Railway Digest Magazine March 2023 Back Issue

Sydney Station Stories – Cronulla
Our new Sydney Station Stories article series will look at active railway stations in use today – their history, placement, design, precincts, and current services. Chris Walters kicks off with a look at the unusual layout of the station at Cronulla.

Loading the grain on the Naradhan line
Opened in February 1929, the branch line from Ungarie to Naradhan was one of the last such lines opened during the pre-WWII era of country railway expansion. A few years later and it probably wouldn’t have been constructed. Since then, it has led a somewhat charmed life, and is now one of just two survivors of what is often described as the “Temora Network”. With two operational grain storage sites, the line still earns its keep, as John Hoyle explains.

Enfield to Port Waratah – Part 1
In the February 2018 and April 2018 issues of Australian Railway History, a two-part article by former engineman Ron Webb ‘To Broadmeadow and book off’ described the journey of 243 north goods from Enfield Marshalling yard to Broadmeadow on 18 August 1970, using electric power to Gosford and steam for the remainder of the journey. Fifty years later, Dave Shield made a similar journey, and suggested to Ron that an account of this run would make an interesting comparison with his own. Ron agreed, and the resulting article begins on page 40.

A bridge over troubled water
The long, curved bridge that crosses the Murray River in South Australia at the appropriately named town of Murray Bridge has long been a favourite location for rail photographers. In early January, when a flooded Murray River burst through its levee banks and inundated the adjacent river flats, railfans and tourists alike flocked to witness and photograph the dramatically different scene.

Elvis Express
It is 8:33am Thursday morning 5 January 2023 at Sydney’s Central Station and the Elvis Express is leaving the building. Chris Walters was there.