By 1891 the eastern Zigzag was disrupting Blue Mountains rail traffic. Replacement was essential.
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The result was a single-line tunnel, 31.5 chains long. Sir Arthur Streeton's famous painting, "Fire's On!", records the fatal blasting accident which killed Thomas Lawless during its construction.
The Tourist commented that "the line of grade, 1-in-33, was the steepest of any in the colony through a tunnel and was in the form of an S". (Evening News, 30.11.1892).
Two engines were needed on the down track towards Bathurst and smoke and steam from both engines settled in the tunnel because there was no ventilation shaft. Incessantly, water dripped from the roof onto the tracks, making them wet and slippery.
Shortly after its opening on December 18, 1892, two trucks went off the rails in the tunnel, because "the line was rather slippery and the push-up engine was unable to make headway" (Nepean Times, 8.4.1893).
By October 1901, there were already suggestions that there should be a further track deviation, avoiding the tunnel and its problems.
Some railway men referred to the tunnel as the "Devil's Hole" because of the heat and suffocating fumes.
On New Year's Eve 1902, driver Willis and fireman Wright attempted three times to transit the tunnel. Finally, detaching part of the train, they reached Glenbrook station where both collapsed. An engine was sent to collect the rest of the train. None of the passengers were hurt, though some had alighted from the train, walking back to Penrith while, "many, especially ladies, must have gone through a trying ordeal" (Australian Town and Country Journal, 7.1.1903).
After this mishap, many engine-drivers began to experiment with respirators.
On May 11, 1913, Stage 1 of the "Second Deviation", avoiding Lapstone Hill Tunnel, opened for the down line.
The tunnel retaliated with an engine derailment on September 5, making the Bourke express three hours late into Sydney, and the Coonamble and Forbes trains two hours late. The paper train west was also delayed.
When the tunnel closed on September 25, 1913, Herbert Rowe leased it to grow mushrooms until WWII when the RAAF requisitioned it, storing chemical weapons, including mustard gas, from 1942. Its presence was a secret, first admitted in the 1980s and finally acknowledged by the Defence Department in 2008. Until then, no-one involved in the gas storage project could discuss their homefront war experiences or the effects of the gas.
Mushrooms were again grown after World War II until 2016 when the Department of Primary Industries announced: "Mushroom farming in the disused Glenbrook railway tunnel is officially over."
Walkers and bikers will soon enjoy the old tunnel when it opens for public access.
Robyne Ridge is publicity officer for Blue Mountains Historical Society.
