Zeehan railway station in Tasmania, was a major junction and railway yard for numerous different railway and tramway systems in western Tasmania in the town of Zeehan. Its peak of operations was between the 1890s and the late 1920s – reflecting the general fate of the town and the industries that were located in the Zeehan and surrounding districts.
Terminus
It was the terminus of the Strahan–Zeehan Railwayfrom the south, the Emu Bay Railwayfrom the north and a number of narrow gauge tram systems that utilised the railway yard and radiated out in all directions from the station. The narrow gauge North-East Dundas Tram line proceeded separately out of the station and yard following the Emu Bay before it turned toward its easterly route.
Yard
The government railway that linked the Mount Lyell railway to the Emu Bay, and then to Burnie was an important part of the government railway system. The government looked to improve the facilities over time while the railways were carrying optimum freight loads.
In 1913 the railway workshops were moved from West Strahan to Zeehan and the yard, over half a mile long, with two gauges and many sidings, was one of the biggest in the state
The Zeehan railway station yard was extensive with numerable small tram lines connecting with the yard in the peak of the activity at the station from before the First World War until the beginning of the depression – when most smaller tramways and mines and smelter operations had ceased to operate. A map by C.C. Singleton of the Australian Railway Historical Society in Bulletin 289 November 1961, and in Bulletin 312, October 1963 offer an understanding of the yard layout:
Operators
Facilities
Tramways
Tramways mentioned here specifically utilised the Zeehan railway station as their terminus.
A spectacular boiler explosion occurred at 7.15 am on 17 May 1899 in the Zeehan railway station yard. The North-East Dundas tram approached the Wilson Street waiting room at the end of the station yard, the engine exploded. The fireman Thomas Marra was killed instantly and the driver David Biddeph died soon after.
Decline
In 1905 Zeehan Tramway Company ceased daily passenger service
In 1926 Dundas line regular services traffic ceased and line pulled up in 1940.
In 1929 NE Dundas and Comstock lines traffic ceased and all line up by 1943.
In 1948 the last year of heavy traffic between Rosebery and Zeehan
In 1960 the Emu Bay Railway passenger service ceased in February
In 1960 the Strahan-Zeehan Railway line closed in June.
On 14 August 1965 the Emu Bay Railway goods services ceased.
A visit on 12th April 1971 showed that the station building has gone, and most of the track has been rather half-heartedly removed. A length of 2 ft gauge track can still be found near where the station building used to be. The various engine sheds and carriage sheds remain, and are still being used by local timber millers, transport contractors, etc.
