Abandoned Oz: Lapstone - Zig Zag Railway

[@kevintoomey8094]

Beautiful old bridge.

[@ClamTram96]

Just gonna give you some info about the lapstone zig zag: Opening in the 1860s, the first type of locomotives to cross this line which was apart of the mainline were the G.23 class (later modified into the Z14), the line zig zaged its way up the steep mountian after passing the knapsack viaduct, this would require trains to decouple and go onto the back of their trains and to repeat this process until they made it up to the top. The line wasn’t big and only had one station, which was called lucusville and was privately owned by a coal barron named John lucus, who had a holiday house next to the zig zag, the line lasted up until the early 1890s when it was replaced by the much quicker and less steep glenbrook tunnel, but after the tunnel’s openinng, problems started to arise like the poor ventilation in tunnel since they decided to cut costs and not build ventilation in the tunnel thinking that the tunnel could naturally provide good ventilation (which was wrong) leading to the tunnel beig duplicated and closed in 1913, beign replaced by the glenbrook gorge which had beennin use ever since. The town of glenbrook has to thank the railways for it’s existence as when the lapstone zig zag opened, a halt was created called water tank, using the water nearby to fuel the steam locos that had came up the hill from the zig zag or the steam locos that were about to go down a very steep zig zag and avoiding colliding into the bufferstop at lucusville, resulting in the locomotive falling into the gully (thankfully there has been no reports of any trains going down into the gully). The town grew over time and later changed its name from water tank to glenbrook. When the new glenbrook tunnel line was being built, glenbrook got its first station just some meters from the tunnel. The station also closed in 1913, resulting in a new station being built. Though one artifact from the forst glenbrook station still remains to this day which is the station sign, which is across the road from the information center. Also after the closure of the lapstone zig zag, the highway followed along the path of the rail line in 1920s and lasted til the 1990s when the modern highway was built, replacing the viaduct, nowadays the remaining parts of the zig zag that weren’t absorbed were made into a rail trail. Hopefully this explained alot about the zig zag’s history

[@bleeksbentbits3150]

There used to be a sign at the station platform (back in late '80's) that showed a woman & kids waiting for the train & a house not far behind it up the hill slightly... It also gave an impression of how few trees were about at the time! It's a pity the vandals have been through to damage & remove the signage & even more so a pity no-one has kept the signage fixed & up to date... Would have been nice if you had've made it over to the Lennox Bridge on the Mitchell's Pass THE original road up the mountains out of Emu Plains) a km or so to the north of there- a very pretty little spot with some excellent convict masonry both in the bridge work &, more importantly, under it.... Thanks for sharing & looking forward to viewing the original tunnel shortly! ;)

[@ahanemone]

I've been here on a school trip. Thanks for the nostalgia!

[@anngabriel5455]

Your videos are awesome. You are taking me to places l could never get to. We have such an awesome country. Thank you

[@MR66HD]

Crazy to think there is so much still there of station considering was closed in 1892

[@ridinginryde]

Love these videos you guys make. This would make a great rail trail

[@sydneyandregionaltrainsvlo6919]

Awesome videos! Keep up the good work! :)

[@Chardt013]

Theres a few old rail lines here in England that have been repurposed and made into trails for walking and cycling, all the old platforms and bridges still there. Theres one where theres a long tunnel you go through thats been kitted out with lighting, problem is theyre solar powered so if you get caught out there when the suns gone down, youre buggerd if you dont have a torch.

[@jimcrawford5039]

There are rail trails in Victoria and other states but not yet in NSW.

[@syphon_9892]

have you been to the maldon-dombarton railway line.

[@grantdavenport2036]

where is this located - I would love to take the kids for a walk along there ? How do you find the start of it ?

[@johnhamilton6003]

Knapsack street, glenbrook. It's at the end of the street and very well signposted. There are lots of walks in the area you can do

[@Fivegeeee]

Technically unused not abandoned, still used as a MTB track and walking track

[@climber222]

This and many other great constructions were built buy the previous civilisation of Tarteria Australis. Physically impossible to build all this in 1800's with horse and cart. Check out Sydney's Garden Palace one of many destroyed to hide the truth. We have inherited this vacant country and infrastructure, his story is a massive lie. I love your work AO

[@annehat4833]

Agree 100%....just checking out railways and country towns ...eg goulburn...forbes..gundagai....cootamundra....just to name a few....also checkout areodromes. ..there also everywhere....most built for ww2....didnt realise we were to be invaded

[@utareangara5529]

WTF? when did they get rid of it?? its fckn heritage

[@motoxmad74]

You need a push bike

[@Jacobs-pillow]

It's abandoned except for school trips and joggers

[@bryanmcghee3213]

Thank goodness its not Lithgow again,how people can PAY to stay there i'll never know.

[@matthewwelch3976]

I'm looking for some caves in this area that people lived in and a man was murdered in 1918 on lapstone hill. It mentions cars were passing at the time so I'm guessing the knapsack via duct as it was turned into car traffic around 1913...if anyone could help I would appreciate

[@getjoacookie]

If you Google Thomas Briggs Lapstone, a link for an article about the inquest into his death can be found dated 18th of May 1918. In the article it notes "he knew of the First Camp at top of Lapstone Hill, also a cave on the right hand side of the gully." To me that passage seems to back up your suspicions about it being near the viaduct. Other than that I don't have anything else, sorry. Hadn't heard of this one before, and being a local you sparked my interest. If I find anything else I'll be sure to update you. Edit: further in the article it reiterates and confirms the general area you can find the cave "The cave is on the right-hand side of the road going up the mountains."

[@getjoacookie]

trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/86191047