In the 1870s, the Van Diemen's Land Company engaged John C. Climie to undertake a survey of a line from near Burnie to Mount Bischoff. On 1 February 1878, a , horse-drawn wooden tramway opened from Emu Bay (Burnie) to Rouse's Camp, near Waratah to serve the Mount Bischoff tin mines. In 1887, the line was taken over by the Emu Bay to Mount Bischoff Railway Company and relaid with steel rails as gauge railway line to allow steam locomotives to operate. In 1897, the Emu Bay Railway Company took over the line, extending it 60 kilometres to Zeehan on 21 December 1900.