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Lapstone Zig Zag

1865 establishments in AustraliaBridges completed in 1865Commons category link is locally definedFormer railway bridges in AustraliaGeographic coordinate lists
Glenbrook, New South WalesHistory of the Blue Mountains (New South Wales)Lists of coordinatesMain Western railway line, New South WalesNew South Wales Heritage DatabaseRail infrastructure in New South WalesRail trail bridgesRailway bridges in New South WalesRailway lines in New South WalesRailways with Zig ZagsSandstone bridges in AustraliaStone arch bridges in AustraliaTransport in the Blue Mountains (New South Wales)Use Australian English from July 2014Works of John Whitton
Knapsack Viaduct, Lapstone (2886372648)
Knapsack Viaduct, Lapstone (2886372648)

The Lapstone Zig Zag was a zig zag railway built between Emu Plains and Blaxland stations on the Main Western Line of New South Wales in Australia. Constructed between 1863 and 1865 to overcome an otherwise insurmountable climb up the eastern side of the Blue Mountains, the zig zag and associated Knapsack Viaduct, a sandstone arch viaduct, were designed by John Whitton, Engineer-in-Charge of New South Wales Government Railways, and were built by William Watkins. The zig zag was listed on the Blue Mountains local government heritage register on 27 December 1991; while the adjacent Knapsack Viaduct was listed on the New South Wales Heritage Database on 2 April 1999. The Lapstone Zig Zag was the world-first Zig Zag constructed on any main-line railway.The ruling grade was already very steep at 1 in 33 (3%). Another of the early plans had been to build the whole line across the Blue Mountains on a completely different route through the Grose Valley with a 3-kilometre-long (1.9 mi) tunnel, but this was beyond the resources of the colony of New South Wales at the time. The track included the Knapsack Viaduct and the subsequently abandoned Lucasville station, opened in 1877.The zig zag closed in 1892 when the Main Western line was diverted via the Glenbrook Deviation and subsequently sections of the line were repurposed as the Great Western Highway, and later use as a walking track.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Lapstone Zig Zag (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Lapstone Zig Zag
Lapstone Zig-Zag Walking Track, Sydney

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Wikipedia: Lapstone Zig ZagContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N -33.764569 ° E 150.639411 °
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Lapstone Zig-Zag Walking Track

Lapstone Zig-Zag Walking Track
2773 Sydney
New South Wales, Australia
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Knapsack Viaduct, Lapstone (2886372648)
Knapsack Viaduct, Lapstone (2886372648)
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Glenbrook Tunnel (1892)
Glenbrook Tunnel (1892)

The Glenbrook Tunnel is a heritage-listed single-track former railway tunnel and mustard gas storage facility and previously a mushroom farm located on the former Main Western Line (since deviated) at the Great Western Highway, Glenbrook, in the City of Blue Mountains local government area of New South Wales, Australia. The Department of Railways designed the tunnel and built it from 1891 to 1892. It is also known as Lapstone Hill tunnel and Former Glenbrook Railway and World War II Mustard Gas Storage Tunnel. The property is owned by Blue Mountains City Council and Land and Property Management Authority, an agency of the Government of New South Wales. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 5 August 2011. The railway tunnel was originally part of the Glenbrook 1892 single-track deviation, which bypassed the Lapstone Zig Zag across the Blue Mountains. It is 634 metres; 693 yards (31.5 chains) long and is constructed in an 'S' shape with a gradient of 1:33.The tunnel was built to the east of Glenbrook railway station and opened on 18 December 1892. Due to the steep gradient, seepage keeping the rails wet causing slippage, poor ventilation and planned duplication of the track, plans were drawn up to bypass the steep route. Trains commonly stalled in the tunnel for some time before having to back the locomotive out of the tunnel for another attempt. The tunnel was closed on 25 September 1913, and was utilised for growing mushrooms. In 1942, during World War II, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) stockpiled bulk mustard gas stocks in preparation for a possible Japanese chemical weapons attack. The facility was known as No. 2 Sub Depot of No. 1 Central Reserve RAAF and was vacated by the RAAF after the war. It features in the "Alcatraz Down Under" episode of Cities of the Underworld on the History Channel.in July 2021, the local state member Stuart Ayres announced that the NSW Government had allocated $2.5 million to progress the opening of the tunnel for public recreation