South Maitland Railway Workshops

South Maitland Railway Workshops
Location of South Maitland Railway Workshops in New South Wales
Location Junction Street, Telarah, City of Maitland, New South Wales, Australia
Coordinates 32°44′21″S 151°32′13″E / 32.7391°S 151.5370°E / -32.7391; 151.5370Coordinates: 32°44′21″S 151°32′13″E / 32.7391°S 151.5370°E / -32.7391; 151.5370
Official name: South Maitland Railway Workshops
Type state heritage (complex / group)
Designated 2 April 1999
Reference no. 627
Type Railway Workshop
Category Transport - Rail

South Maitland Railway Workshops is a heritage-listed former railway workshops and now museum and industrial site at Junction Street, Telarah, City of Maitland, New South Wales, Australia. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.[1]

History

1842-1893: Land grant & pastoral use

The subject land was part of an 1842 grant to Thomas Winder, bought in 1884 by Albert Simpson. Exploration for coal in the area around Newcastle was underway in the 1840s. Commercial mining in the Maitland district began at Greta Coalfield in the 1860s, then at East Greta in 1869, with a second mine here in 1898. Other mines were then opened in the vicinity. The coal was first transported to Maitland by horse and cart.[2][1]

1891-1918: Coal mining, Railway companies & workshops

The original East Greta Coal Mining Co. was established (by the same syndicate operating the mine) in 1891. One of its first actions was to build a railway from East Greta No. 1 Colliery to the Great Northern Railway. This was opened in 1893. The line was later extended to other mines in the area. A branch from Aberdare to Cessnock was opened in 1904. Passengers and goods, as well as coal, were transported on the line between Stanford Merthyr and East Greta Junction, in order to connect the colliery communities with Maitland. This service began in 1902, and at first passengers had to make their own way between the junction and West Maitland (later Maitland). In 1903 the service was extended to West Maitland. South Maitland Railways ceased operating the passenger trains in 1967, and the New South Wales Government Railways ceased operation of trains on the line in 1972.[2][1]

In 1918 the South Maitland Railway Company was formed, amalgamating the East Greta Coal Mining Co. and the Aberdare Railway (which had been based at East Greta until its locomotive workshops were relocated to Telarah in 1912). East Greta Junction was created where the colliery line joined the Great Northern Railway. It consisted at first of a small loop siding to transfer wagons between the two lines. However the extension of the private railway meant that this was inadequate, and more loop sidings had been constructed by 1903.[2][1]

Construction of workshops on the site began in about 1904, when a locomotive depot was built by the East Greta Coal Mining Company. This was a two road engine shed, and was demolished in 1912 to be replaced by a four track galvanised iron shed. This was in turn demolished to make way for a larger locomotive depot, built in 1981. The present workshop was constructed some time between 1912 and 1918. On the site by 1918 were also a sand drying shed, a locomotive battery shed, and a signing-on cabin. A coal loader and an addition to the main workshop were built in 1927. Goods sheds from Caledonia and Weston Stations were moved to the site in 1930 to serve as an oil store and a lunch room. A bath house was built in 1943. In 1957 a toilet block, a machine shop and stores building, and a new signing-on cabin were built. The old battery store was demolished. In 1981 a new sand house and battery shed were built.[2][1]

The original Mount Dee homestead on top of the hill became offices, and the first new building was the large Erecting & Repair Workshop. As operations expanded in the 1920s most of the infrastructure was established, with brick buildings added in the 1950s and the last replacement steel framed Running Shed built in 1981.[1]

1967 takeover; 1984 closure; 1986+ adaptive reuse for education, heavy industry

Coal & Allied Industries took over the company and its railway and loco repair depot at East Greta Junction in 1967. With changes in the coal industry the workshops closed in 1984, but the railway continued to operate.[1]

In 1986 the Hunter Valley Training Co. bought the site and reopened the workshops as an apprentice training centre after rehabilitation. By 1990 the subject site was leased to GEC Alstom Australia P/L. The present complex was opened in 1991 and since the site has been used for heavy industry.[1]

In 2015 three workshop buildings were leased to the Maitland Rail Museum for museum use. Discussion is underway over a fourth: the former Blacksmith's Shop being leased by the Maitland Rail Museum also.[1]

Heritage listing

South Maitland Railway Workshops is one of the oldest continually operating railway workshops in Australia, documenting more than 70 years (in 1990) of the history, expansion and development of a steam railway;[1]

The South Maitland Railway complex remains largely intact and its extant layout, structures and fabric demonstrate the operation of a steam railway workshops;[1]

As the largest private railway workshops in NSW, the South Maitland Railway complex symbolises the importance of coal mining and steam powered transportation both locally and nationally .[3][1]

South Maitland Railway Workshops was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "South Maitland Railway Workshops, New South Wales State Heritage Register (NSW SHR) Number H00627". New South Wales State Heritage Register. Office of Environment and Heritage. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Dallas, 2000
  3. ↑ Summary Statement of Significance, Godden Mackay 1990, p.54

Bibliography

  • Archives and Special Collections Unit, Information Resources Program, Information and Education Services Division, University of Newcastle (1998). South Maitland railways archives : a researchers' guide.
  • Don Godden. Author: Godden, Don.; Series Title: National Estate Program 1983/84, Project ; 31 (1985). South Maitland railways : technology and operations.
  • Godden Mackay Pty Ltd. (1990). South Maitland railway workshop : conservation plan.
  • Hunter Valley Training Co. P/L Author: Hunter Valley Training Co. Pty. Ltd.; Series Title: (1989). South Maitland railway workshop conservation.
  • Hunter Valley Training Company Pty Ltd. (1995). South Maitland railway coal loader, Telarah restoration stage I.
  • Lindsay, Malcolm (1982). The South Maitland Railways Steam Locomotive Workshop.
  • Mary Dallas Consulting Archaeologists (2000). Statement of European heritage impact - Letter re Alstom Power/Hunter Valley Training Company Property: 78 Junction St., Telarah.
  • Sheedy, David in association with Robert Driver (2004). The former South Maitland railway workshops : heritage management strategy.

Attribution

This Wikipedia article was originally based on South Maitland Railway Workshops, entry number 00627 in the New South Wales State Heritage Register published by the State of New South Wales and Office of Environment and Heritage 2018 under CC-BY 4.0 licence, accessed on 2 June 2018.

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