Great Northern Railway - Historic Engineering Marker #90 Maitland, New South Wales, Australia
By Team MavEtJu on 12-Oct-15. Waypoint GA7583

Great Northern Railway - Historic Engineering Marker #90

The Hunter Valley Railway Company, formed in 1853, commenced work on the original railway under contract to William Wright for the section from Honeysuckle Point (near the present Civic Station) to Hexham (the present Tarro Station). This section had to cross what is known as the Hexham Swamp, and the experience of George Stephenson at Chat Moss in England was put to good use when a corduroy of brushwood was used as the underlay for the embankment: this embankment is still in use. A further contract was let to Wright and Randle in 1857 for the section onwards to East Maitland, finishing at what is now the Victoria Street Station. Much of the civil infrastructure for this section of line is still in place, making it possibly the oldest in Australia continuously worked by locomotives (a section near Port Adelaide may lay claim to being slightly older). The line was extended eastwards to the present Newcastle Station and westwards to near the present Maitland Station in 1858, then continued northwards on the inland route to Queensland, being opened to Wallangarra (HEM on station) in January 1888.

Contents of the plaque:

The Hunter River Railway Co., with consulting engineer James Wallace and resident engineer J N Gale, constructed this railway from 1854, the NSW Government taking over in 1855. Small culverts used brickwork and some brickwork remains; bridges were built of timber. Pioneering work used brushwood matting over soft ground in Hexham Swamp. Governor Denison opened the line between Honeysuckle and East Maitland on 30th March 1857, proclaiming it the Great Northern Railway. Extensions to Newcastle and West Maitland opened in 1858.

THE INSTITUTION OF ENGINEERS AUSTRALIA RAIL CORPORATION NEW SOUTH WALES 2007

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For more information, please see the nomination PDF at the Heritage Register at the Engineers Australia website: Proposal