South Maitland Railway

[1] The last section was mothballed in March 2020 after operations at the Austar coal mine in Pelton were suspended.

[2][3] The location of the South Maitland railway corridor was a songline and travel route for the original inhabitants.

[7] Haulage from Pelaw Main only lasted a short period as, after the 1905 opening of the nearby J & A Brown owned Richmond Vale Railway, the coal from this colliery was hauled over the RVR line to Hexham.

In 1906, an end-on junction was made at Cessnock station for a short branch to Aberdare Extended Colliery.

Passengers had to make their own way between East Greta Junction and West Maitland stations and this was the source of many complaints.

The connection to the government passenger service was further improved in 1905 when a platform was constructed at West Maitland for the use of East Greta trains.

[23] These trains were operated by the East Greta Coal Mining Co, initially using a number of second hand ex New South Wales Government Railways (NSWGR) 4 and 6 wheel passenger carriages.

[27] Between 1929 and 1930, a lengthy industrial dispute known as the 'lockout' occurred which effectively shut all of the collieries on the South Maitland Coalfield.

[32][33] [36] Upon the formation of South Maitland Railways in 1918 the new company took over the existing locomotive fleet of the East Greta Coal Mining Co.[37] In 1935, with the withdrawal of all the other classes except the three passenger locomotives, the fourteen 2-8-2T wheel arrangement 10 Class became the main motive power, assisted on the shorter runs by the three ex passenger locos (15,16 & 29).

Beyer, Peacock & Company, Manchester, built the fourteen 10 class locomotives to a design specifically for the East Greta Coal Mining Co/SMR.

The leader, SMR 10, was the most recent to be restored to working operation, and it is currently located along with No.18 at the Hunter Valley Training Company which is based in the former South Maitland Railway workshops at East Greta Junction.

The locomotives at Rothbury have been since sold to the Dorrigo Steam Railway & Museum and approval for this was obtained from the NSW Heritage Council for the relocation of these engines.

[40] Upon steam working finishing on the SMR in June 1983, operation of the coal trains was taken over by the State Rail Authority with 47 and 48 class locomotives.

Following track strengthening Pacific National began operating EL class locomotives on the line in January 2011.

[45] J & A Brown No.5 also worked the Abermain line on loan from the Richmond Vale Railway from October 1936 to September 1939.

By 1976, with the downturn in traffic, signal boxes remained only at East Greta Junction, Weston, Neath and Caledonia.

Neath Signal box closed on 3 September 1996, leaving the entire branch from East Greta Junction to Pelton worked as a single section by Ordinary Train Staff and Ticket.

This new company took over the ownership and operation of the Stanford Merthyr line and the Aberdare Railway, as well as all of the locomotives and passenger and goods rolling stock of the East Greta Co.

The new company also took over the haulage over other colliery lines that were previously worked by the East Greta Co.[37] On 8 and 9 December 2018, South Maitland Railway celebrated the centenary of this merger as well as 125 years since the running of the first train in 1893.

[60] In April 1931, the East Greta Coal Mining Co. was taken over by J & A Brown and Abermain Seaham Collieries Ltd, which gave them a 50% share of SMR.

[63] In 1936, a connection between the South Maitland system and the nearby J & A Brown owned Richmond Vale Railway was constructed from Pelaw Main Colliery to the SMR at Weston.

[64] This connection to the Richmond Vale Railway provided an alternative connection to the Main North line at Hexham and was used as an alternate route to move the coal from the various Cessnock area collieries (including those not owned by JABAS) when the South Maitland lines were flooded at East Greta Junction during the 1949-1952 and 1955 floods.

During some of these floods when the SMR loco fleet was trapped at East Greta, locomotives were also hired from the New South Wales Government Railways.