Deniliquin and Moama Railway Company

The Deniliquin and Moama Railway Company was a railway company formed by a syndicate of Victorian capitalists to construct a railway from Moama to Deniliquin in New South Wales, Australia.^[1]

Background

The rich Riverina district of New South Wales, which lies between the Murray and the Murrumbidgee Rivers, was handicapped in the middle of the 19th century by its distance from the seaboard. The Government of Victoria sought to capture the trading potentialities of the area.

A broad gauge (5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm)) railway was opened by the Victorian Railways (VR) between Melbourne and Echuca in 1864. Echuca lies on the Murray River, which forms the border between Victoria and New South Wales. Consequently, pressure arose to have the line extended across the river, northward to Deniliquin. However, the Government of New South Wales was adamant in its refusal to construct a railway which, to a large extent, would have only served Victorian interests.^[1]

New South Wales concedes

In a weak moment during March 1874 and under considerable political pressure, the Government of New South Wales passed an Act which enabled the construction by a private syndicate of a 1600mm gauge railway from Moama to Deniliquin. The line was 44 mi (71 km) long, connecting with the Victorian Railways line at the bridge over the Murray River, near Echuca.^[2]

Construction

Work commenced at Echuca where a junction was made with the Victorian northern railway. The initial crossing of the Murray was made over a temporary trestle bridge, 1,700 feet (520 m) in length and built from red gum piles. As it was necessary to permit the passage of river craft, a lifting span was incorporated.

Clear of the Murray, the railway entered Moama. The country from Moama to Deniliquin comprises a series of almost level plains. The permanent way was laid on the surface and ballasted with sand. Throughout its length, there were only five curves of 80 chains (1.6 km). The line was built within a period of 12 months.^[1]

Official opening

On 4 July 1876, Moama celebrated the opening of the line with great gusto; a whole bullock being roasted and eaten in honour of the event. The Official gathering was held at Deniliquin where some 600 guests enjoyed the hospitality of the directors of the company.

The only member of the NSW Legislature present at Deniliquin for the opening was the local Member for Murray, William Hay.^[3] Such was the disinterest by the NSW Government in providing a rail connection to the town that it was reputed to have quipped that "The New South Wales Government would as soon think of proposing to make a railway to the Moon as to Deniliquin". There remains no rail connection at Deniliquin with the NSW Railway system.^[1]

New bridge across the Murray

A contract was signed in September 1875 for an iron bridge to replace the temporary wooden one. A contemporary newspaper account highlights the terrors associated with the crossing of the original temporary bridge. "Frequently, passengers from Echuca would cross the river in a boat and board the train at Moama rather than risk what appeared to be a very perilous journey across the bridge. Passengers......state that the train appeared to crawl over the rickerty structure, which swayed and creaked as if it was going to collapse every minute and let the train.......drop into the swift-moving stream of the River Murray".^[1][4]

State acquisition

On 1 December 1923, under the terms of the 1922 Border Railways Act, the Deniliquin and Moama Railway Company was taken over by the New South Wales government for transfer to the Victorian Railways.^[5] Since that date, the line has been part of the Victorian railway system.

Rolling stock

Locomotives

All four of the Company's locomotives were built to the design of the Victorian Railways T class 0-6-0 tender engine of 1874. None have been preserved, however VR T class number 94 (originally 265) is preserved and on display at the Newport Railway Museum.

Passenger Carriages and Vans

Deniliquin and Moama Railway Company owned a number of fixed-wheel passenger carriages and guards vans.

The first class cars, 1 & 2 A, had four compartments and six wheels; they became 4 & 43 X in the VR roster. Car 4 X was converted into a workmen's sleeper and lasted into the 1980s.^{[6][self-published source?]} Second class cars had five compartments and four wheels. Guards vans 1 and 2 D also had six wheels, becoming VR 27 & 33 Z, and remained in service until the 1970s.^{[7][self-published source?][8][self-published source?]} All of these appear to be of similar design to existing VR carriages, if not identical. It is not clear how many of each the D&MR owned, and it is most probable that VR stock was used at various times.

Goods Wagons

A variety of four-wheel rolling stock was also acquired by the VR when they took-over the Deniliquin and Moama Railway Company in 1923.

Amongst the goods stock of the D&MR were nine fixed wheel open wagons similar in design to their 'standard' 10 ton capacity I wagons, which the VR had been building through the 1880s. These wagons were classed ID and numbered 31, and 33 to 50. In 1922 five more had been built to the standard pattern of I wagons of that period by Newport Workshops, as ID 46 to 50. After 1923, these last five wagons were re-numbered into the I wagon group to replace accident damaged vehicles, some surviving until the 1970s.^{[9][self-published source?]}

There were also four flat wagons coded NK numbered 1 to 4,^{[10][self-published source?]} twenty-seven box vans coded HD numbered 5 to 31,^{[11][self-published source?]} and thirteen ballast wagons coded ND numbered 13, and 65 to 76.^{[12][self-published source?]} Many of these were scrapped soon after acquisition, however some survived as late as the 1970s. There may have been other wagons owned by the D&MR, apart from the many from VR that were used frequently on through traffic.

It appears that all the D&MR stock was originally uncoded, but a later date (presumed to be the mid 1900s) the VR equivalent codes were emplaced with the suffix D added to indicate their unusual origin.^[12]

References

This page was last edited on 22 November 2023, at 21:41