Travel Australia

Closed Stations on The Main North Line, NSW

The Main North Line (also known as the Great Northern Railway) runs through the Central Coast, Hunter and New England regions. The line was the original main line between Sydney and Brisbane, however this required a change of gauge at Wallangarra. As of 1988, the line closed progressively north of Armidale with services gradually withdrawn till 2004, with the main route between Sydney and Brisbane now the North Coast line.

The Great Northern Railway had reached East Maitland in 1857, Singleton in 1863, Muswellbrook in 1869 and Murrurundi in April 1871. Coaches ran from there to Tamworth and other New England areas. The opening of the Quirindi section took place on 13 August 1877 with the line reaching Tamworth in 1878.


Arrival of the first train to Tamworth, 1878

October 15, 1878 saw the railway service from Newcastle to Tamworth officially opened, with the local newspaper stating it was "the greatest event which ever occurred in connection with the history of Tamworth." The railway had however been in partial use for at least three months before the official opening.

The Northern Daily Leader said that the coming of the railway provided a great boost to the Tamworth economy and the population increased rapidly. "This began three days of celebration in Tamworth for the long-awaited coming of the railway. Around 8000 people assembled in the town to celebrate the arrival of the first train, many coming from distant centres, including three special trains arriving following the first, bringing 2000 people from as far afield as Maitland.

"The excited crowd assembly waited eagerly for the arrival of the train, scheduled for 4pm, but (what a surprise), it was two hours late! By then the crowd at the Tamworth Railway Station (now West Tamworth) had grown impatient, including the 400 assembled schoolchildren. Then, to great rejoicing, our first train reached the station a little after 6pm, hauled by a Beyer-Peacock 4-4-0 locomotive, and its most important passenger NSW Governor Sir Hercules Robinson officially opened the railway accompanied by songs from the children, with a bottle of champagne being broken on the engine.

"There followed a grand procession from the Station, over the bridge to East Tamworth, led by a band from Worth's Circus. Such was the length of the procession, that those in the rear had not left the station by the time the lead had reached Peel Street in East Tamworth. A beautifully decorated Cobb Co coach, drawn by six grey horses, carried a number of dignitaries, while hundreds of other citizens walked, rode or drove their horse-drawn vehicles.

"Two bullocks were roasted as part of the evening's celebrations, and around 300 people indulged in a banquet in the new railway goods shed, with entertainment by the local Wolverine Band. Festivities continued for the next two days with two Carnivals, Fireworks and also a Grand Ball in the railway goods shed."

The coming of the railway meant that produce and stores could be shipped to Sydney more economically. The contract to bring the railway from Uralla to Glen Innes was let in 1880, and the line opened in 1884. No mean feat when one considers the tools then at their disposal and the fact that work was held up with labour strikes.

Tenterfield station opened on 1 September 1886 when the line was extended from Glen Innes. It was the terminus of the line until it was extended to the Queensland border town of Wallangarra on 16 January 1888. Sadly, especially when contemplating the work undertaken to complete the line, after more than 100 years of invaluable community service, the line beyond Armidale was closed in 1988.

The line has always been hampered by the rugged terrain and a change of gauge at Wallangarra for traffic to Queensland. The line was superseded as the principal route to Brisbane by the completion of the North Coast Line in 1930. Despite being bypassed, the line remained busy for many years afterwards, with the line instead becoming the major freight link to the wheat and wool regions of northern and north-west New South Wales.



In 1988, the newly elected Greiner State Government commissioned a report into the State Rail Authority by Booz Allen Hamilton. As a result, the line between Tenterfield and Wallangarra was closed. The last train to operate north of Tenterfield was an Australian Railway Historical Society charter on 15 January 1988 hauled by diesel locomotive 4487. The last train to operate north of Glen Innes was hauled by steam locomotive 3001 on 22 October 1989 after which the line was formally suspended from operations.

Following the Northern Tablelands Express being truncated in February 1990, the line north of Tamworth saw little use until the Xplorer service was introduced to Armidale in October 1993. The line to Glen Innes was still open in July 1992 when diesel locomotive 4499 operated a crew training service.

There have been attempts to revive freight or tourist traffic to as far as Glen Innes, although these plans have not yet succeeded.

There is now wire across the corridor at several points between Armidale and Dumaresq, after which the line is closed. A block is placed across the tracks a short distance from Dumaresq, at the 590 kilometre mark. North of Glen Innes the line, and particularly its bridges, have fallen into disrepair. In December 1991 the line was severed when the Roads & Traffic Authority built a deviation of the New England Highway over the line at Bluff Rock south of Tenterfield. At Wallangarra, the line met Queensland Railways' Southern railway line.

The Tenterfield-bound Northern Mail, between Bolivia and Bluff Rock, NSW, November 2 1984. Photo: Australiaan Rail Maps

The North Mail

The North Mail was an overnight train from Sydney that ran to Werris Creek then divided into two sections - one to Moree and the other to New England. It ran along the Great Northern Railway, and depending on the day ran to either Armidale, Glen Innes or Tenterfield. Both sections of the train conveyed passengers in first and economy class seating and also sleeping berths. Whilst it was still named a 'mail' train, in fact by this time carriage of mail had been transferred away from rail to road, and the train was almost entirely a passenger train. It's possible that some light freight or parcels may still have been carried.

The North Mail ran for the last time in 1988. The section between Armidale and Tenterfield passed through some incredibly scenic railway. Originally the main interstate line between Sydney and Brisbane, it has seen no trains at all since 1989. Today, you can still travel by train from Sydney on the once daily NSW Trainlink Xplorer railcar, but it runs only as far north as Armidale.

Closed Stations

Dumaresq

The small town of Dumaresq, located approximately 20 km north-west of Armidale, on Boorolong Road, is literally the "end of the line" for trains on the most northerly section of the Main North Line. Until the mid-2000s freight traffic continued to the disused station at Dumaresq which is home to a now-also-disused agricultural fertilizer depot. The Great Northern Railway, as it was originally known, reached Dumaresq in 1884, where a passenger station opened as Inverella. The name was changed to Eversleigh in 1885 and finally Dumaresq in 1889.

Black Mountain

Black Mountain station opened on 19 August 1884 as Boorolong station. It was renamed Black Mountain in 1886. The station closed in 1987. The station complex is now maintained by a local community group, the Black Mountain Preservation Society. The brick main station building is of a type 4 standard roadside design with a brick platform, and was completed in 1884. The landscaping around the platform and entrance and the station fences and signs are also heritage-listed. Black Mountain is a quaint English-style village, just a few minute's detour from the New England Highway south of Guyra.

Guyra

At 1,320 metres above sea level, Guyra is one of the highest towns in New South Wales. Located on a volcanic uplift of the Northern Tablelands, the town is known for its extremely cold winters, by Australian standards, with an average of 59 frosty nights having subzero temperatures each year and some snowfalls. All rivers on the eastern side of the railway line flow towards the Pacific Ocean, while those west of this rail line run west, to ultimately join the Murray River, which flows into the Southern Ocean near Goolwa in South Australia. Guyra's grand, red ochre painted station was designed by John Whitton (1820-1898) and is now heritage listed.

Llangothlin

The Ben Lomond pastoral run was first known by the name of Llangothlin. It was was originally over 240,000 acres in size, taking in land from Glencoe to Guyra; a 50,000 acre section of the run was passed on to William Rawson in 1844. Llangothlin was named after his hometown, its Welsh counterpart (spelt Llangollen) in Denbighshire. The estimated grazing capabiltiy was 300 cattle and 10,000 sheep.

In 1861 the Begot Brothers took over and renamed the Run Ben Lomond. The village of Llangothlin, such as it was, has always been tiny. It boasted a railway station, which opened in 1884 and closed about 1974. The original alignment of the New England Highway crossed the Main North railway line at Llangothlin at a level crossing, until the highway was realigned to be entirely on the eastern side of the railway.

Ben Lomond

The highest town in northern NSW, Ben Lomond is home to the longest hand cut railway cutting in Australia, the highest passenger railway station in the southern hemisphere (at the time of the construction of the railway), and a scattering of old and historical relics of times past. Ben Lomond Railway Station is a significant location on the former Great Northern railway line which, although now closed to rail traffic, was the only rail link between Queensland and the southern states in the late 19th century and early 20th century.

Glencoe

660 km from Sydney, the small comunity of Glencoe is located on the New England Highway around 22 kilometres south of Glen Innes. Glencoe station, which opened on 19 August 1884 and closed 29 March 1975, had a platform and sidings. The platform was moved frok its original site in May 1910. The village's Red Lion Tavern has a display of artworks and other memorabilia. Bellevue Cottage Gallery and Cafe has a range of crafts and cottage goods from the surrounding district. Near the town is a fossicking area, to the south, where sapphires or zircons have been found. Glencoe was named by early European settlers after Glencoe, Scotland. The main industry of the area is sheep and beef cattle breeding with some mining and a vineyard.

Stonehenge

The settlement of Stonehenge is located about 8 kilometres south of Glen Innes, on the New England Highway and just north of Beardy Waters. The locality, some 1,067 metres above sea leve, exists mainly as a flat plateau strewn with granite boulders, some over 5 metres high. One of note is a roughly spherical monolith about 2.5 metres in diameter known as the Balancing Rock. The locality was named because of the local granite outcrops that were reminiscent of Stonehenge, England. The area contains sacred sites and remains of great significance to Ngarabal people today. The Main North railway line crossed the New England Highway at Stonehenge. Its railway station was opened in August 1884 and was closed about 1974.

Glen Innes

Glen Innes railway station opened on 19 August 1884 when the line was extended from Armidale. It was the terminus of the line until it was extended to Tenterfield on 1 September 1886. It has one platform with two loops. The last train to regularly service Glen Innes was the overnight Northern Mail which ceased in November 1988. The Northern Tablelands Express provided a daylight service to Glen Innes until truncated in October 1985 to Armidale. The line to Glen Innes was still open in July 1992 when diesel locomotive 4499 operated a crew route learning service, howver the line closed north of Glen Innes on 22 October 1989.

Dundee

Keeping up the tradition of Scottish nomenclature for pastoral properties on Northern Tablelands, Dundee is situated 40 km north of Glen Innes on the New England Highway at the Severn River. Major Innes built the ‘Golden Fleece’ Hotel at Dundee in 1847, to become one of the first three hotels built in New England. The large colonial style brick building was the first important building to be erected near the shallow river crossing. Little else remains of the village that once existed there, aside from the church, a sports ground and the cemetery. The railway station opened 1 September 1886 and closed 27 March 1976. The hetitage listed Severn River Rail Bridge, 6 km west-south-west of Dundee and 18 km north-north-east of Glen Innes on the Main North railway line, consists of a series of timber trusses which was considered a significant technical accomplishment. When completed it was the longest timber truss bridge in Australia.

Deepwater

The attractive village of Deepwater, located 42 kilometres north of Glen Innes, has a number of beautiful old buildings including the historic railway station, antiques building, the theatre and the old bank building along the main highway. There are three kilometres of open water running northwest from Deepwater Bridge. Murray cod, yellowbelly and rainbow trout can all be found in Deepwater Creek and you may even be lucky enough to spot a Platypus. East of Deepwater Bridge and Railway Bridge there is five kilometres of river frontage where bush camping is permitted.

Bolivia

Once the the territory of the Ngarabal people, Bolivia came into being with the establishment of a sheep station owned by a squatter named Edward Hurry. Hurry had previously spent some years in Bolivia in South America, and chose this name for the land around his property. Since 1981 the name Bolivia has become an address locality for the farming properties scattered to the north and northeast of Deepwater. Many minerals have been mined in the region including bismuth, gold, tin, silver, high quality silica and arsenic. The remains of the settlement of Bolivia comprises the former Bolivia Hotel, a disused post office, a disused railway siding and a community hall. The Station/ Siding closed on the 10th September 1974.

Sandy Flat

Sandy Flat, an historic locality about 20 kilometres south of Tenterfield, takes its name from a general description of the area. Nearby Bluff Rock is a commonly photographed landmark along the New England Highway. Early community life at Sandy Flat for generations centred on a school (1886–1965), a public hall, a church, a general store and during construction of the railway line during the 1880s the community also had its own hotel. Remains of the Sandy Flat community comprises the remains of the former rail siding, a disused post office building and a modern New South Wales Rural Fire Service shed together with an information stand. The Main Northern Railway line to Jennings opened on 1 September 1886 and the station at Sandy Flat closed on 20 February 1975.

Tenterfield

Tenterfield was originally to be the junction for the NSW and QLD railway lines, however inter-colonial politics lead to a new township and station being built on the Queensland side of the border. The old Tenterfield Railway Station hasn't seen rail traffic for a number of years, but still attracts visitors interested in railway history, now that it is a railway museum. 18km from the NSW/Qld border, the station was the last on the Great Northern Railway before reaching the border and Wallangarra station, which is dissected by it. The museum has an interesting collection of rolling stock and railway memorabilia, the most interesting being a turntable that was manufactured in Philadelphia, USA in 1886, a set of rail motor units which ran the rails here, and seven trikes spanning 80 years of railway use.

Sunnyside

Sunnyside is a closed railway station on the Main North railway line. The station, opened in 1888, was closed in 1973. Currently only the platform face remains. The heritage listed Tenterfield Creek former railway bridge, aka Sunnyside rail bridge, carried the Main North Line across Tenterfield Creek from Sunnyside to Jennings, the NSW town on the Queensland border, adjoining Wallangarra.The bridge was designed by John Whitton and Engineer-in-Chief for NSW Government Railways and built in 1888.

Yarrowford Railway Bridge over Beardy Waters

The Bridges of the Northern Tableland Railway

When John Whitton, Engineer-in-Chief for Railways 1856-1890, extended the Main North Railway from Muswellbrook to Glen Innes, 1870-1884 it climbed through the highest parts of the Great Dividing Range into the New England Region. Gradients were steep, curves were sharp, there was heavy earthworks and some major iron lattice bridges. It was expensive railway construction. When the section from Glen Innes to Tenterfield was planned, economies were made, particularly with bridges. They had to be timber, mostly ballast top timber beam bridges but at three locations larger bridges were required, over the Beardy Waters, Severn River and Bluff River.

The Bluff River Rail Bridge at Sandy Flat, designed by John Whitton, is listed on the Register of the National Estate. It consists of 10-span timber deck Queen Post truss viaduct, with each span measuring 13 metres. When completed in 1886 it was the second longest timber truss bridge in Australia.

Whitton, a successful railway engineer from England, chose one of Isambard Kingdom Brunel's timber bridge viaducts built in Cornwall during the 1850s. The model chosen was the St Germans Viaduct, composed of composite deck Queen post trusses, with the bottom chords being large iron rods. Whitton's staff redesigned the trusses to be all timber and the viaducts were built during construction of the Glen Innes to Tenterfield section 1884-86.

The final section to Wallangarra (1888) was mostly easier over plateau country but the crossing of Tenterfield Creek required a large bridge and a timber Queen post truss viaduct was built there also, the fourth between Glen Innes and the Queensland border. All four viaducts retain their original fabric. Only two other such timber viaducts were built in this period, the Ingalara Creek railway bridge and the Bredbo River railway bridge on the Bombala railway line.