West Coast Wilderness Railway Strahan

Tuesday 10 April, 2012. (Public Holiday for Tasmania, Easter Tuesday) (Day 17 in Tasmania!)

… West Coast Wilderness Railway

Today we had a trip on one of the world's great train journeys on a fully restored historic steam locomotive from Strahan to Queenstown (and by coach back to Strahan) – 35 kilometres of train …

We left Cradle Mountain after a leisurely breakfast and took most of the day to drive to Strahan which is on the shores of Macquarie Harbour near the southern ocean.

We drove through magnificent mountain scenery with steep-sided timbered covered slopes, small communities full of character and many watercourses. We stopped in Zeehan for …

... , rain and treacherous landscapes to forge a link between the mining town of Queenstown and the port of Strahan. The West Coast Wilderness Railway forms a gateway for visitors to explore Tasmania's unique rail heritage, discovering the inspiring story of ...

... at Cradle Mountain and Freycinet National Parks). If we had sufficient time, we would have done the old steam railway (West Coast Wilderness Railway) which is an old mining line originally the only link to Strahan before the road was built. ...

... about 10am and got to Queenstown at 3pm (with about 3 stops – one for lunch!) then back to Strahan by about 4pm. The West Coast Wilderness Railway is a restoration of the original Mt Lyell Mining and Railway Co. Ltd. Railway, built on the edge of ...

... to tour the World Heritage site that is the Gordon River (more of that later). My first adventure in Strahan was the West Coast Wilderness Railway.  This railway is a restoration of the original Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Co. Ltd. Railway, ...

... tourism and we watched as some of tourists had their champagne breakfasts as they prepared to embark on a trip on the West Coast Wilderness Railway. We were heading for Cradle Mountain National Park.  Travelling north up the coast we had glimpses of ...

... and had a most enjoyable day. The ride started at Regatta Point station which has been the terminus for the West Coast Wilderness Railway since 2002. It was formerly the terminus for the ABT Railway from Queenstown between 1897 and 1963 which was used ...