Mountain route
West Coast Wilderness Railway
Queenstown → Strahan · Australia
West Coast Wilderness Railway in pictures
Photographs by their authors, hosted on Wikimedia Commons · tap through for the licence
- Distance
- 35 km
- Fastest time
- ≈ 4 h
- Average speed
- 9 km/h
- Top speed
- 20 km/h
- Operator
- West Coast Wilderness Railway
- Train
- Abt rack steam locomotives
- Countries
- Australia
- In service since
- 1896
Figures are published values, not live data · corrections log
The 1896 copper railway hauls itself up 1-in-16 grades on Abt rack cogs, steaming once more from Queenstown’s bare hills into the King River rainforest.
How this line was checked
- Line drawn from OpenStreetMap relation 11127635 — the same nodes OpenStreetMap holds for this railway, thinned to within under 25 m of them
- Checked against OpenStreetMap: the whole line lies on real track, a median 4 m from it
- The operator publishes this line's timetable: West Coast Wilderness Railway — a place to look it up, not a check of our drawing
- Wikipedia has an article for this line
- See for yourself: open this line on the map with OpenStreetMap's own railway drawn underneath it
How long is the West Coast Wilderness Railway?
The West Coast Wilderness Railway runs 35 km from Queenstown to Strahan.
How long does the West Coast Wilderness Railway take?
The fastest scheduled journey is ≈ 4 h for the 35 km. That is an average of 9 km/h end to end. The line's top service speed is 20 km/h.
Who runs the West Coast Wilderness Railway?
West Coast Wilderness Railway, with Abt rack steam locomotives.
How old is the West Coast Wilderness Railway?
The line has been in service since 1896. That is the year the atlas dates it from: for a modern brand running over an older railway, it is the railway's date, not the brand's.
View on the world railway map →More mountain routes
- Jungfraubahn
Tunnels INSIDE the Eiger to Europe’s highest station at 3,454 m, the “Top of Europe” since 1912.
Wikipedia ↗ - Nilgiri Mountain Railway
India’s only rack railway: X-class steam pushes the blue coaches up 1-in-12 grades from palm plains to Ooty’s tea hills; UNESCO-listed in 2005.
Wikipedia ↗ - Gornergrat Bahn
Europe’s highest open-air railway climbs from Zermatt to 3,089 m: the Matterhorn framed in the window from the first curve to the summit ridge.
Wikipedia ↗ - Pilatus Railway
The steepest rack railway on Earth: 48 % grades since 1889, with Locher’s horizontal cog wheels gripping a ladder no ordinary train could climb.
Wikipedia ↗
More train routes in Australia.