"one of the steepest grades in Australia"? Not even close. The line was a relatively easily graded one. The loads are made according to that. So trains would struggle on the steepest part of any line. Even the flattest of flat lines. They merely had longer trains. As far as the pennies go I have two that I had flattened by the narrow gauge train at Beech Forest. Everyone did that in those days. But what I was impressed by, I went to a reunion recently and there were people ten years or more younger than me that looked older. To remember the line these walkers are older than I am but most of them are still looking in good condition.
