Tasmanian rail statistics 1959-60 – Hobart and Derwent Valley
Goods train shunting at Risdon, March 31st 1963. Credit: Weston Langford
While searching through the Tasmanian Archives one day, I discovered some historical data which tells a fascinating story about Tasmanian rail statistics and services. This includes both statistics on passenger boardings, as well as inward and outward goods traffic from the many stations which once dotted the state.
Background
In September 1953, the Phillips Report recommended that all Tasmanian rail passenger services be suspended, with exception to the Hobart suburban service, which was suggested for expansion. This led to a rationalisation of country rail services, with many short lines up for closure. The suburban timetable was increased in December 1954 to its highest level of service in its history, though it was curtailed in September 1957.
By the late 1950s many country trains were converted from dedicated passenger or freight, into mixed trains, with passengers accommodated in guards vans or passenger carriages attached. The 1959-1960 year would be one of the last where the rail system operated to a wide extent, including many short country branch line services.
The tables presented below are taken from the Transport Commissioner’s annual report, and were originally formatted in alphabetical order. In this series of articles, I am presenting them in their lineside order in the Down direction (away from Hobart). Short branches are indented below their junction point.
Hobart suburban line
| Stations | Passenger Trips (Out) | Goods Out (Tons) | Goods In (Tons) |
| Hobart | 571,969 | 38,494 | 79,203 |
| Botanical Gardens | 1,776 | – | – |
| Cornelian Bay | 7,485 | – | – |
| New Town | 140,784 | 28 | 170 |
| Moonah | 238,873 | 101 | 1,315 |
| Sunderland Street | 81,576 | – | – |
| Derwent Park Jct. | 218,028 | 6,396 | 23,341 |
| – Lutana | 52,036 | – | – |
| – Abattoir | – | – | 279 |
| – Risdon | 2,982 | 126,944 | 1,621 |
| — Elwick Show Ground | 1,454 | – | 1,044 |
| Glenorchy | 163,130 | 1,133 | 4,729 |
| Montrose | 96,390 | – | 1 |
| Rosetta | 34,372 | – | – |
| Berriedale | 54,621 | 1 | 61 |
| Chigwell | 43,835 | – | – |
| Claremont | 225,446 | 96 | 70 |
| Cadburys | 22,849 | 1,123 | 5,710 |
| Hilton Road | 19,048 | – | – |
| Austins Ferry | 34,148 | 2 | 1 |
| Risbys (A.F) | 40 | – | 5,118 |
| Granton | 17,445 | 162 | 5,110 |
| Bridgewater Jct. | 30,454 | 11 | 94 |
| Brighton | 29,568 | 163 | 193 |
| TOTAL | 2,088,269 | 174,654 | 122,942 |
The Hobart Suburban line and its branches were arguably the busiest sections of the entire Tasmanian rail network. Frequent passenger trains (relative to other lines), major industrial sites at Risdon and Cadburys, and goods coming from the port and intrastate for distribution meant that it was, at the time, an efficient railway corridor. This was also aided by the double-track section between Hobart and Claremont which enabled greater capacities and utilisation of rail.
Over two million passenger journeys were made, and nearly 300,000 tons of goods travelled on the line in the 1959-60 financial year.
Derwent Park, Granton and Brighton were key pick-up only stops for the Tasman Limited service to the state’s north. Claremont, Derwent Park and Sunderland Street were all major interchange stations for the Cadburys and Risdon branches respectively, which reflects their high outward passenger journeys.
The 7:10am ‘Big Zinc‘ from Hobart to Risdon was the largest of all regular passenger trains on the Tasmanian rail network, often using six or more carriages and carrying over 200 passengers per trip. The reduced outward journeys from Risdon are likely because of season or ‘worker’s weekly’ ticket usage for the workers’ trains, negating any need to purchase a ticket again.
St Virgils School was yet to open in Austins Ferry, where some trains would later halt for school students to board and alight from 1962. Risbys (A.F) next to the future school is a siding for the Risbys timber yard redeveloped following the 1957 fire that destroyed their Westerway mill.
It is fair to say that the Hobart suburban system could have retained substantial patronage had facilities and services been invested in. Integrated transport planning was not a common practice, though coordination of services was discussed. Train travel actually retained lower fares than tram and bus services at the time. These numbers predate the service cuts made in February 1962 for several off-peak passenger trains which were replaced by Merv Cresswell’s Ace Bus Service. This particularly affected the passenger traffic to Cadburys and Risdon, which were the breadwinners for the railway service.
Contrary to the 1953 Phillips Report, less than ten years later the 1964 Hobart Area Transportation Study recommended closure of the suburban rail system in favour of road buses. This was chiefly at a time when private vehicles, road expansion and freeway construction as proposed in the study were standard practice. Many developments in Hobart’s northern suburbs had spread inland from the railway, creating further decentralised land use.
The Metropolitan Transport Trust who operated most bus services in the city were not interested in working with the Transport Commission on integrated transport planning. This attitude ended up impacting Hobart for quite some time. The duplication and even triplication of services in the northern suburbs was a key issue highlighted in the 1974 Royal Commission on Tasmanian Urban Public Passenger Transport.
Derwent Valley Line
| Stations | Passenger Trips (Out) | Goods Out (Tons) | Goods In (Tons) |
| Dromedary | 397 | 2 | 38 |
| Bundella | 177 | – | 2 |
| Riverton | 17 | – | 1 |
| Swepstone | 177 | – | – |
| Ralph’s | 293 | – | – |
| Boyer | 1,575 | 1,516 | 250,668 |
| Rocks | 51 | – | – |
| New Norfolk | 2,889 | 171 | 9,675 |
| Valleyfield | – | – | – |
| Lawitta | – | – | – |
| Mayfair | – | 7 | 8 |
| Hayes | 1 | 403 | 144 |
| Plenty | 15 | 6 | 160 |
| Yates’ Siding | 3 | – | – |
| Macquarie Plains | 77 | 3,430 | 24,457 |
| Coniston | 31 | 69 | 85 |
| Glenora | 1 | 5 | 300 |
| Karanja | 6 | – | 2 |
| Meadowbanks | – | – | – |
| Rumley | 3 | – | – |
| Risbys (D.V) | – | – | – |
| Westerway | 33 | 326 | 727 |
| Belcher’s Siding | – | 3 | 3 |
| Hollydene | – | 1 | 7 |
| National Park | 20 | 17 | 175 |
| Burnley’s | – | 3 | – |
| Newbury | – | – | – |
| Arcadian Siding | – | 2 | 10 |
| Sharp’s Siding | – | 244 | 10 |
| Marriott’s Falls | – | 4 | 5 |
| Tyenna | 70 | 6 | 15 |
| Fitzgerald | – | 1 | 22 |
| Maydena | 7 | 168 | 798 |
| Florentine | – | 210,151 | 1,188 |
| TOTAL | 5,843 | 216,535 | 288,500 |
The last regular passenger train to Maydena ended in September 1952, and by 1960 the Derwent Valley line was relegated to mainly goods traffic, including logs from the upper reaches at Florentine, and coal and logs to Boyer. A handful of daily suburban trains ran to New Norfolk and to serve the workers at the Boyer paper mill. The paper produced at the site was sent by river barge to the Australian Newsprint Mills shed near Hobart’s Botanical Gardens for transhipment, hence its low outward goods tonnage.
Most passenger traffic past New Norfolk would have been from mixed trains, though these were not officially listed as stops in timetables. Macquarie Plains was the primary station for traffic to Bushy Park and its orchards and hop fields, as well as the Hydro-Electric Commission projects in the state’s west. The passenger numbers do not reflect the countless special trains which operated up to National Park, which was a common occurrence on the Derwent Valley line.
The 1957 working timetable shows a regular Sunday excursion service between Hobart and National Park, which operated until at least the 1970s, which may have contributed to the added patronage in the upper reaches of the Derwent Valley.
Analysis
The way patronage was counted was based on each railway tickets audit number. These were recorded every day in ledgers and checked off with daily takings. The totals do not include the season and all-lines tickets, which were 54,396.
The above figures show an interesting change in usage, especially considering the entire state patronage in 1959-1960 was 2,292,382 journeys. The Derwent Valley line was heavily involved with log traffic, prior to the locking up on lands for national parks, while the Hobart line was busy with transhipping and passengers.
Part Two will cover the Tasmanian rail statistics for the Main and Western lines. Check back here soon.
