Volunteers bring Australia's historic Zig Zag Railway back to re-opening after over decade

STORY: Volunteers bring Australia's historic Zig Zag Railway back to re-opening after over decade DATELINE: May 31, 2023 LENGTH: 00:01:30 LOCATION: SYDNEY, Australia CATEGORY: SOCIETY SHOTLIST: 1. various of along the Zig Zag Railway 2. SOUNDBITE (English): LEE WIGGINS, Volunteer STORYLINE: The heritage-listed Zig Zag Railway in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) welcomed back steam enthusiasts on Saturday after local volunteers spent more than a decade refurbishing the track to its previous glory. The railway is located near the town of Lithgow, west of the Blue Mountains, and requires about a two-hour drive from Sydney's inner city. First established in 1869, it once served as a part of the Western Railway to transport people and products between the western plains of NSW and Sydney. In the 1970s, a group of volunteers formed a not-for-profit organization to operate the track mainly as a tourist attraction. But the services came to a halt after the Zig Zag Railway lost its accreditatio