Sydney By Rail:
Along the Illawarra Line, NSW
The Illawarra Line commences at Illawarra Junction at Redfern and travels on the 'Illawarra' (eastern pair) tracks. A dive tunnel allows Intercity services from the South Coast Line to cross underneath the main suburban lines to access Central station. The Illawarra lines are also connected at this point to the Illawarra Relief Lines which emerge from underground and lead to the Eastern Suburbs Line.
From Illawarra Junction, four tracks head south through Erskineville and St Peters to Sydenham station. The 'main' pair of tracks are used by Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line and South Coast Line trains and the 'local' pair by Bankstown Line and peak hour Airport & South Line trains. At Sydenham, the Bankstown railway line branches off, but the Airport & South Line trains continue along the Illawarra line until Wolli Creek, where a junction to the East Hills line exists.
South of Wolli Creek station, a crossover allows trains from the 'main' pair of tracks to switch to the 'local' pair. This is used by peak hour all-stations Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line trains. The four track section ends at Hurstville. The line then continues as two tracks south towards Sutherland, crossing the Georges River via the Como railway bridge between Oatley and Como. At Sutherland the Cronulla line branches in an easterly direction.
The main line then heads in a southerly direction, parallel to the Princes Highway to the west and bordering the Royal National Park on its eastern side until Waterfall, the last suburb in the Sydney metropolitan area. The track continues south from here as the South Coast Line through the Royal National Park towards the Illawarra region.
Central Station
Trains on the Cronulla and Illawarra lines pass through the Central Business District on an underground line that connects directly to the Eastern Suburbs line. It remains underground, passing throgh Town Hall and Martin Place before emarging as an above-ground line for a short distance at Woolloomooloo. Tains on the Cronulla, Illawarra and South Coast lines use the underground platforms 24 and 25 at Central Station.
Redfern
Trains on the Cronulla, Illawarra and South Coast lines enter and depart Redfern station via an underground line. During construction of the Eastern Suburbs Railway (now platforms 11 and 12), it was proposed to build up to four platforms for the line's underground route. Two of these platforms were built and now are platforms 11 and 12, which serve Eastern Suburbs in one diretcion and Cronulla, Illawarra and South Coast trains in the other. A dive tunnel near Redfern station allows Intercity services from the South Coast Line to cross underneath the main suburban lines to access Central station.
The two unused platforms were intended to be used on planned Southern Suburbs line to Mascot and Marboubra that was never built. Some locations along this planned route are now servicecd by stations on the Airport Line (Green Square and Mascot). Marboubra is now serviced by light-rail along Anzac Parade. The line's stubs are visible through a small gap in the wall opposite Platform 11, as well as by a boarded up entry portal under the Lawson Street Bridge (which was to be the down track), and a now filled-in dive tunnel under the Wells Street Sectioning Hut on the Central side of Lawson Street. The area in which the platforms were to be situated is visible from the station concourse at the entrance to Platform 10.
Eskineville
Cronulla, Illawarra and South Coast services enter and exit Redfern station below ground, and emerge at ground level close to Eskinville Railway Station. A tributary of Black Wattle Swamp Creek, which enters Blackwattle Bay at the northern end of Wentworth Park, originally had its source beyond Erskineville station near the corner of Ashmore Street and Binning Lane, according to early maps. The creek is now fed by run-off collected by street drains. The railway corridor south along which Cronulla, Illawarra and South Coast trains run was in fact built through swampy ground that drained into Black Wattle Swamp Creek. The northern boundary of the Eveleigh Railway Workshops followed the creek. Cronulla trains pass through Erskineville and St Peters stations without stopping, their next stop being Sydnenham.
Sydnenham station 1890s
Sydenham
Named after a suburb of London, Sydnenham was originally called Marrickville South, having been subdivided for residential development in the 1880s with the opening of the railway line. The station was to be known as Illawarra Road, but it was opened as Marrickville in October 1884, then changed to Sydenham seven months later because a new station on the planned Bankstown line went through the centre of Marrickville and would be called Marrickville. When the post office opened five years later, it was called Tempe Park and was not changed to Sydenham Post Office until 1964.
Wolli Creek
The joint Cronulla/Illawarra South Coast line intersects the Airport Line where it reaches the surface and becomes the East Hills line at Wolli Creek station. The Illawarra line crosses the Airport/East Hills line at a higher level. Building a station where two lines cross but on different levels gave the designers of Wolli Creek Station the opportunity to create something interesting visually, but they blew it by coming up with something that looks bitty and unfinished, though the foot links the two levels of platforms is easy to navigate and does work efficiently.
Wolli Creek station was built as part of the Airport line, opening on 21 May 2000, and did not exist on Cronulla/Illawarra South Coast line before that date. The station is located on a former industrial site and siding at Discovery Point near where Wolli Creek flows into Cooks River. Since the station's opening, the suburb has been significantly redeveloped with high density housing.
In the 1990s, low lying land at Discovery Point near where Wolli Creek enters the Cooks River was earmarked for high density residential development. Essential to the development was the construction of Wolli Creek railway station on the Airport Line. Since then, the area has been developed in accordance with the plan. Many of the residential towers in the development have been completed, and the units within sold and now occupied, as is the piazza-style Village Square. Facing Cooks River is Discovery Park, which features a BBQ area and childrens' playground.
Arncliffe
The first land grants on the western site of what would become the Parish of St George took place in the early 1820s, with large plots of land being granted to various people. None of these early land grants were occupied by their owners. Arncliffe takes its name from one of these land grants, a lot of 100 acres around today's Turrella station, made to Reuben Hannan in 1825, who named his property after his birthplace in Yorkshire, England. Hannan was one of 197 male convicts on the Admiral Gambier who were being transported to the colony with a detachment of the 73rd Regiment. Hannan married the first white child born in Campbelltown, was Government Overseer of Brickmaking.
In 1825 (though not confirmed until 1833) David Hannan purchased a lot of 60 acres of land at auction which was located to the south east of his father’s lot. David and his wife Mary (nee Masterson) were the first European residents of Arncliffe. Following his marriage to Mary, Hannan constructed a house on his property and ran livestock such as cattle, pigs and poultry. The name for the area was suggested by surveyor, estate agent and lithographic printer William Meadows Brownrigg. Development in the suburban area south of Cooks River was slow as access across the swamps between Arncliffe and Sydenham was initially difficult.
The arrival of the railway in 1884 heralded a decade of strong development, with the area changing from farmlands to residential suburbia. Arncliffe Railway Station was built on a duplicated line from Illawarra Junction to Hurstville. It was designed as the first major station on the Illawarra Line southwards from Sydney and was one of the most substantial stations of eight built in at the time of the lne's opening, reflecting the importance of the locality. New residential lots were carved out in rapid succession, radiating out from the arterial railway line. Previous focus on rural land use was no longer a decisive factor in the value of the land. Subdivisions were now advertised in terms of their proximity to the railway, and in particular, Arncliffe station.
Banksia
The name Banksia was suggested by David Stead, father of novelist Christina Stead, to honour Sir Joseph Banks. The locality was originally part of a large property owned by Simeon Pearce and his brother James, which extended south to Rocky Point and was occupied for years by timber getters. The railway came through the area in 1885 but a station was not opened until lobbying by residents forced the issue in October 1906.
Rockdale
Hilly and heavily wooded in the early days of colonial Sydney, Rockdale was opened up to farmers after the timber cutters had been through and the new Wollongong Road to its north had been built and established as the main route to the Illawarra. As with the whole St George area, Rockdale flourished as a residential area following the arrival of the railway in 1884. The farming community here had been known by numerous names - Frog Hollow; White Gum Flat and West Bexley before the present name was selected and gazetted. Rockdale was suggested by resident Mary Ann Geeves, describing a particular hollow surrounded by rocky outcrops.
Rockdale station is unusual in that it initially provided a rail connection for coal transfer and passengers for Saywell's Private Tramway. This was originally a steam powered tramway operation, which began running from Rockdale to Brighton on Botany Bay from 1885 and to Sans Souci in 1887. The steam trams were converted to electricity in 1899. In 1937 the tram service from Rockdale to Sans Souci was replaced by a trolley bus service, and a tramway to Brighton closed in 1938.
In 1907, Rockdale's northbound platform was converted to an island with a new southbound track. The former southbound track (currently Platform 4) became the northbound track, with the former southbound platform (current Platform 3) becoming a refuge siding.
Kogarah
During the 1850s a small farming community sprung up in the Kogarah area after timber getters had gone through. The Kogarah Public School was completed in 1876. Residential development was slow until the arrival of the railway in 1885, when major subdivision took place and land sales boomed. Electricity arrived in 1923. The namw derived from the Aboriginal word "coggera" or "cogerah" meaning "rushes". The name was originally applied to what is now known as Rushcutters Bay.
Carlton
Up until the arrival of the railway in 1884, Carlton was a patchwork of farms on land cleared of forest some decades earlier. The train did not stop at Carlton and in order to make it happen, the developers offered free blocks of land here to everyone who donated £400 towards the cost of building a platform and station buildings. It was this "generous offer" of free land that prompted the use of the name Carlton. The settlement got its station in 1889. By the turn of the century it had developed into a desirable residential area. Carlton is named after a suburb of Nottingham in England meaning "a village of free men".
Allawah
Allawah is an Aboriginal name meaning 'make your abode here' - said to be a name used by an Aboriginal tribe living around Botany Bay. An area of cleared forest until the 1890s when the railway came through, its railway station was not built until October 1925 when the local population had grown to such a degree that a station was deemed necessary between Carlton and Hurstville.
Hurstville
The name Hurstville is combination of two English nomenclature terms; 'hurst', meaning 'a wooden eminence', and 'ville', a town. The name was suggested by a school inspector when consideration was being given to establishing a public school in 1876. There is a town in Lancashire, England, of the same name, and it has been suggested that the Sydney suburb was named after it, however this has not been substantiated.
The whole of the St George area was heavy wooded when the First Fleeters followed the Aboriginal tracks through the area and discovered the Georges River. Logging activity commenced in the early 1800s and continued for many decades until most of the land was cleared. Hurstville began life as a logger's camp on Forest Road, its water supply being nearby marshy ground which was later reclaimed to form Woodville Park. Known as Lord's Forest, and later Gannon's Forest, by the time the railway arrived in the area in the 1880s, it was a sizeable village. Hurstville soon became the main station on the line in the St George district. Today, Hurstville is home to one of the largest Chinese communities in Australia.
Hurstville station opened on 15 October 1884 on the terminus of the Illawarra railway line from Redfern. On 26 December 1885, the line was extended to Sutherland. When the line was quadruplicated in 1925, the station was rebuilt with two island platforms. A siding, no longer used, was also built to service a suburban parcels office. In 1965, the air rights above the platforms were covered by the Hurstville Super Centre shopping centre, one of the first suburban stations in Sydney to receive such treatment of its overhead airspace. The original station buildings survived underneath until demolished during refurbishment in the early 1990s. The centre was refurbished in 2008 and rebranded Hurstville Central.
Penshurst
Penshurst occupies part of Robert Townson's grant of 1808 which extended from Forest Road to the Georges River. John Connell took possession of the property in 1830, his name being remembered in Connells Point in Penshurst's south. When subdivided into small farms in 1869, the western part was bought by Thomas Mort and became Mortdale. The eastern section was called Connell's Bush until the arrival of the railway in 1886. When a platform was built here, it was named Penshurst. From that time the new name was used in preference to Connell's Bush, which was not considered suitable to a developing residential area. It is not known what prompted the selection of the name, however it has been noted that Penshurst in Kent, after which it was named, has the same mystic quality of Sydney's Penshurst when the southerlies blow a sea mist across Oatley Bay in winter.
Mortdale
Dr. Robert Townson (1763-1827) was the first land grantee. Thomas Sutcliffe Mort then took over his land and sublet sections to farmers. In 1894, an orchard and a farm here were subdivided and the land sold for residential development. They sold well and further subdivision took place in consequence to the opening of Mortdale Station in March 1897, however it was the establishment of houses for returned soldiers of World War I in the 1920s that brought the biggest influx of new residents. Mortdale was named after businessman and early landowner, Thomas Sutcliffe Mort. Though the name means "Death Valley", no one who lives there seems to care or has made any effort to have the name changed.
Along the formation of the original line approximately half a kilometre south of the station, the Mortdale electric car sheds were built in 1925. These were the first electric car sheds to be used on the suburban system, part of a group built under the Bradfield electrification plan, including Hornsby, Flemington and Punchbowl (now closed). In their original form, the Mortdale electric car sheds had a distinctive saw-toothed roof. Just north-east of the car sheds there was a siding to access Judd's Hurstville Brick Works to the east. The Mortdale sheds have been extensively redeveloped over time, and the facility, now known as the Mortdale Maintenance Centre, is essentially a modern complex.
Oatley
Oatley is named after James Oatley, a convict clock maker. As a convict, Oatley erected the clock still in use on the front of Hyde Park Barracks. After being pardoned, Oatley was granted and acquired various tracts of land in Sydney's south, among them was what is now the suburb of Oatley, a 175 acre grant which he received in 1831. Oatley called it Needwood Forest, after woodlands in his native Warwickshire, England. He never lived here, choosing instead to build his home near Beverly Hills. When the railway came to Oatley in the 1880s, it was decided to name the station here after him, though his property had been sold and subdivided by his son some years earlier.
Oatley station was once in the middle of the suburb but it had to be moved. Train drivers found that the grade up the hill from the original Como Bridge to Mortdale was too steep for fully loaded coal trains. A deviation was built around the centre of Oatley in 1905 to reduce the grade for Sydney bound trains to a maximum of 1 in 80. Oatley station was moved from its original position between Oatley Parade and Oatley Avenue to it present location on the deviation. The route taken by the original line is still clearly visible at the Oatley end of the bridge. The walking path to the bridge follows the path of the original line.
Como Pleasure Grounds, George River foreshore
Como
Como / Como West - named after Lake Como at the foot of the Bernese Alps in Italy. It is believed to have been thus named by James Murphy, who was manager of the Holt-Sutherland Estate Land Company, the man responsible for building Como House and the Como Pleasure Grounds. The pleasure grounds developed as a very popular resort after the completion of the railway and erection of a railway platform at the end of the Como Bridge across the Georges River in December 1885. Some street names are of Aboriginal origin; others recall places in Italy, from which the suburb's name originates.
Before the railway line was built, the area was in originally known as Woronora with the first local post office opening on 16 May 1883 followed quickly by the local school on 16 April 1884. The original single-track Como Railway Bridge spanning the Georges River began service with the opening of the railway station at Como on 26 December 1885. Upon opening of the railway bridge, Como immediately became a popular weekend retreat for city folk with the natural beauty making it particularly popular with holiday makers with trains reported as being overcrowded on their first day of service.
Como Bridge
Como bridge takes the Illawarra railway line across the Georges River between Oatley and Como. The original bridge, opened in 1886, remained in use until 1972 when the new double line, pre-stressed concrete structure alongside it was completed and began taking rail traffic. The old bridge was saved from demolition as it carries the pipeline from Woronora Dam to the reservoirs at Penshurst, a function that commenced in 1945 and continues today. The bridge is today used as a footbridge and cycleway.
Janalli
Jannali, from an Aboriginal word meaning 'beautiful moon', was name given when the Railway Station was opened in 1931. Jannali remained virtually undeveloped until the railway station, financed jointly by Council and the Department of Railways, was opened. Although the railway was already electrified, with regular services to Sydney, it grew slowly as a commuter suburb. In the 1950s, extensive public and private housing estates were built, stimulating construction of shopping and other facilities.
Sutherland
It is a common belief that the parish, township and shire of Sutherland were named after Forby Sutherland, a sailor with Lieut. James Cook's Endeavour who died and was buried at Kurnell, which is within the shire's boundaries, in 1770. This is not so - historical records show that in 1835 Sir Thomas Mitchell named the first parish south of the Georges River the Parish of Southerland, presumably because it was the most southerly parish of the Sydney region. The "o" was accidentally left out when the name was gazetted, leading some to believe that Mitchell came up with the name of Sutherland. To further cloud the issue, the railway station appears to have been named after John Sutherland, Minister for Works 1860-1872, who was the driving force behind the extension of the railway line across the Georges River to the Parish of Sutherland. The township which grew up around it took its name from the station. The railway link opened in December 1885.
Loftus
Loftus and Loftus Heights are named after a former governor of New South Wales, Lord Augustus William Spencer Loftus (1817 - 1904). He was appointed governor and commander-in-chief of New South Wales and its dependencies in 1879. Loftus left Sydney in November 1885. He held this office at the time the railway station was opened and his name was used for it. Subdivision for building lots began until 1923, however, development was slow until the 1950s. The suburb is home to the Sydney Tramway Museum.
Engadine
Engadine, to the south east of Sutherland, is located 33 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district. The suburb is mostly residential with some commercial and light industrial areas. Engadine is bounded by The Royal National Park to the east, Heathcote National Park to the south west and the Holsworthy Military Reserve to the west beyond the Woronora River. Visitors to the suburb can view across the Sydney Basin from its southern edge across to the Sydney CBD. Located within Royal National Park, Engadine Falls on Engadine Creek are reached via the Lakes Trail, which begins on the National Park side of Engadine station.
Heathcote
The name Heathcote was given hy nSir Thomas Mitchell in 1835 in honour of a fellow officer during the Peninsular Wars (1809-14). The village here was originally called Bottle Forest. It was surveyed in 1842 and is now East Heathcote. The name Heathcote was given in 1887 to the home of Isaac Harber, a brick manufacturer, which he built here. Today an outer suburb of Sydney, it has retained much of its natural environment, a fact reflected in many street names which recall the natural flora of the area.
Waterfall
waerfall station, which serves the suburb of Waterfall, was opened on 9 March 1886 as Waterfalls, being renamed later in the year. It served as the line's terminus until it was extended to Scarborough in 1887. When the line was duplicated from Hurstville on 12 December 1890, the station was relocated northwards. In 1897 a locomotive depot opened.
The suburb of Waterfall has only six streets. Its local school has only two rooms. The bushland gives the small suburb a natural surrounding and walking tracks lead from it into the neighbouring national parks. To the west is a dammed lake and behind it is Mount Westmacott. Waterfall was a town created by rail workers, who built the line from Sydney to Wollongong in the late 19th century. Waterfall is the highest point on the line, with a steep rising gradient one end, and a falling gradient the other ends, and sidings were provided in both directions to allow freight wagons to be stowed and shunted. Waterfall derived its name from National Falls, close to the railway station in Royal National Park. McKell Avenue, the southern border of the Royal National Park, was originally called Waterfall Road.
South of Waterfall railway station is the site of the Waterfall train disaster, a rail accident that claimed the lives of the driver and six passengers on 31 January 2003.
Helensburgh
The small town of Helensburgh in New South Wales is known as the gateway between the cities of Sydney and Wollongong, as it is located roughly halfway between the two (45km south of Sydney s CBD and 34km north of Wollongong). The town is on the Woronora Plateau. It is separated from Otford to the south by a high hill and Otford Road. It is separated from Waterfall by tight twists of railway descending from the South Coast Line's highest point at Waterfall to Helensburgh Station.
Helensburgh is the northern-most suburb governed by Wollongong City Council, and marks the northern end of the Illawarra region, though in recent years the urban sprawl of Sydney has almost reached Helensburg. It also borders the southern end of the Royal National Park and the western side of the Garawarra State Conservation Area, which adds to the town's isolation from its neighbours. Many travellers drive straight past Helensburgh on the Southern Freeway or Princes Highway without ever even knowing the town is there.
