The Northern Tablelands Express is a passenger train service in Australia operated by the

New South Wales Government Railways The New South Wales Government Railways (NSWGR) was the agency of the Government of New South Wales that administered rail transport in New South Wales, Australia, between 1855 and 1932. Management The agency was managed by a range of differe ...

and its successors since June 1941.

History

The ''Northern Tablelands Express'' has operated from

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

via the Main Northern line to various destinations in the

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

district. It first ran in June 1941 between Sydney and

Armidale Armidale is a city in the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. Armidale had a population of 24,504 as of June 2018. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. It is the administrative centre for the Northern Tablelands region. It ...

, composed of R type carriages that were replaced by air conditioned RUB carriage stock in April 1951. It was usually hauled by a 35 class steam locomotive. In June 1959 it was converted to DEB set railcar operation dividing at

Werris Creek Werris Creek is a small town in New South Wales, Australia, near Tamworth, New South Wales, Tamworth, in Liverpool Plains Shire. It is north of Quirindi, New South Wales, Quirindi and is at the junction of the Main North railway line, New South ...

with one portion for Glen Innes or

Tenterfield Tenterfield is a regional town in New South Wales, Australia. At the , Tenterfield had a population of 4,066. Tenterfield's proximity to many regional centres and its position on the route between Sydney and Brisbane led to its development as a ...

and the other for Moree."More Timetable Changes" ''

Railway Digest ''Railway Digest'' is a monthly magazine, published in Sydney, covering contemporary railways of Australia. Overview The magazine's publisher is the Australian Railway Historical Society (ARHS), NSW Division. The first issue was published in M ...

'' November 1985 page 326 In June 1984, the service was taken over by XPTs and renamed the ''Northern Tablelands XPT'' with a DEB set connection between Werris Creek and Moree. In October 1985, the service was truncated to Armidale with an XPT operating the service three days per week and a locomotive hauled HUB/ RUB set on the other three days. In February 1990, the service was further truncated to become a day return XPT service to Tamworth. In 1993, the service was replaced with Xplorer railcars, initially still to Tamworth on a day return but, upon delivery of sufficient rolling stock, direct services were provided to Armidale and Moree, that once again divided at Werris Creek and this is how the train continues in service today.

References

{{Reflist Named passenger trains of New South Wales Passenger rail transport in New South Wales Railway services introduced in 1941 1941 establishments in Australia