Resources and Finding Information

Detailed information on Tasmanian railways is available, but isn’t always easy to locate. This page endeavours to list some of the major and more easily obtainable sources split up into a number of major categories.

General sources

• National Archives of Australia (Hobart Office) - Much of the material from the TGR's Launceston head office is now under the control of the National Archives of Australia's Hobart office. Some series have been indexed on their web-site, and some include scanned images of random items. Copies of most items are available for a cost
• Tasmanian Rail News magazine - Since 1965, this magazine has published many articles and photographs on different topics. An index is available for articles and photographs published since 1988
• Preservation groups - If available, the real thing is a good reference source. Stock lists for some of the larger groups can be found here
• RailTasmania web-site - Some useful pages include the magazine index lists, lists of published books, photographs, pages on individual loco classes and the railway line pages
• General magazines - Magazines such as the ARHS Bulletin (now Australian Railway History), Australian Model Railway Magazine, Light Railways and Narrow Gauge Down Under have published occasional articles on Tasmanian railways.

Locomotives

• The National Archives have many construction and maintenance drawings for TGR and ANR locomotives. These range from useful general arrangement drawings, to literally the nuts and bolts that go into a locomotive. Series P1275, P1279, P1284 and P1297 contain many general diagrams, whilst other series cover specific locomotive classes
• The publications Locomotives of the Tasmanian Transport Museum and The history of the Don River Railway's Locomotives, Railcars & Carriages both contain information on the various locomotive classes preserved by the two organisations.

Rolling stock

• A series of articles by Michael Dix published in the Australian Model Railway Magazine in the 1980s covered a number of wagon classes and the DB guards vans in detail. The magazine has also published occasional articles at other times covering other topics such as stock wagons and horse boxes
• Again the National Archives has many rollingstock and component diagrams (notably P1275 and P1279), although as noted above, the practical usefulness of the diagrams does vary a lot
• The TGR outline diagrams are commonly available. These small scale plans generally contain at least a side elevation of the vehicle and key dimensions. The accuracy of the diagrams is variable, and where possible should not be relied upon as the only source
• From 1980 to 1996, the ARHS Bulletin magazine published a series of articles by Dr Jim Stokes covering TGR passenger rollingstock. Details and plans of each class and vehicle are included

Infrastructure, Railway Line and track plans

• The National Archives has many of the original construction diagrams, as well as later surveys and plans (Series P1330, P1331 & P1332. These series also include drawings of station buildings, goods sheds and other structures.
• From 1971 to recently, the ARHS Bulletin magazine (later Australian Railway History) has published an ad-hoc series of articles by Dr Jim Stokes covering various railway lines. Articles generally include details and track plans of individual stations and information on the line in general

Operations

The TGR published a number of books to support their operations. The most notable of these are the Working Timetables, the General Appendix and the Rule books (or later names). Each of these books contain information useful for modelling purposes, such as train marshalling and running (WTT) and restrictions and operation requirements at specific stations (GA).

Notes on specific sources

Ex Emu Bay Railway material is held at the Pioneers Museum in Burnie, while the Archives Office of Tasmania holds some ex Mt Lyell material, including diagrams

Pacific National has advised that they are unable to provide material or assistance in this area, and that people should not attempt to enter yard areas or attempt other activities not available to the general public.