Railways and Tramways of Australia

Canberra’s railway station is located in the suburb of Kingston, approximately 6 km south-east from the city’s central business district. It has a brick station building with a large waiting room and other facilities. A car park and coach interchange are located outside the station.

 

Construction and the first train

Canberra was selected as the site for Australia’s capital in 1909 and planning for the city began. Work on construction of the line from Queanbeyan to Canberra commenced in February 1913. The railway from Goulburn had reached Queanbeyan in 1887 and Cooma in 1889, eventually being extended to Bombala in 1921. Only a short distance of railway was required to connect Canberra to the existing New South Wales railway network. The line was 8.5 km in length and extended to the site of the Kingston power house, which was under construction and became one of the first permanent public buildings in Canberra. Today the power house is the site of Canberra Glassworks. On 25 May 1914 a goods train hauled by C Class locomotive No. 120 became the first train to reach Canberra. There was no official ceremony to mark the opening of the railway to Canberra. At the time it was the site of a future city and little permanent settlement had been completed. Although a small platform was built with the line, no passenger services operated. Initial services on the line consisted of infrequent goods and military trains.

 

No. 120 was renumbered as Z12 Class engine 1210 in 1924. Following its withdrawal from regular service in 1958 it was used as a special engine for hauling the Vintage Train and other special services. On 27 January 1962, 1210 and another member of the Z12 class, 1243, worked a special train to Canberra. 1210 was handed over to the National Capital Development Commission to be preserved, acknowledging its importance as the first locomotive to reach Canberra. The total mileage of 1210 from its introduction to service until its arrival in Canberra was 1,189,964 (1,915,061 km). It was placed on display outside Canberra station, remaining there until 1984 when it was transferred to the nearby Canberra Rail Museum, where it remains.

 

Passenger trains

Canberra’s first trains for passengers were introduced on 15 October 1923. The first service was a mixed train, combining goods and passenger traffic. It operated between Queanbeyan and a platform adjacent to the power house at Kingston. Two trains ran from Mondays to Fridays, departing Queanbeyan at 6.45 am and 3.45 pm, and departing from Canberra at 9.15 am and 5.15 pm. Thus, workers residing in Queanbeyan were able to travel to Canberra for work and home again by train. On Saturdays there was one service, which departed from Queanbeyan at 6.45 am and returned from Canberra at 12.15 pm. No services operated on Sundays.

 

Canberra station was opened on 21 April 1924 on the site of the present station in the suburb of Kingston. Trains for workers continued to operate beyond the station to the power house, approximately one km away. A weatherboard station building was constructed in 1927, along with new sidings and a crane for loading and unloading goods.

 

The first passenger-only trains began running into Canberra on 7 April 1926. A daylight service in each direction between Sydney and Canberra was then introduced on 21 March 1927. Services were reduced during the Great Depression of the early 1930s, and the daylight service ran on only one day a week. On 27 September 1936 a new fast daylight service named the Federal City Express commenced running every weekday between Sydney and Canberra. It was initially a steam-hauled train, but from 23 October 1939 an air-conditioned diesel train built for the Silver City Comet began operating the service from Mondays to Thursdays, while it continued to be steam-hauled on Fridays and Saturdays. Near the end of the Second World War steam resumed working all services of the Federal City Express.

 

From the opening of Parliament House in Canberra in 1927, the railway provided a valuable means of transport for Members of Parliament travelling to and from Canberra. On 1 March 1929 two carriages derailed around 7.30 pm at the points on the line leading out of Canberra station. The carriages were being shunted by one of the two locomotives in Canberra at the time, and the derailment led to the line out of Canberra being blocked. Timetabled trains to Sydney and Melbourne were cancelled as a result. The accident caused delays to the Governor-General and his staff, five Federal Ministers, and around 70 other Members of Parliament. Two ministers travelled to Queanbeyan by car, where they caught the northbound Cooma Mail. It took until nearly midnight for a train to leave Canberra after the line was cleared. Various MPs were heading to Melbourne to hear evidence for parliamentary committees. A special train was arranged from Goulburn to Melbourne because they had missed their connection with the Melbourne Express.

 

A new passenger train, the Canberra-Monaro Express, was introduced on 9 May 1955, replacing the Federal City Express. It was formed by two four-car air-conditioned railcars. Between Sydney and Queanbeyan the train ran with two sets coupled to form an eight-car train. At Queanbeyan the train divided, with one set running to Canberra and the other to Cooma. One the return journey the two sets were re-coupled at Queanbeyan for the trip back to Sydney. From July 1973 the Canberra-Monaro Express operated as a four-car train. Instead of two sets that divided at Queanbeyan, one set ran from Queanbeyan to Canberra and return as part of its journey between Sydney and Cooma.

 

From 29 August 1983 the XPT passenger train began operating regularly to Canberra. It was able to complete the Down journey from Sydney to Canberra in four hours and 20 minutes, and the Up journey to Sydney in four hours and 15 minutes. The XPTs provided a more comfortable and faster service than other trains operating to Canberra. On 11 February 1990 the XPT was replaced by a locomotive-hauled train named the Canberra Express, which made two return journeys each day between Sydney and Canberra, but took longer than the XPT that it replaced.

 

The Xplorer Diesel Multiple Unit railcars were introduced to service in New South Wales in October 1993, and they commenced running on the route between Sydney and Canberra on 16 December that year. Locomotive-hauled passenger trains continued to provide services to Canberra until 14 January 1994, from which date all regular passenger trains operating between Sydney and Canberra were formed by Xplorers.

 

City railways

The design for the city of Canberra prepared by architect Walter Burley Griffin included plans for the railway to be extended from Kingston to the city centre at Civic. There would be a Central station located in the area of the current suburb of Russell, along with four other stations. Local trains would service eastern Canberra, while electric trams and buses would service western Canberra. In 1916 it was decided by a parliamentary committee that a permanent city railway would not be required for some years. However, a temporary line for the transportation of construction materials was completed between Kingston and Civic in May 1921. A platform and three sidings were located on the site of what is now Gareema Place in the centre of the city, and the line extended a short distance further to the present Eloura Street. The line was short-lived as a result of a flood that destroyed the bridge over the Molonglo River in July 1922. A narrow (1067 mm) gauge construction railway was built along a section of the line in 1925. Narrow gauge railways were also used for the construction of the first parliament house in Canberra, which opened in 1927, connecting to Civic and the brickworks at Yarralumla. Although a permanent railway has never been built into the centre of Canberra, another part of Walter Burley Griffin’s vision was realised when light rail (tram) services began operating in Canberra in April 2019.

 

A new Canberra station was opened on 26 October 1966 by the Minister for Shipping and Transport, Gordon Freeth. It featured a new station building but the existing platform remained in use. Designed by the National Capital Development Commission, it was designed to cater for Canberra’s railway traffic until a new permanent station was opened. The station building was made of brick and remains as Canberra’s station today. Work on a new goods yard on the northern side of the line commenced around the same time. Much of the Canberra branch was rebuilt between 1967 and 1970.

 

Ownership

From its opening the line from Queanbeyan to Canberra was owned by Commonwealth Railways. Services on the line were, however, operated by the New South Wales railways. The line was initially referred to as the Federal Territory Railway. With the change of name from Australian Federal Territory to Australian Capital Territory in 1938, the line was referred to as the Australian Capital Territory Railway.

 

Although the railway was owned by Commonwealth Railways, the New South Wales Railway Commissioners managed and maintained the line on behalf of Commonwealth Railways from its opening in 1914. On 1 July 1928 management and maintenance came under the authority of the Commonwealth Railways Commissioner. Services on the line continued to be operated by New South Wales Railways. In 1975 Commonwealth Railways was renamed Australian National Railways, and later Australian National. The Queanbeyan to Canberra line eventually came under the ownership of the New South Wales Government on 5 May 1985 when it was transferred to the State Rail Authority of New South Wales. Staff at Canberra station had their employment transferred from Australian National to the State Rail Authority.

 

A branch of the Australian Railway Historical Society was established in Canberra in 1967. It later acquired a collection of historic locomotives and rollingstock, including locomotive 1210. The Canberra Railway Museum is located in the vicinity of Canberra railway station, although there is no direct access from the station. It is open to the public on Sundays.

 

References

Canberra Glassworks <www.canberraglassworks.com>.

Canberra line handover’, Railway Digest, vol. 23, no. 5, May 1985, p. 136.

‘Canberra’s new station open’, Canberra Times, 27 October 1966, p. 9.

Date, K, ‘The new timetable’, Railway Digest, vol. 28, no. 3, March 1990, pp. 94–7.

Fitzgerald, A & Andrews, WC, Canberra’s Engineering heritage, 2nd edn, Institution of Engineers, Australia, Canberra, 1990.

‘New railway station at Canberra’, Railways of Australia Network, vol. 2, no. 29, October 1966, p. 1.

‘No big bang for Canberra Xplorers’, Railway Digest, vol. 31, no. 12, December 1993, p. 520.

‘Railway hold-up: Canberra service disorganised by derailment at station’, Canberra Times, 2 March 1929, p. 1.

Stokes, HJW, Railways of the Canberra and Monaro districts, Australian Railway Historical Society, A.C.T. Division, Canberra, 1984.

Singleton, CC, ‘Railways in the Australian Capital Territory’, Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, no. 361, November 1967, pp. 244–52.

The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, Report on Commonwealth Railways operations for the year ended 30th June, 1928,

     Commonwealth Government Printer, Canberra, 1929.

The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, Report on Commonwealth Railways operations for the year ended 30th June, 1938,

     Commonwealth Government Printer, Canberra, 1938.

Woodhouse, RKE, ‘Preservation of locomotive No. 1210 at Canberra’, The Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, no. 293, pp. 33–5.