Cockle Creek railway station is located on the Main Northern line in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia. It serves the

City of Lake Macquarie The City of Lake Macquarie is a local government area (LGA) in the Hunter Region in New South Wales, Australia. It was proclaimed a city on 7 September 1984. It is adjacent to the city of Newcastle and is part of the Greater Newcastle area. ...

suburb of

Boolaroo Boolaroo is a suburb and former town of Greater Newcastle, city of Lake Macquarie, in New South Wales, Australia. Geography The suburb is located from Sydney and is southwest of Newcastle's central business district in Lake Macquarie's W ...

. The station is on the eastern side of Cockle Creek and a balloon loop exists west of the creek for the Teralba Colliery.

History

The station opened on 15 August 1887. It was rebuilt on its present site in 1957 when a new bridge was built immediately south of the station. The station buildings were demolished in March 1993. The station originally opened with 4 platforms (two side, one island), with the southern track pair being part of the Main Northern Line and the northern track pair part of the former privately owned Caledonian Collieries railway line to West Wallsend, Seahampton,

Killingworth Killingworth is a town in North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England, within the historic county of Northumberland. Killingworth was built as a new town in the 1960s, next to Killingworth Village, which existed for centuries before the new town ...

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

and the now vanished town of Fairley, which joined the government line at Cockle Creek. This line carried mixed traffic, including passenger and freight trains, but was largely used for coal traffic until the last working mine, West Wallsend Extended Colliery at Killingworth was closed during an industrial slump in 1962. The freight lines were also used for coal trains from the Northern Rhondda Colliery on a separately owned private line adjacent to the Caledonian Railways line. The Rhondda Colliery line would later turn into the Hunter Railway Museum line before its exhibits were relocated to Dorrigo. Although the area surrounding the railway station was once an industrial area, the eventual station's isolation has led to low patronage (getting just 20 passengers a day in 2013). A large

Bunnings Bunnings Group Limited, trading as Bunnings Warehouse or Bunnings, is an Australian hardware and garden centre chain. The chain has been owned by Wesfarmers since 1994, and has stores in Australia and New Zealand. Bunnings was founded in Per ...

store opened across the road from the station in 2015, and a new residential development immediately south of the station is finishing completion, but when the large Bunnings store opened, a large

roundabout A roundabout, a rotary and a traffic circle are types of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junct ...

was installed at the nearby intersection, making the pedestrian access to the station dangerous and inconvenient.

Platforms and services

Cockle Creek has two side platforms. It is serviced by

NSW TrainLink NSW TrainLink is a regional train and coach operator in Australia, providing services throughout New South Wales and into Australian Capital Territory, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria (state), Victoria, Queensland and South Australia ...

Central Coast & Newcastle Line The Central Coast & Newcastle Line (CCN) is an regional rail, intercity rail service that services the Upper North Shore, Central Coast (New South Wales), Central Coast and Newcastle, New South Wales, Newcastle regions. It connects the two large ...

services travelling from Sydney Central to

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

. Cockle_Creek_Railway_Station_Entrance.jpg, Entrance to carpark and Platform 1 Cockle_Creek_Railway_Station_Platform_1_Southbound.jpg, Platform 1 Southbound Cockle_Creek_Railway_Station_Platform_2.jpg, Platform 2 Northbound

Transport links

Hunter Valley Buses Hunter Valley Buses is an Australian bus operator who operates bus, coach and charter services in the Central Coast and Hunter regions of New South Wales. Previously known as Blue Ribbon, it was one of the first companies to be bought by Comf ...

operates two bus routes via Cockle Creek station, under

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

Transport for NSW Transport for NSW (TfNSW) is a Government of New South Wales, New South Wales Government transport services and roads List of New South Wales government agencies, agency established on 1 November 2011. The agency is a different entity to the NSW ...

: *270:

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a mem ...

to Toronto West *271:

Stockland Glendale Glendale City Centre (previously known as Stockland Super Centre Glendale & Stockland Glendale) is a large shopping centre located in the suburb of Glendale in the City of Lake Macquarie, Australia. It is located on Lake Road on a parcel of l ...

to Toronto

Newcastle Transport Newcastle Transport is a public transport operator in Newcastle, New South Wales. A subsidiary of Keolis Downer, it operates bus, ferry and light rail services under contract to Transport for NSW. History and operations In November 2015, the ...

operates one bus route via Cockle Creek station, under contract to Transport for NSW: *44:

Warners Bay Warners Bay is a suburb of the City of Lake Macquarie in New South Wales, Australia, and is located from Newcastle's central business district on the eastern side of Lake Macquarie. It is often regarded as a part of the Greater Newcastle distri ...

Kotara Kotara ( ) is a suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, located from Newcastle's central business district. It is split between the City of Newcastle and City of Lake Macquarie local government areas. Kotara is known as one of Newcastl ...

via Glendale,

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

& Macquarie Hills

References

External links

*
Cockle Creek station details
Transport for New South Wales {{Hunter Region places and items of interest Railway stations in the Hunter Region Railway stations in Australia opened in 1887 Railway stations in Australia opened in 1957 Regional railway stations in New South Wales Main North railway line, New South Wales City of Lake Macquarie