page_title: British Australian Tramway, Coffs Harbour
section_title: Set-up and construction
hierarchical_section_title: British Australian Tramway, Coffs Harbour / Set-up and construction
caption_attribution_description: English: Tramline from British Australian Timber Company's Mill to a) Jetty, b) Bruxner Park - Coffs Harbour, NSW Call number: At Work and Play - 01684 Reference code: 389731 General note Tom Colvin, baker and shopkeeper, Mrs Colvin, midwife Pier Hotel, Tom Colvin's General Store Digital order no:bcp_01684 Original item no. BCP 01684
context_page_description: The British Australian Tramway was a 9 kilometres long logging railway with a gauge of 3 ft 6 in in Coffs Harbour in the Australian state New South Wales, which operated from 1907 to 1914.
context_section_description: The British Australian Timber Company (BAT Co) was founded in 1906 as a subsidiary of Dalgety Holdings. It purchased in October 1906 a sawmill, which had been set-up in 1903 by George W. Nichols. The deal included machinery and equipment, as well as 2.2 hectares (5.5 acres) of land in Woolgoolga and three log harvesting contracts of 3,500 pounds plus two more sawmills in Woolgoolga and south of it.
  In 1907 BAT Co applied for permission to build a forest railway for the transport of logs to the sawmill and began in the same year, shortly after obtaining the approval, with the construction track. BAT Co laid steel rails weighing 17.4 kg/m (35 lb/yd) onto wooden sleepers made of locally harvested and sawn hardwood. The construction cost was 1500 pounds per mile. The line was roughly built, because  sharp corners remained at the rail joints, to save construction costs. The on the ballast consisted of rock or sand. During the construction John Norton died on February 5, 1909 while felling a tree.
caption: Tramway at the Pier Hotel, 1908
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