the main north-south Hobart to Devonport line, to New Norfolk, a distance of 18 kilometres. It was extended to 29 km at Plenty in 1887, and then to 41 km at Glenora in 1888. It closely follows the course of the River Derwent for the first 39 km as far as Coniston, and crosses the river at three different points.
The following years saw a number of plans to extend the line further up the Derwent Valley or to connect it to the West Coast. Finally, twenty one years later, in 1909, it was extended along the Tyenna River, another 8 km to what is now Westerway. In 1917 another extension was added to extend the railway to Fitzgerald (66 km), and a final extension was opened in 1936 to Kallista, 74 km from Bridgewater. The last extension replaced an earlier wooden tramway on the same alignment. The primary usage of the line was to provide a service to the rural areas and the logging areas around Kallista. In 1940 there was a significant increase in log traffic along most of the line with the opening of a paper mill at Boyer, 14 km from Bridgewater. This increased traffic resulted in the construction of two deviations and additional facilities at a number of stations.
Sometime later, parts of the railway began to close. Firstly, the logging branches around Kallista, and then the section from Kallista to Florentine were closed. In 1995, TasRail completely closed the line beyond New Norfolk after floods and heavy rain substantially damaged the track.
Read more about this topic: Derwent Valley Railway (Tasmania)
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