The missing rails were stolen, there were some guys with a truck and oxy set taking rails and selling them for scrap. They were sprung by a railway web site where someone asked why they were dismantling the line. Someone in the know said they weren’t. So the police investigated and they were caught. However the damage was done.
I remember hearing about this. Pretty crap that they did it. It was one of the better preserved sections on line around there. I managed to drive a section of it about 10-12 years ago, I think there may be another part missing too. I remember a section where there were railway sleepers still with track removed.
I was based at Kwinana as a Drivers Assistant (WAGR) and drove the bauxite trains to the Jarrhadale Bauxite Mine (Alcoa). Did this for a number of years and loved it as it was always a challenge with the ruling grade. this was before I got my appointment as a Driver at Forrestfield. Thank you for this vid. Brings back memories.
Not to naught. Without those lines when they were in use, places like Mundijong may not be as big as they are now. They served a purpose till they were no longer needed
Grew up in Mundijong. Kindy + Preprimary used to be over the road from the tracks on Paterson St. I remember watching the bauxite trains go past all the time as a little kid.
I’ve seen a mine in the mid west, open pit and old crushing infrastructure left to rot, the story the old guy I was working with told me is that it’s cheaper to pay to fine of not rehabilitating the mine, than it is to rehabilitate the mine.
wow, found this video by accident and have fallen in love with your videos, great stuff ! keep it up! I also do know that Alcoa left the line intact as they always hoped to reopen in, they've always been trying to push for permission to start mining out near Mt Cooke way, and the trainline pretty much almost goes there since it finishes in Jarrahdale,. Last i heard theyre still struggling getting approval on mining that way. The parts where the track is missing is sadly done by vandals, people were known to be taking huge sections of track. hint why they paint them certain colours and stuff so they know.
I can understand and support the government for not letting them start the new mine since they didn’t rehab the last site properly, hopefully it’s a once bitten twice shy mentality holding it back and not just they’re waiting for a big enough bribe!
Kwinana refinery is going to be close down shortly. And I'm pretty sure that Pinjarra Huntley mine has mined close Jarrahdale anyway. Alcoa America is mining in other countries. It is cheaper. Jarrahdale was Alcoa learning curve. Have hiked through that area with scout leader training. As it is cheaper
Great videos mate 👍 should check out what’s left of Holyoake, timber mill town near Dwellingup where the Hotham Valley Railway’s Forrest train passes through
Travelled this line with HVR in 1989-ish. Was a day trip to the "Jarrahdale Log Chop". Train went from Perth station, pulled by an XA from memory. A great day out. Those HVR mainline trips were just wonderful.
I remember driving down this railway in a 4wd around 2017 and later in 2019 from the bridge on southwestern hwy all the way to the cutting with the 2 car wrecks (only one was there at the time). Most of it doesn't seem to have changed much since then by the looks. the 2 cuttngs near the end are probably the most interesting parts.
Thanks Brendan, it's delightful to see these sites on video. I used portions of this line in about 2020 to try out a rail bike I built. It seems to me this spur line near Perth could have a future as a rail bike downhill run. West oz has lots of abandoned lines able to be ridden. A friend has done Bridgetown to Donnybrook with an overnight camp. It would be great to see some more people giving railbiking a go, these old lines could get a new life. Regards Kim
great video, cheers, I live close to mundijong and had no idea the removed bridge section was stored in Mundijong and I wondered what it was a thousand times I've gone past it, now I know, haha
If you’re looking to make another abandoned railway video; there is an intact abandoned railway between Collie and Cardiff WA. I have walked it myself and there are 2 bridges (1 wooden, 1 concrete) and several road crossings.
I remember going to the bauxite mine in Jarrahdale on a school excursion in the early 80’s. I remember it being quite interesting and they talked a lot about how the rehabilitate areas where they had finished mining and took showed some of those areas to us.
alcoa has historically always halfarsed it with tons of invasive species, contaminated soils, non-endemic sp, and of course the bloody dieback They deserve little praise, because their rehab methods back then were literally the bare minimum to fool laypeople into thinking they did ok when any expert in local biodiversity would immediately spot the signs of lazy halfassery
Our family used to holiday in Yunderup in the sixties and seventies when I was a kid. Maybe time has distorted my memories but I'm sure I remember the bridge over Southwest highway getting built and marvelling over its size and the enormity of the project. Great video; thanks for the nostalgia trip.
@@brendansodyssey great to hear! I believe there is an abandoned camp ground in Jarrahdale which I want to go and visit. That old sawmill I went to a few weeks ago after seeing your video , was really cool to see in person!
The road alongside the track from the top of the hill to the bridge was a stage of Rally Australia called "Rollercoaster". The road crossed the track a couple of times and is also where Carlos Sainz famously rolled his car over but was able to race away. Note this was before his infamous car destroying rollover at the Bunnings complex in North Bannister the following day.
Current op at ALCOA's Huntly Minesite. Can tell you that since we're working just south of where Jarrahdale finished up, there was a period in the not-too-distant past where the company was considering reactivating the line as one of the options for getting the ore out from the area. Not sure how seriously they did the sums, but it obviously didn't add up for them in the end. Haven't heard it mentioned in a meeting for a while now.
random recommendation but absolutely love this type of stuff. lived in Perth all my life and didn't know that line existed. used to walk along the Boyanup railways with my dad when i was a kid, picking up and collecting old rusty bolts etc. good stuff mate.
I feel old say when I was a kid I went to that mine site as a school excursion. I saw it in use, dam. There's some good bush walking out there, shame the track ended up the way it did. I thought my self it was going to be used for tourist, would be a great trip.
Another fantastic ride is Pinjarra to Dwellingup along the old line. About 10km out from Pinjarra there is an interesting collection of rolling stock just sitting on the line, no siding, quite bizarre.
Another fantastic ride is Pinjarra to Dwellingup along the old line. About 10km out from Pinjarra there is an interesting collection of rolling stock just sitting on the line, no siding, quite bizarre.
Another fantastic ride is Pinjarra to Dwellingup along the old line. About 10km out from Pinjarra there is an interesting collection of rolling stock just sitting on the line, no siding, quite bizarre.
When I was studying for my degree in Conservation Biology in the early 2000s we went out to look at an Alcoa site and I remember how they went on about how they restored everything. I just wondered HOW any mine site could be properly restored seeing as a large portion of the soil profile had been removed. Anyway, some other old rail line things you may be interested in - the Swan View Tunnel and onwards - lots of old sites, most of them signposted. On the Glen Forrest line on the other side of Great Eastern Highway is Devils' Terror Cutting. Where they had to reroute Nyaania Creek and avoid a spring that was turning the proposed rail area into a quagmire. (You can find more info on Atlas Obscura - I wrote the article!)
When we visited in the 1980s (as part of our Geography classes at school) they said they removed the top soil before they started extracting the bauxite.
Nice video, like you said there are some good aerial photos of the mine in operation on the net. You can see one of the signals left @5:08. Around @17:30 there used to be a diamond crossing on the loading siding - pretty weird setup. Jarrahdale 1 you can see on the landgate viewer, its closer to the townsite and is now the mountain bike place.
I worked on the Jarrahdale mine site many times when it was a mine driving dozers and stuff, and it amazes me today the average person would not be able to pick out where the mined out areas are, and the haul roads, that carried 100 plus ton dump trucks, are not noticeable unless you know what to look for. When I was there Alcoa built a dam on a stream beautiful little dam , think it was used for watering the haul roads. Went back few years ago to see this dam they called Chandler Dam, was hell of a job to find it, no big wide haul roads now, bush has all grown up and taken over. To my surprise the dam and dam wall are all gone, all that is left is some concrete at ground level. So amazing is how unless you knew it was there you would, never know there was a dam there.
@@brendansodyssey No I don't only way I found it was a ranger stopped me to ask what I was doing there so asked him where the dam was. It is not all that far from Jarrahdale road, Think it might be on Chandler Brook. You did not really show on your video the train loop where the trains were loaded with bauxite, I was amazed by all the ballast left in that area. At the end of that Alcoa road was a security gate with security people had to be checked in before you could go in. Once in there were lots of office buildings and huge big workshops for all the mining equipment I mean the place was massive, and now you can not imagine what it was like there all now grown over. Also in that area in the early 1900's there were said to be 2000 timber cutters cutting Jarrah to be sent to London to pave the streets there. They had small steam trains carting the logs to a mill in Jarrahdale, have seem the formed up lines the tracks used to run on. I believe they had a train line from Jarrahdale to Rockingham to where the timber was loaded onto ships. Have seen some old Jarrah stumps with axe cut in's where they would secure their stand on boards to fell the tree up high. The bush is now totally ruined back in that day there was only 12 trees to the hectare so was not that hard to clear a line today same area there are 1000 trees to the hectare just a total mess. Sickens me to see the state of the bush now.
Isn't it funny how you have seen Alcoa can do an amazing job restoring land, yet they're in trouble for failing to do that at other sites. Does make you wonder where exactly the decision to cut that corner is occurring. Clearly around Jarrahdale, whoever was making the decisions decided to do things right.
I visited the Alcoa quarry with my kids who wanted to use the mountain bike circuits that go around the old quarry. The original pits are obvious enough, but all in all the bush seems to be re-establishing itself well. And the work done is considered a good example of remediating a mining area.
it's funny how bad the rehabilitation is here for Alcoa lol bc when we went to their mine site last year for a geo excursion and majority of the trip they yapped on about their rehabilitation (we stood in a field they recently planted in the rain for it 😔)
Many years ago a friend and l went on a much older abandoned rail line somewhere in between Armadale and Byford,heading up into the hills.(for the life of me l can't remember its location. Well it was the early 80's) There was an embankment to follow but no rails or even ballast,just the typical gravel you find all through that area. Anyway walking along the embankment we kept out eyes open for any artifacts related to the line and l spotted something with my sharp youthful eyes(never happen now with my worn out peepers) which turned out to be the bowl of a clay pipe! I was extremely happy with that find and l kept it for many years until it got lost in a house move. I have alway wanted to revisit that line but to look at the sides of the embankment for discarded items like the pipe bowl or even possible camp sites the rail builders had smokos or stayed while constructing the line. Armadale itself has quite the history with the underground rail link from the quarry to the brickworks on the SW Highway. Might be worth a journey on your odyssey. Great videos by the way.
@3:45 amazing about the trees. Seen it happen in stadiums, too. Similarly, "The Proper Guys" TH-cam channel shows how quickly buildings go into anarchy when not maintained. It's so weird, well, maybe not if you work on the maintenance of railways and buildings all the time. Good job - we hardly know you're there. So many jobs are only successful when you don't notice them 100%.
Loving the videos Brendan. Good on you for the effort to get it all on film mate. I drove trains in WA for over a decade and stumbled across your Ascot Racecourse line video before this one. Seeing old DB 1588 brought back some good memories. Excellent class of loco and loved their sound on a crisp morning pulling up the ruling grade for the section. BTW those electrical boxes next to a level crossing were for warning lights and boom gates, with larger boxes housing batteries with solar panels on top if grid power wasn't available.
Good stuff Brendan, I'd love to see a look through Adelaide's decimated rail network if you ever get over here. A lot of abandoned rail, cool tunnels and questionable infrastructure decisions to dig into. Like many cities, Adelaide went Full Car decades ago and has struggled to change course ever since.
what would be awesome would be if you could film any of the line that didn't get restored after where the Hotham Valley Part ends out of Dwellingup.. My father and his family had to live out there as a migrant family. There were towns like Inglehope that were all lost to a fire.. I used to go with him at times to look around at where they lived which close to the line. There were still former parts of the rail line in good condition with manually operated switches that still worked. cool posts cheers.
In recall during the early 1990’s, there were railway crossing signals on Patterson Road. Don’t remember any trains using the Jarrahdale line back then.
i actually did fall down that steep section (9:45) carrying a milkcrate full of rocks at 4am. The crate sustained too much structural damage to continue holding the rocks so i buried it in a shallow grave and took only a handful of the rocks home, so at least my girlfriend got her birthday present. Im single now.
Great vid of an area I frequent a lot! I believe the line will be reactivated when Alcoa starts exploiting its tenements to the north of the original mine.
Concerning the part you mentioned at 7:59, from what I’ve been told (how true it is, I wouldn’t know), there was a circus or something of that nature with a bunch of animals, including an elephant/s travelling somewhere within WA. When the truck was en route towards the bridge, apparently the elephant’s head struck the structure, which may explain the damage. Again, how true this is, I have no idea. The portion of the bridge I think was disassembled sometime in early 2014, as I still remember seeing it through to December, 2013
I was a Fireman then Driver at Kwinana from 1980 until 1995 and worked the bauxite train up and down the hill stacks of times until I joined National Rail corp/Pacific National until my retirement in 2019
Hey Brendan, these videos are great please keep them coming. Also might be interesting to talk about a proposed rail renovation around bridge town. Might have just been a rumour but your knowledge and investigative expertise could show us whats happening. Cheers :)
I stayed in Bridgetown when I did the Skeleton Brigde and Donnelly River videos, right near the old bridge going over the river. It would be cool to see it operating again.
there still a Railway track of Wanneroo rd runs to Geraldton, left and abandoned long ago, dirt bikes and 4x4 have controlled tree growth on it etc. you should find it near white horse trail from memory the new Wanneroo rd hides it the old road ran aside it, from memory you might see parts of the old rd and truck rest, find that you will find the tracks. There is a train line in Kwinana also but not sure if finally pulled up due to houses. the wanneroo rd to Geraldton is still there though
Hi Brendan, interesting video. I am wondering where the train line separates under the gravel may be where some of the sleepers could have been removed. If any sleepers have been removed, there would be nothing to hold the rails together. Your video looks and sounds great. I remember many years ago in 1967, my dad and I were visiting Ballarat Vic on a day trip from Melbourne. In those days, we actually lived in Sydney. My dad used a Standard 8 movie camera to film the Ballarat tram system, only to have the unexposed film fall out of the camera just as he had finished. We then rushed back and filmed the Ballarat trams again in the time that we had left with another film. Anyway, thanks again for a great video. Rob, in Melbourne Australia.
Hey mate. Just found this video and absolutely loving it! I used to work on rail building the tracks so if you ever have any questions feel free to get in touch and ill answer as best i can
I enjoy your videos. Thanks for putting in the effort, I have actually explored this area a bit myself, I never knew it was of scientific importance, the more you know.
Awesome video mate, despite the mic issue 😆 Have you done a video on the munitions lines that run through woodman point recreation reserve. I did a number of jobs in perth a few years back and each time i was put up in accommodations at the woodman point caravan park. So i walked through that area quite a bit.
Love the suck shit Alcoa, I’m in Kwinana, I do much work in the region your filming, and always wondered about the railway, loved the effort you put in and keep it up, go sandgropers!!!
Where the railway has markedly widened, at a guess, it's due to gradual sloughing of the lines and would most likely be due to people pilfering the timber sleepers over time.
Looks to me like it's just where the mine's area of track stopped and the government starts, the mine had to remove it as part of the rehab so the guys dismantling the track got to that point and that was it. Generally when your tearing track apart you just drop the rail off the side and run a loader with forks under the sleepers to remove them and you end up with something like this.
@@matty101yttam That's a much better reasoning than my initial thoughts. Cheers Matty... You do wonder why if they've gone to all that trouble to remove the sleepers why wouldn't they repurpose the rail in some way... Maybe a job unfinished...?
@@MrNatebain can't say for certain, there's a few possibilities... 1, the rail looks like it should have been ok on initial dismantling but bauxite mining uses something like caustic soda(can't remember the proper name), also ores on steel tend to corrode as well so it's entirely possible that while the head of the rail looks fine the foot may have been eaten away. 2, the rail looks like 47 maybe 50 kg rail, most country rail is grainline and used to be mainly like 41kg, you can match them in but sometimes it's not worth the effort 3, rail develops shape memory, if there's a lot of curves then accidentally using it on a curve in the opposite direction can lead to a higher frequency of breaks. 4, accounting magic, the cost of getting 2nd hand rail(that may only have half its usage left) from a semi remote location compared to brand new rail out of a station purpose built for loading a rail train. It's also entirely possible it may be a combination of those as well as the possibility someone in management simply forgot(happens a lot when it's not your money...we had to drop some ballast on a freight line with a ballast train, was like $20k to book time and our engineer forgot to tell the guys at the loading pit to fill it....came out empty)
The reason the railway would still exist is because it is crown land and to have it removed it would take an act of parliament, interestingly enough, you can find active level crossings (with flashing lights) on abandon rail lines, this is because it also takes an act of parliament to have active level crossings removed.
Im surprised you haven't done the old Fremantle to armadale line it ran through bibra lake There are still some tracks near woodmanns point that can't be removed due to what the builds that are near them were used for
Don't know where you got your info from but try this. Jarrahdale was the first site they rehabilitated. After a few years and better results in other places they came back to Jarrahdale and did it again. Over the years also had received a number of awards for there rehabilitation. People have also come here from Australia and around the world to see how they did it. It basically came down to how they stored the top soil that was the key to success or fail.
This is my source: www.watoday.com.au/environment/sustainability/alcoa-in-wa-60-years-28-000-hectares-of-forest-cleared-zero-rehabilitation-completed-20230307-p5cq4j.html My sources are always listed in the description. There's another source from The West too
@@brendansodyssey Yer can believe much that a journalist writes these days. They tend to write what fits their requirements I have found.. My source was from someone that was on the rehab crew and I seen the awards. Not to say that alco is perfect by any means. Just thought I would mention it.
@@ontheroadwithjohnIt's not by any means perfect and alcoa did such a shit job the first time that it extremely hampered their 2nd go at the rehab. There's still lots of veldt grass and other invasives in the area, and alcoa getting awards really always felt like taking the piss when that should have been the bare minimum. They def tried hard but the first attempt was so bad that they ciuld only do so much to bring back biodiversity to the area, and while it is better than it was i don't think alcoa themselves deserve the credit because it was their rehab team that put the hard yards in, not the corporate side.
i'm guessing you mean to run on the tracks, i think that would be a bad idea since only the older crossings would have the wheel grooves put in, they newer stuff looks head level which mean you'll be derailed.
As a conservation specialist for the perth areas - yeah alcoa are dogshit at conservation - the bushland there is full of invasive weeds and worse. It lpoks good only because you're used to seeing it like that. It's not AWFUL, just below their promised standards.
Rule of thumb: If you can see veldt grass, it's not proper bushland anymore. If you see gladioli, it's way fucked. If you see a shitload of dead banksia or no banksia sp at all, the soil's fucked
Where does it go? Mate...let me put it to you as simple as I can be... it goes towards either Jarrahdale, or Mundijong. .. yanno.. hence the name of the line. Get it?
Hi, i didn’t finish your video. But i thought i might give some feedback. Take it all with a grain of salt. Ten percent of the video of talking and excuses before getting to the introduction. And then still a-lot of conjecture and uncertain/unsubstantiated claims. I think show early, why this video matters and what possible story/question your looking to tell/answer. I gave up around the 5 min mark. But i think alot could be cut out. An abandoned rail line is interesting. I almost feel like you could have used your at home footage to talk about the experience and then just cut in with footage on site as b-roll. Again, this is my experience with your video not everyones - maybe others like a slower paced video. Keep going , i liked some of your other videos.
The missing rails were stolen, there were some guys with a truck and oxy set taking rails and selling them for scrap. They were sprung by a railway web site where someone asked why they were dismantling the line. Someone in the know said they weren’t. So the police investigated and they were caught. However the damage was done.
When was that?
Id like to read the news reports about it
I remember hearing about this. Pretty crap that they did it. It was one of the better preserved sections on line around there. I managed to drive a section of it about 10-12 years ago, I think there may be another part missing too. I remember a section where there were railway sleepers still with track removed.
I can't say I'm surprised. Selfish (*) like that just have to ruin anything good.
I was based at Kwinana as a Drivers Assistant (WAGR) and drove the bauxite trains to the Jarrhadale Bauxite Mine (Alcoa). Did this for a number of years and loved it as it was always a challenge with the ruling grade. this was before I got my appointment as a Driver at Forrestfield. Thank you for this vid. Brings back memories.
My dad was with Westrail and worked the trains from Jarrahdale to Kwinana I went with him once. It was a great day for a little kid
Nice. My grandad worked for Westrail too. Unsure which lines he worked on though
G'day. What year was that (approximately?), if you don't mind me asking. Cheers from Sydney.
Abandoned railways are such melancholy places. All those past effort and dreams come to naught.
Not to naught. Without those lines when they were in use, places like Mundijong may not be as big as they are now. They served a purpose till they were no longer needed
I often wonder about that railway when we drive past the remains of the bridge. There's something quite fascinating about old railways.
Grew up in Mundijong. Kindy + Preprimary used to be over the road from the tracks on Paterson St. I remember watching the bauxite trains go past all the time as a little kid.
I’ve seen a mine in the mid west, open pit and old crushing infrastructure left to rot, the story the old guy I was working with told me is that it’s cheaper to pay to fine of not rehabilitating the mine, than it is to rehabilitate the mine.
Man, that sucks. Haha. Where abouts is the mine?
wow, found this video by accident and have fallen in love with your videos, great stuff ! keep it up!
I also do know that Alcoa left the line intact as they always hoped to reopen in, they've always been trying to push for permission to start mining out near Mt Cooke way, and the trainline pretty much almost goes there since it finishes in Jarrahdale,. Last i heard theyre still struggling getting approval on mining that way.
The parts where the track is missing is sadly done by vandals, people were known to be taking huge sections of track. hint why they paint them certain colours and stuff so they know.
Of course, I should have suspected thieves!
I can understand and support the government for not letting them start the new mine since they didn’t rehab the last site properly, hopefully it’s a once bitten twice shy mentality holding it back and not just they’re waiting for a big enough bribe!
Kwinana refinery is going to be close down shortly. And I'm pretty sure that Pinjarra Huntley mine has mined close Jarrahdale anyway.
Alcoa America is mining in other countries. It is cheaper.
Jarrahdale was Alcoa learning curve.
Have hiked through that area with scout leader training.
As it is cheaper
I remember the bridge over south western hwy, removed because of oversized vehicles using the hwy
Great videos mate 👍 should check out what’s left of Holyoake, timber mill town near Dwellingup where the Hotham Valley Railway’s Forrest train passes through
I will! Thanks for the tip
Travelled this line with HVR in 1989-ish. Was a day trip to the "Jarrahdale Log Chop". Train went from Perth station, pulled by an XA from memory. A great day out. Those HVR mainline trips were just wonderful.
I remember driving down this railway in a 4wd around 2017 and later in 2019 from the bridge on southwestern hwy all the way to the cutting with the 2 car wrecks (only one was there at the time). Most of it doesn't seem to have changed much since then by the looks. the 2 cuttngs near the end are probably the most interesting parts.
Thanks Brendan, it's delightful to see these sites on video. I used portions of this line in about 2020 to try out a rail bike I built. It seems to me this spur line near Perth could have a future as a rail bike downhill run. West oz has lots of abandoned lines able to be ridden. A friend has done Bridgetown to Donnybrook with an overnight camp. It would be great to see some more people giving railbiking a go, these old lines could get a new life. Regards Kim
great video, cheers, I live close to mundijong and had no idea the removed bridge section was stored in Mundijong and I wondered what it was a thousand times I've gone past it, now I know, haha
If you’re looking to make another abandoned railway video; there is an intact abandoned railway between Collie and Cardiff WA.
I have walked it myself and there are 2 bridges (1 wooden, 1 concrete) and several road crossings.
Nice one! I had also always wondered about that bridge when driving under it before they pulled it down. Now I know!
same here i knew it got removed after a truck hit it but that was about it
I remember going to the bauxite mine in Jarrahdale on a school excursion in the early 80’s. I remember it being quite interesting and they talked a lot about how the rehabilitate areas where they had finished mining and took showed some of those areas to us.
alcoa has historically always halfarsed it with tons of invasive species, contaminated soils, non-endemic sp, and of course the bloody dieback
They deserve little praise, because their rehab methods back then were literally the bare minimum to fool laypeople into thinking they did ok when any expert in local biodiversity would immediately spot the signs of lazy halfassery
Our family used to holiday in Yunderup in the sixties and seventies when I was a kid. Maybe time has distorted my memories but I'm sure I remember the bridge over Southwest highway getting built and marvelling over its size and the enormity of the project. Great video; thanks for the nostalgia trip.
Really enjoy your videos Brendan. Greetings from Rich, of Perth.
Thanks Rich. I've had a bit of a break but I'm working on a video that will hopefully be out this weekend!
@@brendansodyssey great to hear! I believe there is an abandoned camp ground in Jarrahdale which I want to go and visit. That old sawmill I went to a few weeks ago after seeing your video , was really cool to see in person!
The road alongside the track from the top of the hill to the bridge was a stage of Rally Australia called "Rollercoaster". The road crossed the track a couple of times and is also where Carlos Sainz famously rolled his car over but was able to race away. Note this was before his infamous car destroying rollover at the Bunnings complex in North Bannister the following day.
Current op at ALCOA's Huntly Minesite. Can tell you that since we're working just south of where Jarrahdale finished up, there was a period in the not-too-distant past where the company was considering reactivating the line as one of the options for getting the ore out from the area. Not sure how seriously they did the sums, but it obviously didn't add up for them in the end. Haven't heard it mentioned in a meeting for a while now.
That explains why it's stuck around for so long. Most lines in Perth get pulled up the moment they're deactivated
random recommendation but absolutely love this type of stuff. lived in Perth all my life and didn't know that line existed. used to walk along the Boyanup railways with my dad when i was a kid, picking up and collecting old rusty bolts etc. good stuff mate.
I feel old say when I was a kid I went to that mine site as a school excursion. I saw it in use, dam. There's some good bush walking out there, shame the track ended up the way it did. I thought my self it was going to be used for tourist, would be a great trip.
Thanks for the vid, nice work, you inspired me.
I went to Mundijong today and rode the whole line on my Ebike for 18km each way, fantastic ride.
Awesome!
Another fantastic ride is Pinjarra to Dwellingup along the old line. About 10km out from Pinjarra there is an interesting collection of rolling stock just sitting on the line, no siding, quite bizarre.
Another fantastic ride is Pinjarra to Dwellingup along the old line. About 10km out from Pinjarra there is an interesting collection of rolling stock just sitting on the line, no siding, quite bizarre.
Another fantastic ride is Pinjarra to Dwellingup along the old line. About 10km out from Pinjarra there is an interesting collection of rolling stock just sitting on the line, no siding, quite bizarre.
NZer here - great video!
Looks like a really nice area along that line! Lovely, with the trees and open areas.
When I was studying for my degree in Conservation Biology in the early 2000s we went out to look at an Alcoa site and I remember how they went on about how they restored everything. I just wondered HOW any mine site could be properly restored seeing as a large portion of the soil profile had been removed.
Anyway, some other old rail line things you may be interested in - the Swan View Tunnel and onwards - lots of old sites, most of them signposted. On the Glen Forrest line on the other side of Great Eastern Highway is Devils' Terror Cutting. Where they had to reroute Nyaania Creek and avoid a spring that was turning the proposed rail area into a quagmire. (You can find more info on Atlas Obscura - I wrote the article!)
Cool! And I've spent a lot time in that tunnel, I grew up nearby. I plan to make a video about it eventually.
When we visited in the 1980s (as part of our Geography classes at school) they said they removed the top soil before they started extracting the bauxite.
Nice video, like you said there are some good aerial photos of the mine in operation on the net. You can see one of the signals left @5:08. Around @17:30 there used to be a diamond crossing on the loading siding - pretty weird setup. Jarrahdale 1 you can see on the landgate viewer, its closer to the townsite and is now the mountain bike place.
I worked on the Jarrahdale mine site many times when it was a mine driving dozers and stuff, and it amazes me today the average person would not be able to pick out where the mined out areas are, and the haul roads, that carried 100 plus ton dump trucks, are not noticeable unless you know what to look for. When I was there Alcoa built a dam on a stream beautiful little dam , think it was used for watering the haul roads. Went back few years ago to see this dam they called Chandler Dam, was hell of a job to find it, no big wide haul roads now, bush has all grown up and taken over. To my surprise the dam and dam wall are all gone, all that is left is some concrete at ground level. So amazing is how unless you knew it was there you would, never know there was a dam there.
Very interesting. Would you be able to provide coordinates on Google Maps for the dam site?
@@brendansodyssey No I don't only way I found it was a ranger stopped me to ask what I was doing there so asked him where the dam was. It is not all that far from Jarrahdale road, Think it might be on Chandler Brook. You did not really show on your video the train loop where the trains were loaded with bauxite, I was amazed by all the ballast left in that area. At the end of that Alcoa road was a security gate with security people had to be checked in before you could go in. Once in there were lots of office buildings and huge big workshops for all the mining equipment I mean the place was massive, and now you can not imagine what it was like there all now grown over. Also in that area in the early 1900's there were said to be 2000 timber cutters cutting Jarrah to be sent to London to pave the streets there. They had small steam trains carting the logs to a mill in Jarrahdale, have seem the formed up lines the tracks used to run on. I believe they had a train line from Jarrahdale to Rockingham to where the timber was loaded onto ships. Have seen some old Jarrah stumps with axe cut in's where they would secure their stand on boards to fell the tree up high. The bush is now totally ruined back in that day there was only 12 trees to the hectare so was not that hard to clear a line today same area there are 1000 trees to the hectare just a total mess. Sickens me to see the state of the bush now.
Isn't it funny how you have seen Alcoa can do an amazing job restoring land, yet they're in trouble for failing to do that at other sites. Does make you wonder where exactly the decision to cut that corner is occurring. Clearly around Jarrahdale, whoever was making the decisions decided to do things right.
@@shibibi1 Go back to those Alcoa sites in 20 to 30 years' time, and they will be just like the Jarrahdale sites. Some people carry on about nothing.
I visited the Alcoa quarry with my kids who wanted to use the mountain bike circuits that go around the old quarry. The original pits are obvious enough, but all in all the bush seems to be re-establishing itself well. And the work done is considered a good example of remediating a mining area.
It's not nearly as good or healthy as you think at first glance. It only looks good to a layperson and that's after a great many years.
it's funny how bad the rehabilitation is here for Alcoa lol bc when we went to their mine site last year for a geo excursion and majority of the trip they yapped on about their rehabilitation (we stood in a field they recently planted in the rain for it 😔)
they def used to be a lot worse than they are now - they made huge mistakes when rehabbing the jarrahdale site
@@OutbackCatgirl yeah thats true
Awesome video man! I always enjoy exploring the old Capel - Boyanup line when I'm down south. Cheers
Thanks. That line has been on the list for a while. I think it's getting reused soon? Might be another line down there I'm thinking of.
Many years ago a friend and l went on a much older abandoned rail line somewhere in between Armadale and Byford,heading up into the hills.(for the life of me l can't remember its location. Well it was the early 80's)
There was an embankment to follow but no rails or even ballast,just the typical gravel you find all through that area. Anyway walking along the embankment we kept out eyes open for any artifacts related to the line and l spotted something with my sharp youthful eyes(never happen now with my worn out peepers) which turned out to be the bowl of a clay pipe! I was extremely happy with that find and l kept it for many years until it got lost in a house move. I have alway wanted to revisit that line but to look at the sides of the embankment for discarded items like the pipe bowl or even possible camp sites the rail builders had smokos or stayed while constructing the line.
Armadale itself has quite the history with the underground rail link from the quarry to the brickworks on the SW Highway. Might be worth a journey on your odyssey. Great videos by the way.
I know the line, Was Forestry
Figured it would be something like that. Thanks.
Just came across this video. That was me looking out the window when you filmed near our place.
@3:45 amazing about the trees. Seen it happen in stadiums, too. Similarly, "The Proper Guys" TH-cam channel shows how quickly buildings go into anarchy when not maintained. It's so weird, well, maybe not if you work on the maintenance of railways and buildings all the time. Good job - we hardly know you're there. So many jobs are only successful when you don't notice them 100%.
Great video mate. Railway infrastructure has been my "thing" for decades.
Loving the videos Brendan. Good on you for the effort to get it all on film mate. I drove trains in WA for over a decade and stumbled across your Ascot Racecourse line video before this one. Seeing old DB 1588 brought back some good memories. Excellent class of loco and loved their sound on a crisp morning pulling up the ruling grade for the section. BTW those electrical boxes next to a level crossing were for warning lights and boom gates, with larger boxes housing batteries with solar panels on top if grid power wasn't available.
Spent a few years going up & down here from Kwinana with the bauxite trains,, this would of made a great tourist line!
I lived there for decade's while Alcoa was still using it. The Service road was a Rally stage inc for Rally Australia
Good stuff Brendan, I'd love to see a look through Adelaide's decimated rail network if you ever get over here. A lot of abandoned rail, cool tunnels and questionable infrastructure decisions to dig into. Like many cities, Adelaide went Full Car decades ago and has struggled to change course ever since.
what would be awesome would be if you could film any of the line that didn't get restored after where the Hotham Valley Part ends out of Dwellingup.. My father and his family had to live out there as a migrant family. There were towns like Inglehope that were all lost to a fire.. I used to go with him at times to look around at where they lived which close to the line. There were still former parts of the rail line in good condition with manually operated switches that still worked. cool posts cheers.
Very cool, I'll look into it. Thanks!
Think that reads right now. 3 or 4th attempt.. I always look here late..
In recall during the early 1990’s, there were railway crossing signals on Patterson Road. Don’t remember any trains using the Jarrahdale line back then.
Yes, trucks on the road used to impact the bridge. I remember the trains on that line.
i actually did fall down that steep section (9:45) carrying a milkcrate full of rocks at 4am. The crate sustained too much structural damage to continue holding the rocks so i buried it in a shallow grave and took only a handful of the rocks home, so at least my girlfriend got her birthday present. Im single now.
Great vid of an area I frequent a lot! I believe the line will be reactivated when Alcoa starts exploiting its tenements to the north of the original mine.
Concerning the part you mentioned at 7:59, from what I’ve been told (how true it is, I wouldn’t know), there was a circus or something of that nature with a bunch of animals, including an elephant/s travelling somewhere within WA.
When the truck was en route towards the bridge, apparently the elephant’s head struck the structure, which may explain the damage.
Again, how true this is, I have no idea.
The portion of the bridge I think was disassembled sometime in early 2014, as I still remember seeing it through to December, 2013
Cool story. Would love to find a source on that
@@brendansodyssey If true, it’s certainly interesting. Hahaha
nah that's not true, at all.
I was a Fireman then Driver at Kwinana from 1980 until 1995 and worked the bauxite train up and down the hill stacks of times until I joined National Rail corp/Pacific National until my retirement in 2019
You deserve more subs so i subed!. Thanks for sharing.
Hey Brendan, these videos are great please keep them coming. Also might be interesting to talk about a proposed rail renovation around bridge town. Might have just been a rumour but your knowledge and investigative expertise could show us whats happening. Cheers :)
I stayed in Bridgetown when I did the Skeleton Brigde and Donnelly River videos, right near the old bridge going over the river. It would be cool to see it operating again.
Sound was fine even with the wind and all, made it sound authentic
there still a Railway track of Wanneroo rd runs to Geraldton, left and abandoned long ago, dirt bikes and 4x4 have controlled tree growth on it etc. you should find it near white horse trail from memory the new Wanneroo rd hides it the old road ran aside it, from memory you might see parts of the old rd and truck rest, find that you will find the tracks.
There is a train line in Kwinana also but not sure if finally pulled up due to houses.
the wanneroo rd to Geraldton is still there though
Struggling to find anything on this. Could you send me some Google Maps coordinates or something like that? Feel free to email me if you like.
That was cool and i enjoyed it. Thanks.
I always wondered what that rail was. That bridge was only recently moved. I remembered when they moved it.
Hi Brendan, interesting video. I am wondering where the train line separates under the gravel may be where some of the sleepers could have been removed. If any sleepers have been removed, there would be nothing to hold the rails together. Your video looks and sounds great. I remember many years ago in 1967, my dad and I were visiting Ballarat Vic on a day trip from Melbourne. In those days, we actually lived in Sydney. My dad used a Standard 8 movie camera to film the Ballarat tram system, only to have the unexposed film fall out of the camera just as he had finished. We then rushed back and filmed the Ballarat trams again in the time that we had left with another film. Anyway, thanks again for a great video. Rob, in Melbourne Australia.
Hey mate. Just found this video and absolutely loving it! I used to work on rail building the tracks so if you ever have any questions feel free to get in touch and ill answer as best i can
Nice mate.
Could you do a video on the closure, then re-opening of the Perth to Fremantle line?
Yeah mate, on the list for the immediate future :)
I enjoy your videos. Thanks for putting in the effort, I have actually explored this area a bit myself, I never knew it was of scientific importance, the more you know.
Puffing Billy in Melbourne is a massive tourist attraction. It’s booked out six months in advance.
nice videos keep them up!
I grew up in Jarrahdale and remember the trains still running well
If you look at the perth freight rail map you can see the corridor is still reserved but not in use
www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=pta.wa.gov.au/Portals/15/AA_DOCUMENTS/Our_system/Freight%2520network/PTA%2520Rail%2520Network%2520Map_2019.pdf%3Fver%3D2019-05-02-104058-827%26timestamp%3D1598284332914&ved=2ahUKEwj2lIbasM6FAxUod2wGHRu7AXQQFnoECBYQAQ&usg=AOvVaw26DDrhYwNuqe1uz4T7xW4P
Very cool. There's several other disused lines shown too.
Haha locals 😂 People can be so suspicious.Surprised they kept the railway crossing sign near the farm Love the video!
Awesome video mate, despite the mic issue 😆
Have you done a video on the munitions lines that run through woodman point recreation reserve. I did a number of jobs in perth a few years back and each time i was put up in accommodations at the woodman point caravan park. So i walked through that area quite a bit.
Not a video, but I did take photos there years ago: breakingintotheindustry.blogspot.com/2014/02/abandoned-woodman-point-munitions.html
Really enjoy your videos mate! Ever thought of exploring the kings park tunnels thing?
Nyyerbup Circle, Woodman point...appears a railway track that is dis-used
I saw the puddle and had to check how old this video was. That would have been around about the time it rained last
great videos 🤙
Whens the Freo powerhouse video dropping? Or are we getting a feature length documentary
we use to take the kids up along that bridge and ride their motor bikes waaay back when
Love the suck shit Alcoa, I’m in Kwinana, I do much work in the region your filming, and always wondered about the railway, loved the effort you put in and keep it up, go sandgropers!!!
Drove past Jarrahdale Albany hwy turn off today
Interesting.
Liking your videos 👍🏻
You should check out the old Swan view tunnel if you haven't already
Where the railway has markedly widened, at a guess, it's due to gradual sloughing of the lines and would most likely be due to people pilfering the timber sleepers over time.
Looks to me like it's just where the mine's area of track stopped and the government starts, the mine had to remove it as part of the rehab so the guys dismantling the track got to that point and that was it.
Generally when your tearing track apart you just drop the rail off the side and run a loader with forks under the sleepers to remove them and you end up with something like this.
@@matty101yttam That's a much better reasoning than my initial thoughts. Cheers Matty... You do wonder why if they've gone to all that trouble to remove the sleepers why wouldn't they repurpose the rail in some way... Maybe a job unfinished...?
@@MrNatebain can't say for certain, there's a few possibilities...
1, the rail looks like it should have been ok on initial dismantling but bauxite mining uses something like caustic soda(can't remember the proper name), also ores on steel tend to corrode as well so it's entirely possible that while the head of the rail looks fine the foot may have been eaten away.
2, the rail looks like 47 maybe 50 kg rail, most country rail is grainline and used to be mainly like 41kg, you can match them in but sometimes it's not worth the effort
3, rail develops shape memory, if there's a lot of curves then accidentally using it on a curve in the opposite direction can lead to a higher frequency of breaks.
4, accounting magic, the cost of getting 2nd hand rail(that may only have half its usage left) from a semi remote location compared to brand new rail out of a station purpose built for loading a rail train.
It's also entirely possible it may be a combination of those as well as the possibility someone in management simply forgot(happens a lot when it's not your money...we had to drop some ballast on a freight line with a ballast train, was like $20k to book time and our engineer forgot to tell the guys at the loading pit to fill it....came out empty)
nah mate it was scrapped by a couple shady blokes with a truck and an oxy torch, they got caught only after ripping up a big section
You might like the zig zag up in Kalamunda if you havent been there already.
I have! Check out my video on Statham's Quarry
You can still see the track on Google Maps (do not remember if it was said on the video)
i've been wondering for years whhat this rail was about
The reason the railway would still exist is because it is crown land and to have it removed it would take an act of parliament, interestingly enough, you can find active level crossings (with flashing lights) on abandon rail lines, this is because it also takes an act of parliament to have active level crossings removed.
Would make a good rail cart line
That passenger service in 1999, do you know if that was for the Jarrahdale log chop? If so, I was on that train
@11:20 LOL Australia's only 3-metre gauge railway
Im surprised you haven't done the old Fremantle to armadale line it ran through bibra lake
There are still some tracks near woodmanns point that can't be removed due to what the builds that are near them were used for
You need to get yourself a rail cart.
Don't know where you got your info from but try this. Jarrahdale was the first site they rehabilitated. After a few years and better results in other places they came back to Jarrahdale and did it again. Over the years also had received a number of awards for there rehabilitation. People have also come here from Australia and around the world to see how they did it. It basically came down to how they stored the top soil that was the key to success or fail.
This is my source: www.watoday.com.au/environment/sustainability/alcoa-in-wa-60-years-28-000-hectares-of-forest-cleared-zero-rehabilitation-completed-20230307-p5cq4j.html
My sources are always listed in the description. There's another source from The West too
@@brendansodyssey Yer can believe much that a journalist writes these days. They tend to write what fits their requirements I have found.. My source was from someone that was on the rehab crew and I seen the awards. Not to say that alco is perfect by any means. Just thought I would mention it.
@@ontheroadwithjohnIt's not by any means perfect and alcoa did such a shit job the first time that it extremely hampered their 2nd go at the rehab. There's still lots of veldt grass and other invasives in the area, and alcoa getting awards really always felt like taking the piss when that should have been the bare minimum. They def tried hard but the first attempt was so bad that they ciuld only do so much to bring back biodiversity to the area, and while it is better than it was i don't think alcoa themselves deserve the credit because it was their rehab team that put the hard yards in, not the corporate side.
The tracks not shut…it’s in ‘care and maintenance’.😅
If track is abandoned, you can make a 3 wheel cart with a small motor to explore .
i'm guessing you mean to run on the tracks, i think that would be a bad idea since only the older crossings would have the wheel grooves put in, they newer stuff looks head level which mean you'll be derailed.
Its was left as is because the Serpentine jarrahdale Counsil only care about themselves and horse owners also themselves
It’s in the name man.
Ha, guess so. Jarrahdale is a big place 🤷♂️
As a conservation specialist for the perth areas - yeah alcoa are dogshit at conservation - the bushland there is full of invasive weeds and worse. It lpoks good only because you're used to seeing it like that. It's not AWFUL, just below their promised standards.
Also they introduced dieback to a few areas too
Rule of thumb: If you can see veldt grass, it's not proper bushland anymore. If you see gladioli, it's way fucked. If you see a shitload of dead banksia or no banksia sp at all, the soil's fucked
So basically alcoa..... Suck shit 😂
Made my day, thanks bro 👌
Where does it go?
Mate...let me put it to you as simple as I can be... it goes towards either Jarrahdale, or Mundijong. .. yanno.. hence the name of the line. Get it?
Off the rails
cool
Hey i have a house in jarrahdale
Not too bad but, “anything” ends with a G, not a K. Yes, I’m a pedant.
I have a speech impediment :(
💀
Hi, i didn’t finish your video. But i thought i might give some feedback. Take it all with a grain of salt.
Ten percent of the video of talking and excuses before getting to the introduction. And then still a-lot of conjecture and uncertain/unsubstantiated claims. I think show early, why this video matters and what possible story/question your looking to tell/answer.
I gave up around the 5 min mark. But i think alot could be cut out.
An abandoned rail line is interesting. I almost feel like you could have used your at home footage to talk about the experience and then just cut in with footage on site as b-roll.
Again, this is my experience with your video not everyones - maybe others like a slower paced video.
Keep going , i liked some of your other videos.