South Coast railway line, New South Wales

The South Coast Railway is a passenger and freight railway line from Sydney to Wollongong and Bomaderry in New South Wales, Australia. Beginning at the Illawarra Junction, the line services the Illawarra and South Coast regions of New South Wales.
Opening in segments between 1884 and 1893, the South Coast railway line was built primarily to service the Coal Cliff Colliery, in which colonial government ministers and legislators were shareholders and as an economic link between the Illawarra and Sydney. It later connected the later industrial works at Port Kembla to the greater metropolitan freight railway network in Sydney. The line also serves as a public transport link for residents in St George, Sutherland and the Illawarra. The 56-station, line is owned by the NSW government's Transport Asset Manager, with passenger services on the line provided by Sydney Trains Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line service in suburban Sydney and by Sydney Trains South Coast Line service in the Illawarra.

History

Initial proposal

The idea for a railway between Sydney and the Illawarra area was first raised in the 1870s. At that time, railways to the north, west and southwest of Sydney had already been constructed, and a committee of prominent citizens formed to investigate the idea felt that a railway might help to develop agricultural and mining potentials in the Illawarra. In 1873, the committee asked the Government Surveyor, R. Stephens, to examine the area between Sydney and Bulli for a suitable route. The suggested route led from Rozelle in inner-western Sydney, crossing the Georges River at Tom Uglys Point, climbing the Gwawley Range on a steep gradient, then following the Port Hacking River towards Stanwell Park. The railway would connect to the main line at Petersham station. When Stephens went to survey the route, he encountered many difficulties with terrain, especially between Gymea Bay and the Port Hacking River, as well as along the river itself. Stephens noted his concerns about the Gymea Bay-Port Hacking route in a letter to the Engineer-in-Chief of the New South Wales Government Railways, John Whitton:

consists of a sort of plateau or tableland about above sea-level, and deeply indented with numerous deep chasms and narrow ravines, the bed of whose creek is, to all intents and purposes, on the same level as the sea... Mr Carver, previous to my arrival, attempted to overcome the difficulty by heading up all the creeks, and he ran a trial line upwards of in length, but this brought him to the summit of the range from which there was no getting down.

Similar things were written about the route along the River itself:

a confused jumble of huge boulders and rocks covered with thick brushwood closely interwoven with vines and creepers... a quarter of a mile per day of setting out is the most I can manage..."

Besides the terrain, problems were also found with the proposed descent from Bulli to Wollongong. Stephens found that any proposed railway would have required a series of zig zags to enable trains to climb the Illawarra escarpment. The committee presented the route to the New South Wales legislature in 1876, but despite a pledge of £740,000 by the legislature towards construction costs, and petitions from Kiama coal-miners, it was rejected.

Construction

The Government undertook no further surveys until 1880, when a new route was approved. This route originated near the inner-city locality of Macdonaldtown and ran to Kiama via the locality of "Bottle Forest", a distance of. The route selected comprises the present-day route, although minor deviations were made between Waterfall and Coal Cliff between 1915 and 1920. On 6 April 1881, Governor Augustus Loftus assented to Act 44 Vic. No. 28, which provided £1,020,000 for the construction of this railway, and proposed that the first section of, constituting approximately the present suburban route, be completed by 30 September 1884. Almost immediately, concerns were raised about the new route's viability, most specifically over the cost of tunnelling between Waterfall and Otford to reach Wollongong. Construction of the various sections was awarded by tender and commenced in October 1882. Work was suspended past the point at Como, and Government surveyors were instructed to re-survey Stephens' work on the original route. Their work allayed concerns about the new route: although the new route had more tunnelling, excavation and sharp curves, the total cost of the "Bottle Forest" route was estimated at £130,175 less than the original Port Hacking route. The Minister for Works eventually agreed on this new route, although construction was again briefly halted when the contractors refused to recommence work on the disputed section. With new contractors hired, the line was completed to in 1884, in 1885, in 1886 and Clifton through to and North Kiama in 1887. The missing Waterfall to Clifton section comprised four large brick-arch culverts and eight tunnels with a total length of over, delaying its opening until 1888. The section between and opened in 1893.
According to the official papers on the line's construction, when the line first opened for trains between Sydney and Sutherland construction was not quite complete, so excursion services initially ran on weekends only until the entire line was handed over. The first official train ran within the modern-day suburban area on 9 December 1885, although the line was closed once again between December 1885 and January 1886 to permit testing on the new bridge over the Georges River.

Track amplification

The line was originally constructed as double track between Illawarra Junction and Hurstville with single track thereafter; however, its rising use meant that the line required duplication soon afterwards. The line was duplicated between Hurstville and Loftus Station in April 1890, then southward to Waterfall by 12 December 1890. The section of track between Illawarra Junction and Hurstville was quadruplicated between 1913 and 1925.
After duplication in 1890, the original lattice-girder Como Bridge across the Georges River was laid as gauntlet track. This arrangement remained in place for many decades, causing a notorious bottleneck on the line, until the New South Wales Government commissioned John Holland & Co to build a new bridge in 1969. Construction of the new bridge, made of prestressed concrete box girders, commenced in 1969 and was first used by the 18:17 service from Como on 19 November 1972. The old bridge, as well as a former alignment of the line between Mortdale and Oatley replaced in 1905, is now used as a rail trail for pedestrians and cyclists.
Duplicated track now continues to Unanderra, except for the section through the Clifton Tunnel.

Deviation

Many goods trains were routinely divided at Stanwell Park and taken through to Waterfall in stages, effectively increasing the number of train movements on the line. The increasing congestion and steepness led to construction of a double track deviation, which opened between Waterfall and Helensburgh in 1914, Helensburgh and Otford in 1915, and Otford and Coalcliff in 1920. The deviation avoided the steep grades with a more winding route featuring sharp curves, deep cuttings, new tunnels and a curved viaduct over Stanwell Creek that required three million bricks in its construction. The old route's ruling grade of 1 in 40 was faced by up trains almost all the way between Stanwell Park station and Otford. Although the new route was longer it reduced the ruling grade from 1 in 40 to around 1 in 80. Many stations in this section were closed or rebuilt on the new alignment
The Helensburgh Tunnels refer to a series of seven, now abandoned, tunnels between Waterfall and Otford. These tunnels, approximately in total, were built between 1884 and 1886 and were part of the original alignment of the rail line. They were abandoned by 1920 when the new line was built.
The main problem was the -long Otford Tunnel, which took the railway through Bald Hill from the coast at to the Hacking River valley. The steep grade and tight clearances meant that soot, smoke and heat could become unbearable, especially when a south-easterly wind blew into the southern portal or when a train stalled in the tunnel.
A Mr B. Chamberlain wrote about a stalled passenger train in 1890:

Even with the windows closed, the carriages were filled with smoke and steam, women fainted and children screamed until the train backed down to Stanwell Park, and was finally staged up to Otford in two trips.

Regarding the crew, Chamberlain wrote:

While the passenger with closed windows in an up train had an unpleasant journey... the unfortunate enginemen underwent a shocking ordeal. On tender engines both knelt on the footplate, coats over heads, to breathe the air coming from under the engine, the apron plate being raised for this purpose. Though the air was hot from passing around or through the ash pan, it was nonetheless welcome.

Attempts were made to overcome the problem with a ventilation shaft and chimney in the early 1890s and a blower system installed in 1909.

List of tunnels

The full list of the Helensburgh Tunnels is:
The Clifton Tunnel is an eighth tunnel in this section and built around the same time as the Helensburgh Tunnels. Unlike the others it remains in use and is the only single track section between Sydney and.
The Metropolitan Tunnel features the first Helensburgh railway station at its northern end. The station was opened on 1 January 1889 and closed in 1915 when a new station was built on the current line. In May 1928, the colliery completed the conversion of the Metropolitan tunnel to a reservoir by plugging the southern end with concrete and used by the Metropolitan Colliery as a reservoir until town water was connected. It now features a glow worm population.