The Sandown Line is a short former industrial railway line in the western suburbs of

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 ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

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 ...

. It began life as the Bennett's Railway, opening on 17 November 1888. The line diverges from the

Carlingford line The Carlingford railway line was a railway line in Sydney, Australia. It was opened from Clyde to Subiaco (later renamed Camellia) in January 1885, then by means of the construction of a bridge across the Parramatta River, to Carlingford in A ...

just south of Camellia station. It was electrified in 1959. Part of the line is to be reutilised by light rail. The line had three simple passenger stations: ''

Sandown Sandown is a seaside resort and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the south-east coast of the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom with the resort of Shanklin to the south and the settlement of Lake, Isle of Wight, Lake in between. Together ...

'', '' Hardies'' and '' Goodyear'' (a platform called '' Cream of Tartar Works'' closed prior to electrification). The closure of Goodyear station preceded the closure of the remaining two. The Sandown line served a number of factories and industrial sites including a number of sidings and a marshalling yard known as Commonwealth Sidings that were added in 1943 to service a large military stores complex. There was a short branch line from the Commonwealth Sidings marshalling yard to Redbank Wharf and adjacent sidings. Another connection from Commonwealth Sidings joined the Carlingford line to the south of Rosehill station. The Commonwealth Sidings and marshalling yard and the southern connection progressively fell out of use after the end of World War 2 and were either removed or adapted for other uses and the branch line to Redbank Wharf was altered to connect with Sandown yard and then progressively dismantled. When electrified, the Sandown Line carried an electric suburban service to serve the surrounding industrial area. Passenger services for the Abattoirs line were operated by

CPH railmotor The CPH (or 42 foot) rail motors were introduced by the New South Wales Government Railways in 1923 to provide feeder service on country branch lines. Introduction Often referred to as "Tin Hares", having evolved at the same time as the mechanica ...

s operating from

via

Lidcombe Lidcombe is a suburb in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Lidcombe is located west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Cumberland Council, with a small industrial part in the north ...

until November 1984. Passenger service to Sandown ceased on 19 December 1991, while freight service ended in June 2010. The line's

racecourse A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also use ...

platform at Rosehill continued to be used by special charter trains up to 2019. The overhead wires were removed in December 2002. Traffic was officially suspended and a Stop Block placed across the tracks on the Sydney side of Access Rd level crossing in October 2016. The western end of the line will be used by the

Parramatta Light Rail The Parramatta Light Rail (often unofficially referred to as the Western Sydney Light Rail) is a project for a light rail line in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, which is under construction and due to start passenger services in 2024. The ...

project to provide access to a stabling and maintenance facility. This saw the line officially closed which was gazetted for 1 July 2019. The section of the Carlingford line from where the Sandown line diverges to the

Parramatta Road Parramatta Road is the major historical east-west artery of metropolitan Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, connecting the Sydney CBD with Parramatta. It is the easternmost part of the Great Western Highway. Since the 1990s its role has been a ...

level crossing will also be closed. Removal of the line and tracks began in July 2019. The branch is also under consideration for being incorporated into Stage 2 of the Parramatta Light Rail network, connecting

Camellia ''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are more than 220 described species, with some controversy ...

and

Olympic Park An Olympic Park is a sports campus for hosting the Olympic Games. Typically it contains the Olympic Stadium and the International Broadcast Centre. It may also contain the Olympic Village or some of the other sports venues, such as the aquatics c ...

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Closed railway lines in Sydney Standard gauge railways in Australia Railway lines opened in 1892 Railway lines closed in 2010 Camellia, New South Wales 1892 establishments in Australia 2010 disestablishments in Australia {{Sydney-rail-transport-stub

See also

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