Railways and Tramways of Australia

Line closed … not

 

The last train departed from Carlingford in Sydney on 5 January 2020.

 

The Carlingford Line began as two separate private railways. The line from Clyde to Rosehill was opened by John Bennett in 1888. From Rosehill to Carlingford (then named Pennant Hills), a line was opened by Benjamin Simpson in 1896. Both railways struggled financially and came under the control of the Government in 1901.

 

The Carlingford Line saw little traffic. It was 7.2 km in length and was single track beyond Rosehill. Various services operated along the line during its life, including steam-hauled passenger and goods trains, CPH rail motors and suburban electric trains. Eventually a decision was made to close the Carlingford Line as a railway and convert most of it to a light rail line.

 

On its last day as a railway, Saturday 4 January 2020, the regular service on the line was supplemented by heritage set F1. Many passengers farewelled the line on a sweltering day as bushfires raged around the state. Finally, in the early hours of the Sunday morning the last train departed from Carlingford. Set M40 left the station at 1.46 am and the line was then closed. Despite the early hour, a number of passengers were on board to make the final train journey on the line.

 

Work on conversion of the railway to light rail commenced soon afterwards. The light railway commences at Westmead railway station and proceeds through Parramatta central business district before joining the former Carlingford railway line at Rosehill Gardens. It then continues north along the former railway corridor to Carlingford. The L4 Westmead and Carlingford light rail line was opened in December 2024.

 

The Carlingford railway was closed but began a new life as a light rail line.

 

Bibliography

J Oakes, Sydney’s forgotten industrial railways, Australian Railway Historical Society (NSW Division), Sydney, 2009.

C Walters, ‘Last train to Carlingford’, Railway Digest, vol. 58, no. 3, March 2020, pp 34–41.

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