Zeehan railway station
Zeehan railway station in Tasmania, was a major junction and railway yard for numerous different railway and tramway systems in western Tasmania in the town of Zeehan. Its peak of operations was between the 1890s and the late 1920s – reflecting the general fate of the town and the industries that were located in the Zeehan and surrounding districts. Terminus. It was the terminus of the Strahan–Zeehan Railway from the south, the Emu Bay Railway from the north and a number of narrow gauge tram systems that utilised the railway yard and radiated out in all directions  from the station. The narrow gauge North East Dundas Tramway line proceeded separately out of the station and yard following the Emu Bay railway alignment, before it turned toward its easterly route. Yard. The government railway that linked the Mount Lyell railway to the Emu Bay, and then to Burnie was an important part of the government railway system. The government looked to improve the facilities over time while the railways were carrying optimum freight loads. The Zeehan railway station yard was extensive with numerable small tram lines connecting with the yard in the peak of the activity at the  station from before the First World War until the beginning of the depression – when most smaller tramways and mines and smelter operations had ceased to operate. A map by C.C. Singleton of the Australian Railway Historical Society in Bulletin 289 November 1961, and in Bulletin 312, October 1963 offer an understanding of the yard layout: Tramways. Tramways mentioned here specifically utilised the Zeehan railway station as their terminus. Accidents. A spectacular boiler explosion occurred at 7.15 am on 17 May 1899 in the Zeehan railway station yard. The North-East Dundas tram approached the Wilson Street waiting room at the  end of the station yard, the engine exploded. The fireman Thomas Marra was killed instantly and the driver David Biddulph died soon after. Post closure status. In 1971 Frank Stamford of "The Light Railway Research Society of Australia" wrote in "Light Railways":