Rozelle Yard was a goods

railway yard A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of Track (rail transport), tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for kee ...

Rozelle Rozelle is a suburb in the inner west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 4 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Inner West Council. Location Rozelle s ...

, New South Wales, Australia. It was one of two major yards on the 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

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 ...

. Since heavy rail traffic ceased, part of the site has been redeveloped into a light rail depot and maintenance facility. The site of the former yard is currently being redeveloped into the

Rozelle Interchange The Rozelle Interchange is an under-construction underground motorway interchange in Sydney, Australia. It is being built as part of WestConnex and is expected to open in late 2023. The interchange also includes a toll-free bypass of the Vict ...

History

By 1908, goods traffic on the line to

and the neighbouring suburban lines had become excessive, with 592 wagons arriving each day and 512 being dispatched. It was decided to construct the Metropolitan Goods line from Sefton to Darling Harbour via

Enfield Enfield may refer to: Places Australia * Enfield, New South Wales * Enfield, South Australia ** Electoral district of Enfield, a state electoral district in South Australia, corresponding to the suburb ** Enfield High School (South Australia) ...

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 str ...

and

, 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

Abattoir 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 ...

s at Homebush Bay. 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 ar ...

, 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 Blackwattle Bay is a bay located to the southeast of Glebe Island and east of Rozelle Bay on Sydney Harbour, in New South Wales, Australia. The bay w ...

through Pyrmont. The proposal, which included two tunnels under Pyrmont and

Glebe Glebe (; also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s))McGurk 1970, p. 17 is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved ...

, was approved on 23 November 1914, and the line opened on 23 January 1922. A branch line from the yard served

White Bay Power Station The White Bay Power Station is a heritage listed former coal-fired power station on a site in White Bay, in the suburb of Rozelle, from Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. The remains of the plant can be clearly seen at the western end of ...

. The yard was electrified in September 1967. 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. Lilyfie ...

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 The Inner West Light Rail is a light rail line in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, running from Central railway station through the Inner West to Dulwich Hill and serving 23 stops. It is the original line of the Sydney light rail network ...

that opened to

Wentworth Park Wentworth Park is a park near the suburbs of Glebe and Ultimo in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The park contains several muti-purpose sporting pitches, cricket nets and a number of fitness installations. There is a playground in the s ...

in August 1997 and was extended to Lilyfield in August 2000. The yard saw a considerable decline in traffic throughout the 2000s, becoming overgrown and being used only intermittently for storage of disused passenger and freight carriages. Traffic on the line ceased in 2009 and the yard fell out of use.

Redevelopment

A light rail stop serving Lilyfield, located adjacent to the rail yards, opened on 13 August 2000 as the terminus of the Wentworth Park-Lilyfield extension of the Inner West Light Rail. In February 2010, following the cessation of goods traffic the previous year, the Keneally Government announced a extension of the light rail from Lilyfield to

. A stabling facility was built to the west of Lilyfield station. A second platform was added at Lilyfield for services towards Dulwich Hill. The Dulwich Hill extension opened in 2014. The site of the yard is within the area covered by the

Bays Precinct The Bays Precinct is a proposed urban renewal project in Sydney, Australia. It will involve the redevelopment of 95 hectares of land adjoining Sydney Harbour formerly used by industry. Among the sites to be redeveloped are the Rozelle railway ...

project. Rozelle rail yards will be one of ten sub-precincts within Bays West. Ten hectares of parkland are to be built on the site under draft plans. A maintenance depot was constructed next to the station on the site of the Rozelle Rail Yards. Part of the yard is to be utilised by the

WestConnex WestConnex is a predominantly underground motorway scheme in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. As of 2022, it is partially completed and partially still under construction. A joint project of the New South Wales and Australian governments, t ...

M4-M5 Link and be redeveloped as the

. As a result of the current renewal works, the precinct will include ten hectares of green space featuring smokestacks, sports fields and recreational facilities and is due to be open to the public in late 2023.

Gallery

File:Lilyfield maintenance depot, Rozelle Yard.jpg, The Lilyfield Maintenance Depot on the site of the former heavy rail yard in 2021 File:Rozelle Yard 20180918.jpg, Rozelle Yard in 2018, after disused infrastructure was cleared for redevelopment File:Lilyfield NSW 2040, Australia - panoramio (5).jpg, The yard in 2012. The disused alignment had become severely overgrown File:Rozelle NSW 2039, Australia - panoramio (9).jpg, Another shot of the disused yard in 2012 viewed from Lilyfield Road File:Lilyfield 25-02-11 (5483757166).jpg, Looking west from Catherine Street in 2011, with the

on the left File:Rozelle yards.jpg, Looking west from Catherine Street in 2019. A junction connects the line to the new depot File:White Bay from Victoria Rd.JPG, The branch line to

from Victoria Road in 2011 File:Rozelle Yard 2019.jpg, Site of the yard in 2019

References

External links

{{commons category-inline Rail infrastructure in New South Wales Rozelle, New South Wales Transport infrastructure completed in 1922 1922 establishments in Australia