I profess to know nothing about engines so I go with the safe option to consolidate all images found thus far to provide a visual representation of the steam locomotive. The images below were published throughout 1908, another significant year in the history of the West Coast.
In 1908 the Mount Farrell steam tramway was completed, which shortened the existing route to the Emu Bay railway line. Previously, a horse drawn wooden tramway connected with the Emu Bay railway approximately 32 kilometres south of Guildford Junction.
Apart from transporting ore, this tramway also became Tullah’s only outside link for over 50 years. There were no roads to Tullah until the Murchison Highway was completed in 1963.
Clockwise from top left: (1) Ore tram at Bocobreck (2) Bridge over Murchison River (3) Junction of Murchison and Mackintosh Rivers (4) The engine at the water tank at Horseshoe Bend | TAHO Tasmanian Mail 1908 - TM1908122604
The locomotive above left was taken in 1924 | TAHO LPIC147/6/15 | and above right is Wee Georgie Wood, which provided the only connection between the Farrell Siding and Tullah via the North Mount Farrell tramway between 1908 and 1962 | Tasmanian Philatelic Society. Below left is Wee Georgie Wood with necessary supplies including barrels of beer for the miners | Australian Geographical Society Magazine 1 March 1957.
The following has been transcribed from an article published in the Tasmanian Mail in December 1908. It provides a detailed account of the conversion from the wooden tramway to steel rails.
NORTH MOUNT FARRELL TRAMWAY
The new steel rail tramway connecting the North Mt Farrell mine and the rising town of Tullah with the Emu Bay railway is now in regular running and proving a considerable boon to residents and visitors to the district. It is of 2ft gauge with 20lb rails and heavier ones at the curves. It branches from the Emu Bay railway at the Boco Creek, which will now be known as Farrell siding, and which is a little over a mile on the Burnie side of the Pieman River bridge and distant about 23 miles from Zeehan and 27 from Guildford Junction.
Some 7,000 cubic yards of rock and earth had to be excavated to form this siding, which is a commodious one with double line of rails for the tram and the Emu Bay train. The length of the tramway is six miles. From Boco Creek it runs in a south easterly direction till near Messrs Dunkley Bros sawmill, whence it follows more or less closely the route of the old wooden tramway to the Mackintosh River. The route, however, has been greatly improved both as to curves and grade, the steepest part of the new line being 1 in 25. The bridge over the Mackintosh has been substantially strengthened and raised, the height of the rail above the normal level of the river being 35 feet. Only three other small bridges have been found necessary on this route. After leaving the Mackintosh the new line deviates from the old and enters the town from the north. The terminus is as before. The line has been well constructed by Messrs Dunkley Bros, who have acquired five years’ lease of it from the North Mount Farrell Co. The cost of construction including the siding was roughly 12,000 pounds. The advantages conferred on the town by the new line are much appreciated. The tram runs to meet both the Zeehan and Burnie trains and as the time occupied in the journey is about an hour shorter than by the horse tram, which previously did duty, the closing of the mails at Tullah is now extended for that time. The engine employed is a six and a half ton Krauss, which will haul a load of 20 tons over the line. Although the main object of the tramway is to carry ore from and stores to the North Mount Farrell mine, one or more passenger cars are attached to every train. The line passes through some lovely scenery, beautiful vistas of the Rivers Pieman, Mackintosh and Murchison, and of Mounts Murchison and Farrell being obtained from the carriages.
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