Bathurst railway station is a heritage-listed railway station at Havannah Street, Bathurst, Bathurst Region, New South Wales, Australia. It is situated on the Main Western line and serves the city of Bathurst. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
History
Bathurst station opened on 4 April 1876 when the Great Western Railway (now the Main Western line) was extended from Kelso. It was opened by the Governor of New South Wales, Hercules Robinson. The station building, goods shed, divisional engineer's office and station-master's residence were all completed in 1876. The station served as the terminus of the line until extended to Blayney on 1 November 1876.
Bathurst had already been established as a major centre based on large pastoral holdings and the 1850s gold rush which boosted the population of the town. Much of the civic building in Bathurst took place following the gold rush. Proposals for the first railways in NSW were largely driven by the interests of large land holders seeking improved transport for their wool from the inland centres of Bathurst, Goulburn, Muswellbrook and Singleton. The town received a sustainable boost in activity and development from the arrival of the railway which allowed the town to communicate and trade quickly and cheaply with Sydney.
Other early buildings included the Stores office (), coal stage (relocated from Raglan) in 1877), a new coal stage (1878), blacksmith's shop (1878-1879), turntable (relocated from Rydal in 1879), depot (1879), engine shed (1881) and the West signal box (1885).
Bathurst was developed into a major railway centre with a locomotive depot established to the north of the station in the 1879 with accommodation for eight locomotives. By 1917, Bathurst depot had a locomotive allocation of 72.<ref name=RoundhouseApr86>"Locomotive Depot No 4: Bathurst" Roundhouse" April 1986 pages 5-23</ref> As well as working on the Main Western and Blayney–Demondrille lines, it provided bank engines for Tumulla Bank.
The workshops, established during the 1880s, started a large railway workers' community and a rail institute to educate the hundreds of workers at Bathurst. In 1903, Ben Chifley, who would become Prime Minister of Australia in July 1945, joined the New South Wales Government Railways at Bathurst as a shop boy and in March 1912 was promoted to become a driver, becoming the youngest First Class locomotive driver. Chifley remained based at Bathurst depot until resigning in November 1928 to become the Federal Member for Macquarie.Historic Milton Walking Tour Bathurst Regional Council In the early years of the 20th century, Chifley attended night school and extension classes at the institute. The union meetings Chifley attended at the Institute helped to shape his trade union and Labour politics. Chifley was also one of the founders of the AFULE (the Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Enginemen).
Numerous changes and additions were made to the site in the late 19th century and 20th century, examples of which include the original stockyards (), a wagon repair shed (1891), a new turntable (1897), platform lengthened (1897), waiting shed erected on the Down platform (1902), Down platform extended and widened (1911), line duplicated (1915) elevated coal storage (1916), refreshment room (1917), new T6 trucking yards (1927), and an additional signal box in 1944.
The post-war period (between 1945 and 1960) saw as many as 500 staff working at Bathurst station and yard at its peak. However, by the 1970s, changes in freight transportation and the move to diesel services resulted in the redundancy of many buildings and former functions on site and the rationalisation of many structures.
The refreshment room closed in 1968 and The Railway Institute in 1975. While many former buildings remain unoccupied, the former District Engineer's office is now used by the Bathurst Community College and the Station Master's residence is occupied by a private tenant.
With dieselisation and reduced maintenance needs, Bathurst depot closed on 23 January 1981 with all work transferred to Lithgow.
However Bathurst would remain an important railway centre, with Clyde Engineering, opening a facility in the eastern Bathurst suburb of Kelso in the 1970s. It would build 84 81 class and 15 DL class locomotives in the 1980s as well as overhaul locomotives. It closed in April 2014.
Services
Bathurst is served by NSW TrainLink's 4 daily Bathurst Bullet services to Sydney & Lithgow, the daily Central West XPT service operating between Sydney and Dubbo and the weekly Outback Xplorer between Sydney and Broken Hill.