faulcon1 Posted May 21, 2016 Share Posted May 21, 2016 I drove down today to take a look at Crookwell station which was the terminus of a branch line from Goulburn. There was a sign on the station gate telling people that for site access to phone the chairperson. But the phone number had been spray painted out. So I just walked round. The five photos are: the end of the line at Crookwell, the rear of the station with my little car standing in the forecourt, the goods shed, the turntable and the front of the railway station. The station building is protected by CCTV cameras but no body came racing down when I decided to just walk around. The platform surface is gravel and the platform edging is hardwood timber. There was a lot of smoke haze in the air at Crookwell from hazard reduction burns. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
faulcon1 Posted May 24, 2016 Author Share Posted May 24, 2016 One line I'd like to take photos of is the Captains Flat Branch Line. At Captains Flat it would be difficult to take photos of the station as it's now on private property and I've heard the owner doesn't like people wandering round on his land. Many would just trespass. But I like to ask before entering someones property. The station at Captains flat was unusual in that there was an island platform with the buildings at ground level adjacent to the platform. Having looked on Google earth they're all still there today as is the turntable. The line being opened in 1940 to carry ore from the mining site at Captains Flat and the scars from the mining on the landscape are still very visible today and dominate the town even though the mining stopped years ago. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leicester Thumper Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 Wow! amazing find that! I wish we had that sort of thing in good ol' blighty! Normally they beat everyone to it and rip up everything! How long has that line been out of use for? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
faulcon1 Posted June 15, 2016 Author Share Posted June 15, 2016 The points connecting the branch to the mainline at Goulburn on the main southern line were taken out in September 1989. The branch line is listed as "out of use" but it has not been formally closed. There was an intermediate station at Roslyn (now gone) where another line branched off to the town of Taralga but that line is closed and lifted with some of the former formation now forming part of the road between Roslyn and Taralga. There was a proposal at one stage to extend the Crookwell Branch north west to Cowra but WW2 intervened and after the war the proposal idea was never proceeded with. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
faulcon1 Posted June 15, 2016 Author Share Posted June 15, 2016 Many of our station buildings on branch lines were constructed with a timber frame and then covered with weatherboards and a corrugated iron roof. It was a cheap construction. But here we have white ants and they devour timber. If they start chewing through a station buildings frame there was no alternative other than to pull the building down and start with a fresh building often to the same design. Construction could often take some time so that as the last of the construction was taking place the white ants would be chewing through the first reconstructed part again. I have a former workmate who jacked up his mothers house and replaced all the hardwood bearers underneath her house with new hardwood bearers because white ants had nearly destroyed the hardwood bearers. Within 5 years the new hardwood bearers which were very expensive were under severe attack from white ants. So he jacked the house up once again and replaced the chewed hardwood bearers with much cheaper treated pine bearers. He said when his mother died 15 years later the cheap treated pine bearers were as good as new. The wood nowadays is treated with copper chrome arsnate. All timber used in new house construction is treated timber. The framing has a green or light blue shade to it. People sometimes use steel framing but that can rust and because you can't see it you don't know how bad it is. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
faulcon1 Posted January 16, 2017 Author Share Posted January 16, 2017 Wow! amazing find that! I wish we had that sort of thing in good ol' blighty! Normally they beat everyone to it and rip up everything! How long has that line been out of use for? If you want to see much more of this disused branch then here's a link that you maybe interested in. I hope it displays for those overseas. http://www.nswrail.net/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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