Royal National Park railway station

Last updated

Royal National Park
Royal National Park Railway Station - May 2015.JPG
View of the Royal National Park railway station in May 2015
General information
LocationFarnell Avenue, Audley, New South Wales
Coordinates 34°03′45″S151°03′24″E / 34.0626°S 151.0567°E / -34.0626; 151.0567
Operated by Sydney Tramway Museum
Platforms1
Tracks1
History
Opened9 March 1886 (1886-03-09) (Commuter rail)
1 May 1993 (1993-05-01) (Light rail)
Closed11 June 1991
Rebuilt1978
ElectrifiedYes
Phoenix carriage 548 departing Royal National Park station Historical tram - panoramio (1).jpg
Phoenix carriage 548 departing Royal National Park station
Royal National Park railway line
km
km
BSicon CONTg.svg
BSicon uENDEa.svg
Sutherland Terminus
Loftus
26.29
BSicon HST.svg
BSicon uHST.svg
26.31
Railway Square
Loftus Junction
BSicon eKRWgl.svg
BSicon uSTR.svg
BSicon exKRW+r.svg
BSicon CONTf.svg
BSicon ueHST.svg
Scouts Camp
closed
1991
BSicon uKHSTe.svg
28.42
Royal National Park

Royal National Park railway station is located in Audley, New South Wales and services travellers to the Royal National Park. It is the terminus of the Royal National Park railway line, formerly part of the Sydney commuter rail network and now operated by the Sydney Tramway Museum. The station opened in 1886 and was served by trains on the Sydney network until 1991 when the Royal National Park railway line was closed due to low patronage. The line and station were transferred to the Sydney Tramway Museum and re-opened in May 1993 for heritage tramway operations.

Contents

The museum operates services on the line on Wednesdays and Sundays, with the first service running at 10:15 am. Departures are hourly from then on, with the last one at 2:30 pm on Wednesday and 4:30 pm on Sunday. [1] It is a popular means of access to the Royal National Park. [2]

History

The station opened as Loftus on 9 March 1886 (the station currently known as Loftus was then called Loftus Junction). It was renamed National Park on 1 May 1889, back to Loftus in January 1890 and back again to National Park on 1 December 1896. It was finally renamed Royal National Park on 16 July 1955. [3] The original island platform could accommodate ten carriages. There was also a goods bank and five sidings. [4] Royal National Park was included in the electrification of the Illawarra railway line in 1926 and remained the southern limit of electrification until 1980 when overhead wiring was extended to Waterfall.

At its peak in the 1930s, the line was served by 25 trains a day on weekends. [5] On 4 July 1967, three of the five sidings at the station were removed. [6] In 1978, the original station was demolished to make way for a visitor's centre and a new single platform built. [3] By 1988, the line was being served by only three trains a day. [7] [ verification needed ]

After the Cowan rail accident in 1990, the Royal National Park branch line was used for safety tests. Because of the small number of services running on the line, it was also used for driver training. [3]

Following the discovery of signalling faults, services ceased on 11 June 1991. [8] With major expenditure required and average patronage having dwindled to three passengers per train, the line was formally closed. [9] The line was taken over by the Sydney Tramway Museum with Royal National Park station re-opening as the line's terminus in May 1993. Due to the design of the heritage trams running on the line, they are unable to use the actual station platform. [10] [11]

In October 2010 a new low level tram platform was built next to Loftus Oval for the Breakfast Torque event held every October at Loftus Oval. The Sydney tramway museum was hired by Sutherland Council to run a scheduled tram shuttle service from the Tafe car park next to the Tafe level crossing at Pitt street, to Loftus Oval and return picking up or setting down passengers at the other side of Pitt Street for Loftus station. This was in response to the limited availability of parking at Loftus Oval.

Services

PlatformLineStopping patternNotes
1ParkLinkShuttle to Railway Square Select days only [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">City Circle</span> Railway line in Sydney, New South Wales

The City Circle is a mostly-underground railway line located in the Sydney central business district and Haymarket, in New South Wales, Australia, that forms the core of Sydney's passenger rail network. The lines are owned by the Transport Asset Holding Entity, a State government agency, and operated under Transport for NSW's Sydney Trains brand. Despite its name, the City Circle is of a horseshoe shape, with trains operating in a U-shaped pattern. The constituent stations of the Circle are (clockwise): Central, Town Hall, Wynyard, Circular Quay, St James, Museum and back to Central.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central railway station, Sydney</span> Railway station in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Central is a heritage-listed railway station located in the centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The station is Australia's largest and busiest railway station, and is a major transport interchange for NSW TrainLink inter-city rail services, Sydney Trains commuter rail services, Sydney Metro services, Sydney light rail services, bus services, and private coach transport services. The station is also known as Sydney Terminal. The property was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999. It recorded 85.4 million passenger movements in 2018 and serves over 250,000 people daily.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line</span> Rail service in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

The Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line is a commuter railway line on the Sydney Trains network in the eastern and southern suburbs of Sydney. The line was constructed in the 1880s to Wollongong to take advantage of agricultural and mining potentials in the Illawarra area. In March 1926, it became the first railway in New South Wales to run electric train services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Coast railway line, New South Wales</span> Railway line in New South Wales, Australia

The South Coast Railway is a commuter and goods railway line from Sydney to Wollongong and Bomaderry in New South Wales, Australia. Beginning at the Illawarra Junction, the line services the Illawarra and South Coast regions of New South Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pennant Hills railway station</span> Railway station in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Pennant Hills railway station is located on the Main Northern line, serving the Sydney suburb of Pennant Hills. It is served by Sydney Trains' T9 Northern Line services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Macarthur railway station</span> Railway station in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Macarthur railway station is located on the Main Southern line, serving the Sydney suburb of Campbelltown. It is served by Sydney Trains T8 Airport & South and NSW TrainLink Southern Highlands Line services. It is the southern extremity of the electrified Sydney Trains network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loftus railway station, Sydney</span> Railway station in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Loftus railway station is located on the Illawarra line, serving the Sydney suburb of Loftus. It is served by Sydney Trains' T4 Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line services and limited NSW TrainLink South Coast Line services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Ryde railway station</span> Railway station in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

West Ryde railway station is located on the Main Northern line, serving the Sydney suburb of West Ryde. It is served by Sydney Trains' T9 Northern Line services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loftus, New South Wales</span> Suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Loftus is a suburb, in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Loftus is 29 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Sutherland Shire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sydney Tramway Museum</span> Tramway museum in New South Wales, Australia

The Sydney Tramway Museum is Australia's oldest tramway museum and the largest in the southern hemisphere. It is located at Loftus in the southern suburbs of Sydney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerringong railway station</span> Railway station in New South Wales, Australia

Gerringong railway station is a single-platform intercity railway station located in Gerringong, New South Wales, Australia, on the South Coast railway line. The station serves NSW TrainLink diesel multiple unit trains travelling south to Bomaderry and north to Kiama. Early morning and late night services to the station are provided by train replacement bus services. In the past, the station precinct also catered to freight trains carrying dairy products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trams in Sydney</span>

The Sydney tramway network served the inner suburbs of Sydney, Australia, from 1879 until 1961. In its heyday, it was the largest in Australia, the second largest in the Commonwealth of Nations, and one of the largest in the world. The network was heavily worked, with about 1,600 cars in service at any one time at its peak during the 1930s . Patronage peaked in 1945 at 405 million passenger journeys. Its maximum street trackage totalled 291 km in 1923.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Railways in Sydney</span>

Sydney, the largest city in Australia, has an extensive network of passenger and goods railways. The passenger system includes an extensive suburban railway network, operated by Sydney Trains, a metro system and a light rail network. A dedicated goods network also exists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandown railway line</span> Defunct railway line in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

The Sandown railway line is a short former heavy rail line, partially reutilised to access a light rail depot, in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richmond railway line</span>

The Richmond railway line is a railway line in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is a branch of the Main Western line. Sydney Trains operates electric passenger train services over the line and markets these as part of the North Shore & Western Line and Cumberland Line.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trams in Australia</span>

The earliest trams in Australia operated in the latter decades of the 19th century, hauled by horses or "steam tram motors". At the turn of the 20th century, propulsion almost universally turned to electrification, although cable trams lingered in Melbourne. In cities and towns that had trams, they were a major part of public transport assets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olympic Park railway line</span> Railway line in Sydney, Australia

The Olympic Park railway line is a railway line linking the Sydney Olympic Park precinct to the Main Suburban railway line at Flemington and Lidcombe. Originally opened as the Abattoirs branch in 1911, it was rebuilt and reopened as the Olympic Park railway line in 1998. Passenger services have since been running on it as the Olympic Park Line.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carlingford railway line</span> Defunct railway line in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

The Carlingford railway line is a former heavy rail line in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, which now largely forms part of the Parramatta Light Rail. It was opened from Clyde to Subiaco in January 1885, then by means of the construction of a bridge across the Parramatta River, to Carlingford in April 1896. It closed on 5 January 2020 with most of the line undergoing conversion to light rail, while a short section of the line was retained for use by Sydney Trains.

The Melbourne tram network began in 1884 with the construction of the Fairfield Horse Tramway. However, the purpose of the line was to increase land prices in the area, and it soon closed during the depression in 1890. The first genuine attempt to construct a tramway network was the construction of the Richmond cable tram line by the Melbourne Tramway & Omnibus Company in 1885. Over the next few years, 16 more cable tram lines were constructed, as well as numerous other horse tramways. The depression of the early 1890s slowed further expansion of the cable network. The first electric tram line was the Box Hill and Doncaster tramway which opened in 1889. This was a pioneering line in what was then the countryside and thus didn't receive much patronage. It closed in 1896. The next attempt at an electric tramway was Victorian Railways' St Kilda to Brighton line, which opened in 1906. Later that year, the North Melbourne Electric Tramway & Lighting Company opened lines to Essendon and Maribyrnong. Many local councils formed their own tramway trusts and built tramways within their own constituency. The most successful of these was the Prahran & Malvern Tramways Trust.

References

  1. "Ride a tram in Sydney Tramway Museum". www.sydneytramwaymuseum.com.au. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  2. "National Park Line" Railway Digest May 1992 p. 194
  3. 1 2 3 Royal National Park NSWrail.net
  4. "Lost Railways: Royal National Park Line". visitsydneyaustralia.com.au. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  5. "The Royal National Park Line | the Dictionary of Sydney".
  6. "20 Years Ago" Railway Digest July 1987 page 227
  7. "11th September 1988" Railway Digest November 1988 page 399
  8. "Trains to Royal National Park stopped" Railway Digest August 1991 page 272
  9. "Royal National Park services stopped" Railway Digest September 1991 page 314
  10. "National Park Line" Railway Digest May 1992 page 194
  11. "Disused Line Re-Opened Tramway Extended into Park" Railway Digest June 1993 page 220
  12. Our Vintage Tram Routes Sydney Tramway Museum