Bushfire derails Zig Zag railway
On the last day of school holidays, the historic Zig Zag Railway in NSW's Blue Mountains is usually teeming with sightseeing families.
But 12 months after the State Mine bushfire ripped through the tourist destination just outside Lithgow, the railway is still counting the cost of the blaze.
The heritage railway has not received compensation to aid the clean-up effort and burnt out debris at the site's depot.
Chairman James Windsor estimates the loss, including potential income, at tens of millions of dollars.
"We were a seven day a week operation," he said.
"It was a big loss to go from a decent amount of income to zero almost overnight really."
Eleven vehicles were lost and members' accommodation, offices and a significant amount of the track were also destroyed.
Some work has started to repair trains thanks to a mostly volunteer effort.
But the organisation's passionate supporters concede they are at the mercy of their own resources.
The railway was already recovering from a flood the year before the bushfire on October 16, 2013.
"The fire meant we had gone from being able to fix the flood damage and go back to operation reasonably quickly to wiping out any chance we would have of doing that within 12 months," Mr Windsor said.
The railway is still in negotiations with insurers about what is covered following both natural disasters.
