South Maitland Railways
A history of a century of railways on the South Maitland coal fields.
South Maitland Railways is a 128 page, hard cover book which chronicles the last decades of steam operations of the South Maitland Railways Pty. Ltd., the operator of the last major privately run steam-hauled railway in Australia.
This book is divided into three distinct sections. The first acquaints the reader with the history of the development of the coal mining industry in the vicinity of Maitland and the various railway companies that were established to haul their output to the wharves. The second section details the operations of the SMR from the mid-1960s through until June 1983when the State Rail Authority assumed control of train operations over the former SMR network. The final section reviews SRA workings and the current status of the fleet of SMR 10 class tank engines.
A wide variety of topics are covered from a detailed description of the types of locomotives employed by the SMR, the company facilities at East Greta Junction, train operations, passenger services, ticketing, rollingstock, safe working, together with a description of each of the remaining mines and much more.
Features include:
- A4 portrait format, 128 pages.
- Hard bound with colour cover
- Over 140 black and white photographs
- More than 50 colour photographs
- Line drawings of the 10 class 2-8-2 tank locomotives
- Tabulated history of the mines of the South Maitland Coal Fields
- Tabulated history of the locomotives of the South Maitland Railways
- Track Diagrams
- Map of the South Maitland Coal Fields showing railway lines and locations of mines
An essential reference for railway historians, modellers and those who were fortunate enough to witness the SMR in action during the period from the 1960s to the mid-1980s.