The Denniston incline

The Denniston incline

This film from the National Film Unit shows the Denniston incline cable railway in action in 1967, just before it closed down. North of Brunner on the plateau at Denniston, 600 metres above sea level, there were high-quality coal deposits, and mining these was made possible by the construction of the incline in 1879. This ‘eighth wonder of the world’ brought coal down from the plateau, with a fall of 518 metres in a track distance of 1,670 metres. There were two inclines – the upper and lower – and the railway trucks were exchanged at the middle brake. The system worked on a counterbalance so that the full wagons coming downhill pulled the empty ones back up. The system was conceived by R. B. Denniston, the manager of the mine, after whom the settlement was named. Between 1879 and 1967 the incline brought down more than 13 million tonnes of coal.