Mount Victoria Railway Station Then and Now Photographs
Image
Image controls:
Mount Victoria Station in circa 1900 and 2019
By 1900 the sandstone building on Platform 2 had been expanded to include Railway Refreshment Rooms and second storey accommodation, but there were no buildings on Platform 1. There was also no signal box and no footbridge. This meant that people moving between platforms would have crossed the lines at track level.
(Source of historic image: State Library of NSW, Hall Collection, Photographs of Sydney Streets, Buildings and People, 1900s-1930s, Home and Away – 35265; source of modern image: Extent Heritage / Sydney Trains)
Image
Image controls:
Mount Victoria Station in circa 1912 and 2019
The Platform 1 station building, signal box, and footbridge were all built in 1911-1912, when the line between Mount Victoria and Lithgow was duplicated. This was the era of steam trains, so there was no electrical wiring for the trains. The platforms were also lit by gas lanterns instead of electric lights.
(Source of historic image: National Museum of Australia, Josef Lebovic Gallery Collection no. 1, 1986.0117.4653; source of modern image: Extent Heritage / Sydney Trains)
Image
Image controls:
Mount Victoria Station in the circa 1930s and 2019
This photo was taken after the construction of the footbridge in 1911, and after installation of the present Platform 2 station building awning in 1927. Electric lighting had been installed on the footbridge by this time, but trains to the Blue Mountains were still being hauled by steam locomotives.
The locomotive in the photo was labelled [3]526. It was one of the C35 class engines built in NSW at the Eveleigh Railway Workshops between 1914 and 1923. These engines began hauling ‘The Fish’ from Sydney Central to Mount Victoria in 1918, and the ‘Caves Express’ in 1932. Caves Express trains were painted in a distinctive colour: Caledonian Blue.
(Source of historic image: Australian Railway Historical Society NSW, Image ID 012367; source of modern image: Extent Heritage / Sydney Trains).
Image
Image controls:
Mount Victoria Railway Yard in the circa 1910s and 2019
These photos of the railway yard were taken from Platform 2. The historic photo shows what the yard looked like during the steam train era. Buildings included a goods shed and weighbridge office (in the centre) and carriage and engine sheds (in the background, right). The various semaphore signals were used to direct the trains into and out of the station and sidings.
(Source of historic image: Australian Railway Historical Society NSW, Image ID 00786; source of modern image: Extent Heritage / Sydney Trains).
Find out more about Mount Victoria Railway Station