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The Mount Hope railway briefly connected the Broken Hill railway line with Mount Hope, New South Wales, Australia. The copper mine for which this branch was constructed to service ceased full-time operations four months before the line was opened. After a bare five years, the branch itself was closed—possibly the first step of rationalisation to be practiced by the New South Wales Government Railways.〔''The Railway News'' ''N.S.W. School Railway Clubs Association'' November–December, 1977 pp104-108〕 == Construction == The basic reason for the proposed construction of a railway to service Mount Hope was to provide a means of cheap transport for the several copper mines in the district. A railway to link Broken Hill with Condobolin via Menindee had been on the drawing boards since 1895 but there was considerable pressure instead for the line to be built from Cobar and run via Wilcannia to Broken Hill. Construction, however, was authorised of the route from Condobolin to Broken Hill in 1912, and the actual work commenced in December 1914 from both ends. The work was placed in the hands of a private contractor in July the following year, but this contract was cancelled in May 1917, by which time the section from Condobolin to Matakana had been completed. Although not officially open for traffic, freight was handled over the line under "construction" conditions (i.e., construction traffic had priority over any other traffic.) The Annual Report of the Department of Mines for the Year Ended 30 June 1917 reveals that the only mine operating at Mount Hope at the time was the Mount Hope Limited. Regular crushing operations were commenced in May, 1917 when the railway from Condobolin to Matakana was unofficially opened. At that stage, it was proposed to build a light railway to connect the mine with Matakana Siding, 16 km away, for which a survey had been completed. In the following year, the N.S.W. Department of Mines reported that: "''the profitable and successful treatment of the Mount Hope ore has proved in the past an almost insuperable difficulty, owing, firstly, to the distance from the railway, and secondly, to the highly siliceous nature of the ore; but the present Company, by a combination process of milling and leaching under a patent of their own, has proved that the mine can be worked profitably and with the railway now within less than two miles of the town, the future of this property seems assured . . . given an adequate price for copper, it is safe to predict a prosperous career for this mine.''" It was planned to carry out extensive improvements, including the construction of an urgently needed dam to provide a dependable water supply. At this stage, 117 persons were employed at the mine. However, in October 1918, the water ran out and work at the mine all but ceased. With the arrival of the railway, it was expected that the Great Central Copper Mine at South Mount Hope would also resume operations. The official opening date of the 16.73 km (10m. 32ch.) single tracked branch from Matakana to Mount Hope is given as 10 February 1919, the same as that for the main line from Condobolin to a dead-end 2.56 km beyond Trida.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mount Hope railway line」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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