Darling Harbour Yard was a goods railway yard in

Darling Harbour Darling Harbour is a harbour adjacent to the city centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia that is made up of a large recreational and pedestrian precinct that is situated on western outskirts of the Sydney central business district. Origin ...

, New South Wales, Australia. The yard was once the origin of all outgoing goods traffic from Sydney. It was one of two major yards on the former Metropolitan Goods line, the

other Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...

being in Rozelle. After closing to heavy rail in 1993, the alignment of the Metropolitan Goods line which passed through it was reutilised by light rail. The precinct around the yard was significantly redeveloped in the decades following its closure.

History

From the time when the Sydney Railway Company was formed in 1848, it had been the intention of the company to build a freight terminal at

. To this end, a railway line was constructed between the Sydney railway station (the predecessor to Central railway station) and Darling Harbour, which opened on 26 September 1855.Forsyth, J.H. (ed.) (1988–93), Stations & Tracks; Vol. 1: "Main Suburban & Branches -- Illawarra & Branches". State Rail Authority: Sydney, p. 97. Initial traffic was spoil for the construction of the Main Suburban line between Sydney and Parramatta, then for the carriage of departmental coke for steam engines, and a small amount of timber from 1860. Initial reports of the traffic on the line suggested that freight revenue amounted to only £20 a year, and there was only 60 tonnes of coke carriage a week. Other problems beset the line in the 1860s. Darling Harbour had begun to

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel when ...

up by 1863, and the 3 d. charge per person, each way on the nearby

Pyrmont Bridge The Pyrmont Bridge, a heritage-listed swing bridge across Cockle Bay, is located in Darling Harbour, part of Port Jackson, west of the central business district in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. Opened ...

(at that time privately owned) was a turnoff to traders looking to use the railway for the transport of their goods. Other factors combined to offset these problems: a plan to convey goods by horse tram to Circular Quay turned out to be a failure; traffic in

hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticated ...

straw Straw is an agricultural byproduct consisting of the dry stalks of cereal plants after the grain and chaff have been removed. It makes up about half of the yield of cereal crops such as barley, oats, rice, rye and wheat. It has a number ...

and

chaff Chaff (; ) is the dry, scaly protective casing of the seeds of cereal grains or similar fine, dry, scaly plant material (such as scaly parts of flowers or finely chopped straw). Chaff is indigestible by humans, but livestock can eat it. In agri ...

was transferred to the Darling Harbour yards in 1878; and by 1881, the main goods terminal in Sydney had become overcrowded, leading to directions that traffic for Sydney was to be directed to Darling Harbour. The Pyrmont Bridge was later purchased by the New South Wales Government for £48,600. By 1891, all outwards goods traffic was also being dispatched from Darling Harbour. By 1908, goods traffic on the line to Darling Harbour and the neighbouring suburban lines had become excessive, with 592 wagons arriving each day and 512 being dispatched. It was decided to construct separate goods lines from Sefton to Darling Harbour via Enfield,

Dulwich Hill Dulwich Hill is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 7.5 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Inner West Council. Dulwich Hill stretche ...

and Rozelle, with extensions to

Botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

and the State

Abattoirs A slaughterhouse, also called abattoir (), is a facility where animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a packaging facility. Slaughterhouses that produce meat that is no ...

Homebush Bay Homebush Bay is a bay on the south bank of the Parramatta River, in the west of Sydney, Australia. The name is also sometimes used to refer to an area to the west and south of the bay itself, which was formerly an official suburb of Sydney, a ...

. The initial scheme, approved by the Parliamentary Committee on Public Works, approved the initial line from Dulwich Hill to Darling Harbour. To avoid an opening rail bridge alongside the existing

Glebe Island Bridge The Glebe Island Bridge is a heritage-listed disused swing Allan truss road bridge that carried Victoria Road (as Bank Street) across Rozelle Bay, located in the inner city Sydney suburb of Pyrmont in the City of Sydney local government a ...

, a circuitous route was built around

Rozelle Bay Rozelle Bay is a bay located to the south of Glebe Island and the west of Blackwattle Bay, on Sydney Harbour. The naming of the bay is derived from either the Rosella bird or the Rosella plant, with the latter being more likely, due to the o ...

through the suburb of Pyrmont. The proposal, which included two tunnels under Pyrmont and Glebe, was approved on 23 November 1914, and the line opened on 23 January 1922.

Redevelopment

The Darling Harbour Authority was established in 1984, with the goal of redeveloping the Darling Harbour precinct. The yard was demolished and redeveloped between 1985 and 1988, with a single line of track retained. In January 1996, the

Lilyfield Lilyfield is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Lilyfield is located 6 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Inner West Council. Lilyfield is ...

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

section of the Metropolitan Goods line closed. Much of the alignment was reutilised by the Inner West Light Rail that opened to Wentworth Park in August 1997 and was extended to Lilyfield in August 2000 and on to Dulwich Hill in March 2014. The

Sydney Monorail The Sydney Monorail (originally TNT Harbourlink and later Metro Monorail) was a single-loop monorail in Sydney, Australia, that connected Darling Harbour, Chinatown and the Sydney central business and shopping districts. It opened in July 1988 ...

ran adjacent to the light rail between Convention and Exhibition stations.

The Goods Line The Goods Line is an linear park and shared pedestrian pathway and cycleway in the suburb of Ultimo, in the City of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The corridor connects Railway Square to Darling Harbour in the south and passes both the Un ...

, a pedestrian and cyclist pathway linking Ultimo and Darling Harbour, is situated on the former corridor of the Metropolitan Goods line that served the yard.

Gallery

File:Darling Harbour Goods Line.jpg, The western end of the yard, with the

Ultimo Tram Depot Ultimo Tram Depot was part of the Sydney tram network. History Ultimo Tram Depot opened on 8 December 1899 adjacent to the Ultimo Power Station. It was the depot for trams operating services to Pyrmont, Ryde, and Erskineville. It was situated ...

and

Ultimo Power Station The Ultimo Power Station, or Ultimo Powerhouse, was an electricity generating plant located in the inner-city Sydney suburb of Ultimo, New South Wales. Commissioned in 1899, it was the first major power station in Sydney and was originally built t ...

also in view File:DarlingHarbourGoodsLine1880s.jpg, Looking towards the CBD in the 1880s File:Pyrmont-darling-harbour-western-distributor-construction-early-eighties.jpg, Construction of the Western Distributor in the early 1980s

References

{{Reflist Darling Harbour Rail infrastructure in New South Wales Rail yards in Australia Transport infrastructure completed in 1856 1856 establishments in Australia