Travel Australia

Tenterfield Railway Station, NSW

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.



The Station opened in 1886 and is a rare survival of something that was once common throughout New South Wales. It is an almost intact nineteenth century railway precinct. When the line was completed to the border in 1888, Sydney and Brisbane were linked by rail for the first time. Services declined gradually from the 1970s and finished completely in October, 1989.

Location: Railway Avenue, Tenterfield, NSW

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.



In February 1886 it was announced that the successful contractor for the erection of the station buildings at Tenterfield was William Murray. Murray also undertook to provide a goods shed, an engine shed, foundations for an engine tank, a pumping engine house, an engine store, a coal stage, a 15-metre turntable pit, and various sheep and cattle races. On 1 September 1886 the line to Tenterfield was opened for business. By 1891 the engine driver's barracks had been completed, the last of the array of railway buildings and structures on the site.

The site comprised a locomotive depot, demolished in 1968, consisting of an engine shed; barracks, sign-on office, coal stage, turntable, loading dock and goods shed, which are still extant on site; and water columns and tanks, sand sheds, ash pits and oil/equipment store which no longer exist. The original locomotive shed was constructed in 1886 and was replaced by a new one on the same site in 1908.



The railway facilities at Tenterfield changed little over the next century. The only structural addition to the passenger station before World War I was an extension of the platform in 1907. In 1960 the station master's residence and the passenger station were connected to reticulated sewer system, but this was the only major work carried out in the station area. However, the buildings were modified to suit modern tastes. Old buildings were stripped of their decorative excesses to make them seem a little more modern. Thus, by 1965 Tenterfield Passenger Station had lost its wrought iron finials, timber pendants and fretted gable end decorations.

By the 1960s, the Tenterfield locomotive depot was becoming redundant with steam being rapidly phased out and diesel technology not requiring an infrastructure of locomotive depots. There was certainly no need for extensive service facilities at Tenterfield and no need for such facilities as ash pits, coal stages, and water tanks. On 8 June 1968, with the end of steam operations on the Northern Line, the locomotive shed at Tenterfield was demolished.



The development of the North Coast line resulted in a slow decline for Tenterfield, as passengers preferred the more direct route to Brisbane. The decline was most profound in the late 1950s and by November 1988 the last mail/passenger train left Tenterfield. On 17 July 1989, the State Rail Authority announced the pending closure of Tenterfield Railway Station, a decision that was effected on 30 November 1990. In 1991 the Tenterfield Railway Preservation Society was formed, and in 1992 a Heritage Museum was opened at the site. In 2007, the Office of Rail Heritage, Rail Corporation NSW, assumed management of seven key rail heritage precincts, which included Tenterfield.

History of the Main North Line

Tenterfield was on the Main North Line (also known as the Great Northern Railway), which 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. The line is now closed north of Armidale, with the main route between Sydney and Brisbane now the North Coast line. The first section of the Main North line was built from the port of Newcastle to Victoria Street, Maitland in 1857 and extended to Singleton in 1863, Muswellbrook and Murrurundi in 1872, Werris Creek and West Tamworth in 1878, Armidale in 1883 and Wallangarra in 1888. The line was serviced by the overnight Northern Mail until it ceased in November 1988. The Northern Tablelands Express provided a daylight service to Glen Innes, with some journeys extended to Tenterfield until truncated in October 1985 to Armidale and in February 1990 to Tamworth.



The line was 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 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 closed.


A section of the abandoned line north of Armidale. The post marks the distance from Central Station, Sydney

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. The line was never pulled up and remains relatively intact. There have been attempts to revive freight or tourist traffic to as far as Glen Innes, although these plans have not yet succeeded.

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