commercially viable steel mill, the ruins of which are open for inspection at "Blast Furnace Park". Due to the abundance of coal and relative proximity to Sydney, in the areas surrounding Lithgow is one of the largest power stations in NSW, the Mount Piper Power Station. The Wallerawang Power Station closed in 2014 and was subsequently demolished. The (now demolished) Lithgow Power Station was operational from 1928 to 1964. Heritage listings Lithgow has a number of heritage-listed sites, including the following listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register: Bent Street: Lithgow Valley Colliery and Pottery Site Brewery Lane: Lithgow Zig Zag Gas Works Lane: Lithgow Coal Stage Signal Box Inch Street: Lithgow Blast Furnace 70 Inch Street: Eskbank House Jenolan Caves Road: McKanes Falls Bridge Main West Line 156.334 km, James Street: Lithgow Underbridge Main Western railway: Eskbank railway station, New South Wales Main Western railway: Ten Tunnels Deviation Railway Parade: Lithgow railway station Top Points Zig Zag railway: Cooerwull railway footbridge In addition, the following sites were listed on the (now defunct) Register of the National Estate: Former Station Master's Residence (now Caddie's Restaurant), a sandstone cottage designed by John Clifton and built in 1869 Eskbank House, Bennett Street, built by Thomas Brown in 1842 Lithgow Valley Pottery Site Kiln, 1875 to 1908 Lithgow Court House, corner Bridge and Mort Streets, a brick building in the Arts and Crafts style La Salle Cottage (formerly Cooerwull Academy), Rabaul Street, a stone building in the Victorian Gothic Revival style, built circa 1882 Methven, Lidsdale Road, a sandstone house built by Andrew Brown in the 1870s Lithgow Small Arms Factory Lithgow was also the location of an alleged assassination attempt on the life of Queen Elizabeth II in 1970. Climate Lithgow features a subtropical highland climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb) with warm summers, cool to cold winters and generally steady precipitation year-round. Despite its location on highlands, Lithgow manages to have 90.3 clear days annually. Lithgow is one of the few Australian cities to see snow, although snowfall is rarely in significant quantities due to the rain shadow brought about by the ranges to the west of the city. One major event was the late season snowfall in October 2014, where 20 centimetres of snow fell. Iron and steel industry In 1848, iron smelting began in Mittagong, Australia. It proved unprofitable for the remainder of the 19th century. This situation