Murwillumbah railway line

Murwillumbah Branch
Legend North Coast Line to Sydney Old Casino Bungabbee Leycester Lismore North Lismore Woodlawn Bexhill Eltham Laureldale Booyong Junction Tyumba Teven Ballina Booyong Binna Burra Bangalow St Helena Byron Bay Tyagarah Myocum Mullumbimby Billinudgel Crabbes Creek Mooball Burringbar Stokers Dunbible Murwillumbah Condong

The Murwillumbah railway line is an out-of-service railway line in far north-eastern New South Wales, Australia. The line connected the town of Casino with Lismore, Byron Bay and Murwillumbah, and opened in 1894^[1]. It is one of only two branches of the North Coast line, (the other being Dorrigo), and the last to have its services suspended (in 2004).

History

The first section opened between Lismore and Murwillumbah, connecting the Richmond and Tweed rivers. Passengers and goods were transported to Sydney by coastal shipping from Byron Bay. Nine years later, an extension from Lismore to Casino opened (and later south to Grafton - it was not until 1932 that the line was fully connected to Sydney). As early as 1889, feasibility talks took place into extending the line north from Murwillumbah into Queensland, discussions that continue to the present day. The line became a branch line when in 1930, the North Coast Line was extended from Kyogle into South Brisbane.

Ballina Branch

In 1930, a branch opened between Booyong and the town of Ballina. In 1948, flood damage and landslips saw services suspended on the line, and it was officially closed in 1953.^[2]

Services

The North Coast Mail was the premier train between Murwillumbah and Sydney after the North Coast line was completed in the 1930s^[3]. Additional local trains plied the tracks between Casino and Murwillumbah, connecting with other services such as the Brisbane Express. The extension to Condong was for sugar mill traffic. 620/720 class railcars also worked this line (set 638/738, which was specially modified, and also hauled a small van). From 1973, the Gold Coast Motorail provided passenger and car transport between Sydney and Murwillumbah.

In September 1997, the Northern Rivers Railroad (now Interail) subcontracted for FreightCorp for the haulage of cement and flyash freight trains to the Sunstate Cement depot in Murwillumbah. This was the last freight service to use the line, and ended in 2002. From 1990, passenger trains were operated by a daily XPT train,^[4] until its truncation to Casino in 2004, when the branch line was considered too expensive to maintain, and all services were suspended indefinitely.

It has been suggested that the line be filled in and converted to a bicycle track, or to extend the line and connect it to the Gold Coast Line. Byron Shire Council has even suggested running trams or rail cars on the existing tracks through Byron Bay Station to adjacent areas, in an endeavour to alleviate the town's major parking problems. A section of track between Casino and Old Casino is still open but is now considered a siding, mainly to service a local cement facility where trains usually load or unload cement. At Old Casino there is a 'stop block' across the track, beyond which the line is out of service.

See also

• Rail transport in New South Wales
• Curve and Gradients ^[5]

References

1. ^ Bozier, Rolfe; et al.. "Murwillumbah Line". NSWrail.net. http://www.nswrail.net/lines/show.php?name=NSW:murwillumbah. Retrieved 2007-05-07. 
2. ^ Hoyle, J Rogers, D. The North Coast Line. Railway Digest, August 1996.
3. ^ Williams, Ted. Some Recollections of the Murwillumbah Branch. Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, Vol 51, no. 754, August 2000
4. ^ Bromage, D. 20 years of XPTs. Railway Digest March 2002
5. ^ http://extranet.artc.com.au/docs/eng/network-config/cd/nsw/section_1_north_hv/section_1_north_hv_N62.pdf