Richmond Vale railway line
It was over 26 km (16 mi) long and passed through three tunnels, and was the last commercially operated railway in Australia to use steam locomotives.
At Hexham the railway crossed the then Hunter River Railway Company's line to Maitland (the current Main Northern line) and several coal loading staiths were built on the bank of the on the Hunter River to allow the loading of coal onto ships.
By June 1859 they had constructed a connection and exchange siding with the Great Northern Railway at Hexham to allow the coal to be railed to the shipping port at Newcastle.
[5] The fastest recorded journey on the line was a late passenger train from Minmi to Hexham at 60 mph (97 km/h).
[7] In October 1900 before construction of the line had commenced the Browns had purchased the adjoining Stanford Greta Colliery which was renamed Pelaw Main in April 1901.
This system worked well until November 1910, when a railmotor carrying the manager of Pelaw Main Colliery collided with the rear of a coal train in No.2 Tunnel, killing him and seriously injuring his passenger.
After the coroner's inquest into this accident, electric staff instruments were installed by the New South Wales Government Railways for J & A Brown.
The double track section of the RVR was worked by "Telephone Block" controlled by the traffic officers at both Hexham and Stockrington.
Following a need for Borehole seam coal for use in the new water tube boilers at Richmond Main Power Station, both mines were reopened on a smaller scale in 1930.
Soon afterwards in April 1931 JABAS purchased the East Greta Coal Mining Company Limited, which was in financial trouble due to the recent miner's lockout.
The first being the original connection to Stanford Merthyr Colliery, which fell out of use after the completion of the RVR in 1905, this connection was rebuilt in 1934 after the 1931 purchase of the East Greta Coal Mining Company by JABAS to allow the haulage of coal from Stanford Main No.1 Colliery over the RVR.
The second connection to the South Maitland system dated from 1936 when a "Link Line" was constructed from Pelaw Main Colliery to the SMR at Weston.
On 14 July 1967 Richmond Main Colliery, that had once held the record for the largest daily production in the State, was also closed, except for its power station which lasted until 1976.
[19] In 1973 all of the rails towards Richmond Main beyond the site of the former Stockrington No.1 Colliery were lifted for use at other Coal & Allied (as J & A Brown etc., had now become) operations.
In October 1973 the line serving the engineering workshops at Hexham was closed and the right angled crossing across the Government Railway mainline was removed.
[20] The engineering workshops remained open constructing and overhauling equipment for the underground coal mining industry.
By early 1978 it was planned to end the use on non-airs on the main line and the last train ran on 8 February 1978.
The railway operated normally until 18 September when following a dispute between a loco crew and management, coal haulage ceased and only empty wagons were to be worked to Hexham for storage.
However, due to a lack of support from their fellow unionists at the other Coal & Allied operations the protest ended with no effect on 15 October 1987.
[3][24] Within weeks after the railways closure the sidings were lifted from Stockrington area leaving only the main line and dead end head shunt intact.
Dismantling of the coal preparation plant at Hexham started in March 1989 with demolition taking place over the following 18 months.
[25] With the downturn in the underground coalmining industry the engineering workshops at Hexham also closed in November 1989,[21] this marked the end of Coal & Allied operations in the lower Hunter Valley.
1 and 2, used on the original Minmi to Hexham railway were 0-4-2T side tank locomotives built by R&W Hawthorn of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1856 (builders Nos.
This new loco was designed for Browns and was based on the Great Central Railway class 8A 0-8-0 tender engines dating from 1902 that Kitsons had built for the GCR.
Upon arrival this was given the number 9 and with the loco being successful and with Richmond Main Colliery undergoing development that two similar locomotives were ordered.
In late 1927 the rest arrived in crates on Brown's new ship the SS Minmi on its maiden voyage to Hexham.
[33] Purchased second hand from the Sydney & Suburban Blue Metal Company's gravel quarry at Widermere in 1948 to serve the recently opened open cut at Minmi, this locomotive was former NSWGR 2-6-4T side tank loco 2013 built by Beyer, Peacock & Company, Manchester in 1885 (builder's No.
Due to the condition of the locomotive it underwent a major overhaul at Hexham Workshops and when this was completed in 1949 it was transferred to Abermain instead of its intended use on Minmi Open Cut trains.
In the following years the remaining locomotives were supplied to both the East Greta Coal Mining Co. and its successor South Maitland Railways Pty Ltd with the last arriving in 1926.
After the replacing of steam on the SMR by State Rail Authority diesels in June 1983 a fourth 10 class was allocated to Hexham to work the Richmond Vale Railway.
