Dapto railway station is located on the South Coast railway line in the

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wate ...

suburb of

Dapto, New South Wales Dapto is a suburb of Wollongong in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia, located on the western side of Lake Illawarra and covering an area 7.15 square kilometres in size. As at the , the suburb had a population of 10,730. History ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

History

The railway from

Clifton Clifton may refer to: People *Clifton (surname) *Clifton (given name) Places Australia * Clifton, Queensland, a town **Shire of Clifton *Clifton, New South Wales, a suburb of Wollongong *Clifton, Western Australia Canada *Clifton, Nova Scotia ...

to North Kiama, opened in 1887, continued through the sparsely-settled rural district of Dapto. Although the station was built some distance south of the existing village centre (that area, now called Brownsville, was considered too swampy) the platform building was significantly larger than any other south of

– of a scale usually reserved for medium-sized country towns. The commercial centre of Dapto duly migrated south to be nearer the station. The approach to the platform building from Station Street is via a circular driveway through Hartigan Park, planted with

brush box ''Lophostemon confertus'' (syn. ''Tristania conferta''), is an evergreen tree native to Australia, though it is cultivated in the United States and elsewhere. Common names include brush box, Queensland box, Brisbane box, pink box, box scrub, a ...

and

Canary Island date palm ''Phoenix canariensis'', the Canary Island date palm or pineapple palm, is a species of flowering plant in the palm family Arecaceae, native to the Canary Islands off the coast of Morocco. It is a relative of ''Phoenix dactylifera'', the true dat ...

. (Today, the park also contains

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

and

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

war memorials.) Entry is via a gabled entry porch flanked by small verandahs. The building is made of

weatherboard Clapboard (), also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of these terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping. ''Clapboard'' in modern Americ ...

, with a complex, gabled roof clad in corrugated steel. The building was renovated in the 1920s and again in 1970. The original toilet block was replaced with the current blond-brick structure in 1971. Dapto served as the interchange point between

diesel multiple unit A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

s to

Bomaderry Bomaderry (locally known as "Bommo") is a town in the Shoalhaven council district area of New South Wales, Australia. At the , it had a population of 8,718 people. It is on the north shore of the Shoalhaven River, across the river from Nowra, the ...

and

electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a numbe ...

s to Wollongong and

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 ...

from 1993 until the Kiama electrification in 2001. To accommodate the interchange, a new platform 1 was built on the western side of the station, and a new dock platform (3) was added to the northern end of the main platform, which was renumbered platform 2. Access between platforms 1 and 2 is via the Bong Bong Road level crossing on the southern end of the platforms. Additional minor upgrades were completed in 2013 and 2014. In 2014, electronic ticketing in the form of the Opal smart card became available at the station. In 2014, the railway station was featured in the first episode of an online animated series called Damo and Darren where the two main characters argue over a lighter.

Platforms & services

Dapto has two side platforms and one dock platform. It is serviced by

NSW TrainLink NSW TrainLink is a train and coach operator in Australia, providing services throughout New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, along with limited interstate services into Victoria, Queensland and South Australia. Its primary interc ...

South Coast line The South Coast Line is an intercity rail service operated by NSW TrainLink that services the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The service runs from , and runs the entire length of the eponymous South Coast railway line to . T ...

services travelling between Sydney Central, Bondi Junction and

Kiama Kiama () is a coastal town 120 kilometres south of Sydney in the Illawarra. One of the main tourist attractions is the Kiama Blowhole. Kiama features several popular surfing beaches and caravan parks, and numerous alfresco cafes and restaurants ...

Transport links

Premier Illawarra operates five routes via Dapto station: *31:

to Horsley *33: to Wollongong *37: Wollongong Beach to Wollongong station via

Oak Flats Oak Flats is a suburb of Shellharbour, New South Wales, Australia situated on the south western shores of Lake Illawarra and within the Illawarra region of New South Wales. It is a residential area, which had a population of 6,415 at the . Oak F ...

Shellharbour Shellharbour (also known as Shellharbour Village) is a suburb located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. It also gives its name to the local government area, City of Shellharbour, and its central business district, Shellhar ...

anti-clockwise loop *41: to

University of Wollongong The University of Wollongong (abbreviated as UOW) is an Australian public research university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, approximately 80 kilometres south of Sydney. As of 2017, the university had an enrolment of ...

*57: Wollongong station to Wollongong Beach via Shellharbour & Oak Flats clockwise loop Dapto is also served by one NSW TrainLink coach service between

and

Bundanoon Bundanoon is a town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire, on Gandangarra and Dharawal Country (where these two countries meet). It is an Aboriginal name meaning "place of deep gullies" and was forme ...

References

External links

*
Dapto station details
Transport for New South Wales {{Transport for New South Wales railway stations, South Coast=y, state=collapsed Buildings and structures in Wollongong Railway stations in Australia opened in 1887 Regional railway stations in New South Wales