Lost Railways:
Thornleigh Zig Zag Railway
The Lithgow Zig-Zag in the Blue Mountains is the most well known of the three such railway lines built in the Sydney region. The other two are at Lapstone and Thornleigh. The Thornleigh Zig-Zag was used to haul crushed sandstone from a quarry on Hall s Creek behind Oakleigh Oval 30 metres up a steep gradient to the main line at Thornleigh station. There were two reversing stations. The crushed sandstone was used as ballast for railway sleepers on the Northern railway line (Strathfield to Hornsby) which was being built at that time. The branch was closed before 1900. Evidence of the line are still visible, including a cutting near Thornleigh station and embankments in the bush near Tillock Street.It was constructed in 1883 by railway contractors, Amos & Co, as a branch line coming off the main Northern Railway Line just north of what is now Thornleigh Station and descending to a quarry some 35 metres below. The quarry supplied stone ballast (white metal metamorphised sandstone) for a southern section of the Homebush (Sydney ) to Waratah (Newcastle) railway line . The zig-zag facilitated the steep descent/ascent to/from the Quarry for the railway trucks carrying the stone to the top for use along the route of the railway line. While much of the route of the Zig-Zag Railway has today been taken over by residential development,you can follow the descent from the top point across Pritchard and Wells Streets to the bottom point near Janet Avenue.
