Our History
In about 1854 a mill and wharf were built on the west
bank of the River Don about 2 km upstream from the Don Heads.
To get the timber out of the bush a tramway was built up the valley and
from 1862 the line also served a small coal mine, situated about 3 km above
the mill.
This tramway was replaced in 1873 when the Don River Company
started to build a new line of 4'6” (approx. 1137 mm) from the wharf, just
inside the Don Heads, along the west bank of the river and up the valley.
By May 1879 the tramway was completed to Barrington a distance of 21 km
from Don Heads.
As timber was removed pioneer farmers settled in the region and in 1873
a portable steam engine worked the railway. However, in 1884 the line
was worked entirely by horses although 11 of the 21 kilometres were then
laid with iron rails. Timber supplies diminished and in the late 1880's
the tramway was abandoned.
In 1904, a royal commission considered the Don Valley as a route for
a branch to the Sheffield district but decided in favour of a shorter
line from Railton to Roland.
The Don would probably never have seen another railway if Broken
Hill Proprietary had not decided to work the large limestone deposits
about 10 kilometres up the valley.
As the company planned to take a very large quantity of Limestone to
supply its Newcastle steelworks with flux a railway was necessary to bring
it down to Devonport and the government agreed to build a branch to the
quarry site near the village of Melrose.
Settler’s Further up the valley successfully asked for the line to be
extended to Paloona, a more convenient point for landing produce. The
public works department began work in 1915.The new line kept to the east bank of the Don the whole way Melrose
unlike the old tramway, which crossed and re-crossed the river several
times. Beyond Melrose, however the old formation was followed to Paloona.The line was opened on 27-5-1916. Traffic from the quarries developed
far beyond original expectations and reached a peak of 161,135 tons in
1926 - 1927, requiring the running of three or four trains from Devonport
to Melrose and back each week day.Passenger and general goods traffic however were very light.
Between August 1922 and September 1923 the P.W.D. extended the line to
Barrington but this section was uneconomic and was closed on 17-8-1928.Regular services on the Melrose Paloona section appear to have
ceased about this time and the section was officially closed on 16-7-1935.
Limestone traffic declined during the depression and increased to a peak
of 279161 tons in 1937-1938.Thereafter, it gradually declined and in 1947 B.H.P gave up taking
stone from the quarries altogether. The line remained open for local traffic
in agricultural lime but by 1957 there were only three trips per week.
<From 1955 the branch became even more uneconomic and complete closure
took place in 1963.A year later the track was lifted between Melrose and Don Township
crossing before the rebuilding of the Bass Highway.The remaining 3.5 km.of line back to Don Junction was left in place
but became increasingly overgrown and derelict.
In December 1971 The Van Diemen Light Railway Society inc. was formed
and their Don River Tramway project was assisted Australian and Tasmanian governments the Devonport Municipal Council and
the T.G.R. (later the A.N.R.) who donated numerous items of rolling stock
and track.The
efforts of this small group of enthusiasts were rewarded after five years
when the society opened on Saturday 20-11-1976.During this first weekend over 2500 passengers
were carried and a railway, once again ran in the Don Valley.
Based on an article by Mr. H.J.W. Stokes.
