Hercules Haulage Explained

The Hercules Haulage, also known as the Mount Read Haulage, the Hercules Tram and the Williamsford Haulage Line, was a self-acting narrow gauge tramway on the side of Mount Read in Western Tasmania, that connected the Hercules Mine with Williamsford and then to the North East Dundas Tramway.

The Mine

The Haulage was created to move ores from the Hercules Mine on Mount Read.^[1] The mine was operational between the 1890s and the 1980s, and closed in 2000;^[2] rehabilitation works commenced in 2005.

The Haulage

The haulage was "self acting",^[3] one mile (1.6 km) long and 1,642 feet (550m) high with a maximum gradient of 1 in 5.^[4] It was claimed to be the largest and steepest self-acting tramway of its kind.^{[5] [6]}

Later haulage

On the closure of the NE Dundas Tramway, the Aerial Ropeway^[7] from Hercules was built which took ore in a northerly direction to Rosebery, some literature confuses the two separate systems.

References

• Pink, Kerry. The west coast story : a history of Western Tasmania and its mining fields Rev. ed. Zeehan, Tasmania : West Coast Pioneers' Memorial Museum, 1984.
• Book: Rae, Lou. The Abt Railway and Railways of the Lyell region . Lou Rae . Sandy Bay. 2001. 0-9592098-7-5.
• Book: Whitham, Charles . Charles Whitham . Western Tasmania – A land of riches and beauty . Reprint 2003 . Municipality of Queenstown . Queenstown.
• Book: Whitham, Lindsay. Railways, Mines, Pubs and People and other historical research. Tasmanian Historical Research Association. Sandy Bay. 2002. 0-909479-21-6.

Notes and References

1. Some references note the Hercules Mine as being on Mount Hamilton, a separate named feature on the slopes of Mount Read
2. Web site: Hercules Mine, Williamsford, Rosebery district, West Coast municipality, Tasmania, Australia.
3. http://www.lexic.us/definition-of/self-acting – see item 2
4. Light Railways, number 35 Autumn 1971 p.22 has the gradient average as 1 in 3.2, and a maximum of 1.5 with operating speed of 14 mph – further details in Light Railways number 27, page 25 by Wayne Chynoweth
5. Book: Blainey, Geoffrey. Geoffrey Blainey. . 6th . St. David's Park Publishing . Hobart. 2000. 0-7246-2265-9. 3rd edition 1967 page 243
6. NOTES ON SELF – ACTING TRAMWAY, THE HERCULES MINE, TASMANIA.(A paper read before the Sydney University Engineering Society, November 12th,1902. By.B. SAWYER, B.E.)The Hercules Mine, situated on the western slope of Mount Hamilton, a spur of Mount Read, is connected with the terminus of the North-East Dundas Railway at Williamsford by means of an inclined self-acting tramway-on the endless rope system. The slope length of this line is eighty and a half chains, and the difference in elevation between the Government line and the "send-off" at the Mine is 1,642 feet. The average gradient is, therefore, 1 in 3'2, the maximum gradient being 1 in 1'5, and the minimum, i.e., the approach to Williamsford terminus, 1 in 8-8. source: http://escholarship.usyd.edu.au/journals/index.php/SUES/article/.../2239
7. News: ZINC COMPANY'S WORKS AT ROSEBERY — PREMIER'S TOUR. . . Hobart, Tasmania . 13 September 1929 . 6 April 2012 . 10 . National Library of Australia.