RECENT TRIP - AN UPDATE

In what has been my 5th trip in 16months around rural/regional NSW I have just returned from my latest trip across NSW. It took in the last 3 days with some long distance driving undertaken to central and mid western NSW.

I inspected another 9 surviving railway stations across mid western and central NSW and also attended a new aviation event/airshow in mid central NSW at Narromine.

I managed to inspect and photograph another 9 heritage railway stations which were truly amazing to see still standing in some cases 125years on...or more.It was at the same time, sad to also see many country/rural NSW towns have lost their once heritage railways stations/yards etc but you do have to wonder in amazement what brought such railways to such small towns and in some cases.....such isolated locations in the first place......
Some of these locations even in 2012 have only a few houses, so i was left to ponder....... what kind of patronage did these railway locations have 50-100yrs ago.. and then in 2012.... which is zero.....which leads people to see why they were demolished...

At the airshow i was able to catch up with my editor from the magazine who was happy to finally have a talk to me, as was the former magazine president. I also caught up with aviation radio/presenters and warbird/aerobatics friends i have met at past aviation events.
I was privileged at the airshow, to be able to obtain a flight kindly gifted to me at short notice and got to fly over the airport at Narromine at 1800hrs on Friday night for a photo shoot. It was a bit cold at around 1500ft and shooting out the door in 150knts wind blast was a challenge. I made a few new contacts and mate from the airshow and got some good photos. I obtained another 4-5 interviews from the airshow and another flightgear heritage photo shoot later in year all going well is now planned with another warbird.


Photos of all above to come soon to the blog.

WILLOW TREE RAILWAY STATION HERITAGE REVIEW

HERITAGE REVIEW – WILLOW TREE  RAILWAY STATION

Located 375.700 km from Sydney on the Main Northern Line in the upper Hunter Valley, Willow Tree’s railway station is an important link to the NSW infrastructure from the late 1920s era.

STATION HISTORY

The town of Willow Tree was initially just an Inn / motel for passing travellers but it was the coming of the railway extension as it headed north of Singleton into the Liverpool mountain ranges in the late 1870s which brought development to the area and allowed the small settlement to expand. The Main Northern Line was being constantly extended north from Singleton and the next extension of the line was from Murrurundi to Willow Tree. Due to the steepening gradient climb required the track had to be built with steep 1-40 both sides of the mountain range. This also required engineers to build a single-track tunnel at Ardglen. Willow Tree railway station was planned to be located on the Main North line (also once known as the Great Northern Line), which used to run in its full original form all the way from Sydney to the Queensland border town of Wallangarra. The construction contract for the station was initially based around a timber station building and station master’s residence.

The small station was finally opened as “Warrah” on 13 August 1877 but this was later renamed in 1879 to match the growing location as Willow Tree. As the rail system grew in the early 20^th Century, so did Willow Tree station, with a turntable, goods shed and trolley shed all added to the yard.  By 1910 further additions were seen with a night officer’s residence built and in 1912 a 5-tonne gantry crane for the goods yard was built. More development was seen in 1914 when a siding for the steam locomotives used on banking duties was constructed. The goods yard which was seeing more turn over, also had a cart weighbridge added the same year.

In 1929, a new station building was opened after the timber station was destroyed by a fire.

STATION FEATURES

The original timber station was damaged by fire and removed in 1927 with a replacement planned to reopen soon after. The existing Willow Tree railway station is noted as one of the few remaining precast concrete drop panel made railway stations.

The style used in the 2^nd generation station in 1927 at Willow Tree was a Type 12 Ac5 style in a “U” shape. Its construction method was common for most of the station buildings in the 1920s. (About 140 precast drop-panel concrete station buildings were constructed in regional NSW from 1919 until 1932).

The main building has a corrugated iron gabled roof (the original roof was cladded in fibrolite) joined by two pavilions each with a transverse gabled rooved projecting from either end. 2 chimneys for the waiting room and station staff fireplaces are still present. Small air vents were built into the building’s base to help ventilate the structure in summer. The main enterance to the station has a veranda supported by timber posts. The platform is covered by a steel, cantilevered awning with timber valances from the roof to the awning ends. The windows are crafted from timber frames but sadly most of them have anti vandal screening over them nowadays. There is an interesting example of artwork with coloured glass in the waiting room showing the station’s name. The doors are timber, most having some glass panelling to let external light in.

The parcels room which was originally the eastern pavilion section has a double sliding doors made from timber. As it is an operational Countrylink station, it still has a restored but mostly spartan original waiting room with brown painted original seating, original now disused fireplace, closed timber ticket office window and functional toilet rooms. The interior is a link to the past of the old NSWGR and is still used in 2012 There is a goods/out of parcel room which is still noticeable.

The 1877 era platform is of typical NSWGR design with a brick face and gravel/asphalt surface with wire fencing backing and is still in good condition. The overall length was extended in 1960 to accommodate longer trains which stopped at the station.

As the 1990s came the rationalisation of most NSW country stations and yards was underway which saw the removal of redundant and in most cases totally underutilised steam era infrastructure such as the turntable was once used but now no longer required. An out of shed and signal box which once stood on up side next to station building were removed in late 1990s.

SERVICES

Willow Tree used to have more frequent services in the past but with the rationalisation of country rail services, it now still gets a few but only on request in 2012. It is served by daily stops when passengers need to alight or get onboard by Countrylink Xplorers, which are found going from Sydney to Armidale and Moree and return.

PRESERVATION

Willow Tree Railway Station is of local significance as it is a rare pre-cast concrete drop slab building, being one of only a few examples of a once common building type still in existence in NSW and also well maintained. The 1920s era station building has aesthetic value as it is an attractive design as the use of precast concrete method which was used widely during the interwar periods as an easy and cost benefit cal material to mass produced railway infrastructure from.

The Willow Tree railway precinct is significant for its core historical values see it as a reminder as an important link to the progressive expansion of the Main Northern Line during the late 1880s. This line allowed NSW to prosper and for people, more importantly, to travel quicker, easier and via efficient transport from northern NSW via the upper Hunter Valley to Sydney. Periodic repairs will ensure it is kept to a reasonable standard. The unwanted vandalism damage of such beautiful structures is still a concern for any regional station in NSW.

FUTURE

Willow Tree remains an unmanned station but an active station which continues to the town of 169 people and surrounding region with a daily rail service operated Countyrlink. It is not expected to change in the near future from this limited service. 

 

GLEN INNES RAILWAY STATION NSW HERITAGE REVIEW

HERITAGE REVIEW - GLEN INNES RAILWAY STATION

Situated 681.320 km marker and at 3507 feet, from Sydney on the former Main Northern Line to Wallangarra, Glenn Innes was a modest station for its era which was built in 1883-1884. In 2012 it still stands but reused in a vastly different manner.

STATION HISTORY

The town of Glen Innes was created from 1851 and grew over time as more people moved to the high mountain range town. With people moving the need for a railway in the 1870s was becoming a key concern and after political debate saw the railway system extend their way. The contract for railway construction work between Uralla and Glen Innes was issued in January 1881. The contract for work at Glen Innes for a railway station, turntable as the station was the then terminus, an engine shed, coal stage, Station Master’s residence, goods shed was issued in August 1882.

On August 19 1884 the grand opening of the next extension to the suitably named Great Northern Railway to Glen Innes from Armidale was carried out. Glen Innes new rail service and the expansion of mining in the region contributed to a growing new prosperity in the regional towns in the late 1880s. This expansion of the town is still visible today and is shown by the designs of some of the beautiful buildings in Glen Innes.

In 1884 the single track line was initially opened to Glen Innes and this was later extended over the next 2years to the next major terminus station on the line, Tenterfield (which will be covered in a future issue). Meanwhile Glen Innes was a significant addition to the Northern Line operations, which was shown that it was the most prominent station on the northern section of NSW until the completion of the Tenterfield station in 1886. This prominent title back then may help explain why the Glen Innes railway station still survives in 2012.

STATION FEATURES

The station at Glen Innes was designed in the early 1880s as a functional yet simple single-storey structure with capacity to handle the regional demand which was expected to use and need its services. The large brick with cement facing station building was designed to the style of the type 5 railway station which saw it being built as a first-class Victorian era building. The features included the entrance way, booking office, waiting room, colonnaded verandah on both platform and road side and pavilions on each end which housed the male and female toilets. The porters and lamp rooms were housed in the building at opposing ends. A parcel office and out of was also built to handle mail and small parcel movements.

As the NSW railway system grew, so did the station, which saw more infrastructure added such as a timber signal box, a carriage dock, a water tank, associated water column and across from the station in an unusual location was the local stock race. A over bridge was built further down the yard at the Sydney end of the station for people and coaches to use to go over the rail line. Other early additions to the railway infrastructure saw a wool stage added in 1890, refreshment rooms added to the station in 1896, a loading bank and a larger 60ft manual turntable in 1900 to accommodate the larger steam locomotives and their tenders. With more patronage coming, in 1901 a boiler for a foot warmer was built, a few more a water tanks were added in 1904 and 1905 to meet the demand. At one stage the railway yard also held a locomotive shed with had engine pits and work areas but this was removed when Tenterfield became the depot for the end of the line. Also nearby was inspection pits and coal stage.  A goods shed was located north of the station for handling all large goods to be shipped into and out of the town.

SERVICES

The Great Northern Line was known as the main line to Brisbane with changing at the border town of Wallangarra until the North Coast railway line was built all the way to the Queensland border which was semi coastal via Casino in the early 1930s. This inland main line operation saw frequent passenger and goods services come through Glen Innes as they took people to regional towns and Queensland. This inland line became an important asset during WW2 as it was secure from sea attack as it moved many military personnel and items up the coast. As the 1950-60s came around the increased use of vehicles saw patronage on the Wallangarra line decline as the small towns used less and less railway services. (This loss of traffic to the road industry is still a major issue in 2012 for governments and the railways across Australia to somehow turn around.)

Glen Innes once saw famous trains stop such as The Brisbane Express which was initially steam hauled then diesel hauled in its later years. Diesel locomotive hauled daylight passenger services to Glen Innes and Tenterfield ceased in 1986. The other famous train which is remembered for was the overnight mail services which operated for several days a week. The last ever northern line and one of the last few NSW mail trains still running, then left Glen Innes after stopping and headed south into the history books in November 1988. The New South Wales government in 1988 decided to remove all rail services to the Northern Tablelands and cut back these services to terminate at Tamworth instead. This sadly saw the majority of the once Great North Railway now become an uncared and pretty much abandoned section. The line north of Glen Innes also lost their freight services in 1989. After some issues the operational main railway line was in 1993 extended back to Armidale where it has remained ever since as the terminus. Passenger trains and goods trains serviced Glen Innes for 104 years until the NSW Government deemed the service no longer viable. Now it is just a distant memory to those who once saw it in action.

PRESERVATION

With the closure of the line in 1988, the station decayed as did all closed railway stations across NSW. Glen Innes station is in 2012, a surviving example of a well-designed and proportioned NSWGR era country railway station. The station remains a landmark building in Glen Innes and is a good representative example of first-class Victorian architecture rarely seen in northern NSW. There is still significant remains to be seen at the station and yard, which bears testament to the consideration given to meeting the requirements of rail service to the town way back in 1880s. After 128years the station remains but radically different from the purpose it was built for.

The station has in the last few years found a new lease on life, with readapative use by local business operations, when it became a bar/club and craft shop. With a striking red and cream paintwork - which was repainted in 2011 - on the exterior showing off its railway heritage and the sounds of a pub and foods inside, it has certainly changed from being a passenger hub for transport. The railway and yard  infrastructure that remains nearby includes the dual track yard, water column and water tank, ground frames, dock siding and north of the station in a siding is found a former NSWGR railway carriage, FR 1233 which was restored but reported in 2009 was burnt out and damaged by vandals. It is not known if this will ever be restored again.

FUTURE

Since 1988, there have been a few attempts to revive freight and tourist rail traffic to the Northern Tablelands to remove freight carrying trucks and buses off the road, as far as Glen Innes and Guyra but none of these plans have become operational. In the last few years the Glen Innes station was “readapted” and was recently again repainted in 2011 in heritage colours. The historic station now sees a small trade of tourists and local visit, who can still see what railway travel to the town once meant.