From aus.bushwalking Newsgroup,
"Old railway line survey track along the Colo?", 22/10/2001

Hi,

Has anyone ever found traces of an old survey track along the (southern?) edge of the Colo Gorge during their travels? Apparently this track was built by Mr Townsend in the 1870's and 1880's. I suspect that much of the track would have disappeared over the years due to erosion and land-slides, etc. But some evidence of it may still exist in places. Apparently some of the stonework along the track was still discernable to bushwalkers back in the 1930's.

The track was a proposed railway line route to avoid the steep zig-zag railway line into Lithgow. A pretty ambitious plan given the terrain, but the scheme never got off the ground.

Cheers,
Anthony.
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~mdunk/anthony 

I remember a couple of older fellow club members interested in Blue Mountains history mentioning this (sounds to me) unlikely project some time ago, but they did not mention actual physical evidence (rather old surveys). Do you have any sources of information ?

D.S.

There's a few books which have a tiny bit about it. But I was talking to an older Blue Mountains historian/conservationist on the weekend and he said that he believed Townsend had managed to push a track all the way through to the Capertee valley - e.g. Glen Davis. I'm not sure if that could be true though. He also mentioned to me about the 1930's bushwalking group finding evidence of the track.

He was talking about a track which clung to the edges of cliffs in places. It would have made an *exciting* railway journey if a track could have ever been built! But of course, it would have impacted on the wilderness value of the area.

Cheers,
Anthony.
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~mdunk/anthony 

Townsend did manage to push the track through. I am not sure exactly where he started the track from (Upper Colo or Mt Lagoon), but yes, he did run the track through into the Colo Gorge (going west from Crawfords Lookout) and I believe he reached the Capertee. Once there it would have been a casual walk out. For some of the early stages the track carried bullocks, but further on it was reduced to single file horses. Yes, it was nicely engineered (for the era and the resources he had).

The actual plans he drew up included incredible stretches of tunnel through the sandstone cliffs and immense bridges across the Colo. However, I doubt he realised just how high it would have had to be: the Colo does rise at times... And the tunnels would probably have been the safest part of the track, protected from the regular rock falls.

Cheers
Roger Caffin

Anthony Dunk wrote:
> Has anyone ever found traces of an old survey track along the  (southern?) edge of the
> Colo Gorge during their travels ? Apparently  this track was built by Mr Townsend in the
> 1870's and 1880's.

Yes, it is still there in places. Wilf Hildur would like it to be declared a Heritage item before it is lost. Western edge would be a better description.

> I suspect that much of the track would have disappeared over the years  due to erosion
> and land-slides, etc. But some evidence of it may still  exist in places. Apparently some of
> the stonework along the track was  still discernable to bushwalkers back in the 1930's.

Some of it is definitely still visible in places, although other sections have been washed clean by floods. In places it rises quite high above the river. Sometimes it follows a natural flood benching; other times it follows a rock layer benching.

> The track was a proposed railway line route to avoid the steep zig-zag  railway line into
> Lithgow. A pretty ambitious plan given the terrain,  but the scheme never got off the
> ground.

The Parliament committee reviewing the 3 or 4 proposals described it as mad, I believe.

Cheers
Roger Caffin
______________________________________________

I know a few bushwalkers who found signs of it (benched track formation and a few old tools) in the vicinity of Woolshed Gully. This was in the mid/late 70's.

I can remember reading about the proposal somewhere (I think in some publication in the Mitchell Library?) - I think the plan was for the railway to go to Rylstone. It was abandoned for similar reasons that the Grose route was abandoned (it too has a survey track that is still quite visible) - that the route was too unstable (eg landslides, floods and slips).

Dave
-- 
(David Noble)

From aus.rail Newsgroup, 
"Towsnend's track up the Colo", 24/10/2001

A good place to start would be "Along Parallel Lines" by John Gunn, which is a well referenced book about the history of NSW Railways between 1850 and 1986. Refer pp 202-3. The sources referred to are contained in the book, which you should be able to access through many libraries.

Regards
David Bennetts

Thanks - had a look at the book today. Interesting from the political aspect, but doesn't say anything about the survey track itself I am afraid. Sounds as tho' State politics was even worse in those days than now. :-)

So, I am still hunting archival material about the track.

Cheers
Roger Caffin

You're kidding!!!!!! The Colo???!!! 
Makes Sgt Quodling's efforts up the Grose River 
( http://infobluemountains.net.au/history/engineers.htm ) seem a bit tame.

I, too, am interested in getting info on this.

David Martin

Er, yes, quite. But then, the Grose is relatively easy country in comparison. The Engineers track is still usable in many places, and can be detected in many more. It was a better-made track.

Cheers
Roger Caffin

Up the Grose

Just over 20 years earlier, a survey team from the Royal Engineers had been sent on a similar mission up the Grose River. It turned into a fiasco. More info...