k. The South West

9th March 2007

The South West of Western Australia was the richest timber producing region in the Commonwealth, the source of valuable Karri and Jarrah hardwoods. Coal was mined at Collie, and the region around Donnybrook was premier apple growing country. The region was once covered with the most extensive network of timber tramways in the nation, but by 1965 only one survived. This connected a big stream powered mill at Donnelly River with the transfer siding at Yornup, on the Pemberton line.
The Western Australian Government Railway's main southern line ran from Perth 115 miles to the port of Bunbury, the focus of much of the regions exports, including grain from the wheat belt on the eastern side of the forests. Bunbury was one of the largest rural cities in the West; not that it was very big! But you could find big steam there, and plenty of it. The WAGR’s finest, the Robert Stephenson V class MacArthur’s shared the depot with the equally imposing S class Mountains. There were lots of the light but very modern W class Mountains, various classes of Pacific, old Fs class 4-8-0’s and a few G class Colonial Moguls.
The most important timber branch ran south from Bunbury, through Donnybrook, beautiful Bridgetown and Pemberton to Northcliffe, a distance of 125 miles. Double headed combinations of W’s and S’s were common. To the east of Bunbury a line climbed the escarpment to the coal mining town of Collie, fuel source of the WAGR’s steam fleet, but more importantly, for the East Perth power station. The V class was the engine of choice for the Collie to Perth coal trains.
This collection focuses on the Pemberton and Collie lines, but there was a good deal more to see. The railwaymen were a friendly lot, so it was not hard to get a firemen to lend you his shovel!

The Shopper	Showing Off	Narrow Gauge Success	Centenarian
Beauty Queen	Fred Mills Showed Them	Empties for Perth	Steam Steak and Mushrooms
Brockman	Valuable Loading	More Than She Could Chew	A Load From Bunnings
Donnelly River's Favorite	A Matter of Balance	The Ghostly Oiler	Back Home
What an Appetite	The Old Look