TrainzOnline:NSW Great Northern Railway
NSW GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY
In 1884, the Great Northern Railway arrived in Glen Innes from Newcastle. Two years before that, the New South Wales government proclaimed approval for the line to continue on to Tenterfield, with the tender for construction given to the famous Cobb & Co., more known for their coach company than their railway construction.
What lay ahead was approximately 46 miles of track that was required to travel through what is known as ‘Granite Country’. Through freezing winters and scorching summers, navvys toiled using shovels, picks and explosives to blast their way through the granite outcrops. Especially at Bolivia Hill, work almost grinded to a halt as the workers inched their way down the torturous hill through granite boulders up to the size of a house.
Finally in 1886, the track passed the famous Bluff Rock and reached Tenterfield with its very impressive new station building. Tenterfield was originally to be the change of gauge station to connect to the Queensland network, but that honour was soon given to the border town of Wallan-garra/Jennings, and the line progressed a further 12 miles to its terminus. 29 years after it’s commencement, the Great Northern Railway finally connected Sydney to Brisbane.
In 1930, the opening of the North Coast line provided a much more direct link between Sydney and Brisbane and negated the requirement to change gauges. This naturally had an impact on traffic in the line, until World War 2 when the government felt the coastal line was too much of a risk for troop movement. Extra passing loops were quickly constructed and the line was a flurry of activity…until the war ended.
The line then saw progressively less and less traffic. The last passenger train to Wallan-garra ran in 1972, and freight services ended north of Tenterfield in the early 1980s, relying on freight to and from the two abattoirs, stock feed mill and timber sleeper from the local sawmill. Tenterfield continued to be serviced by passenger services of varying typed (from mail trains to rail motors and even the XPT) for some years, until 1988, when the last NSW mail train departed Tenterfield. Freight services became very sporadic after that, and finally in October 1989 the GNR was officially closed north of Glen Innes, followed by the closure of the line north of Dumaresq (nr Armidale) in 1993.
