Milsons Point (Lavender Bay Sites) Railway Stations
The first Lavender Bay railway station was opened on 30 May 1915 at a site 300 metres north of the original Milsons Point station on the North Shore line on the edge of Lavender Bay. The station was created by building platforms beside the existing lines. An overbridge was constructed leading to a new ferry wharf. Southbound trains used to drop their passengers at Lavender Bay station and then proceed to Milsons Point to reverse.
Passengers discovered that it was easier to stay on the train until it reached Milsons Point and then alight. The walk from Milsons Point platforms was almost level because it was a terminal station. The ferry company was also unhappy about servicing two wharves. On 18 July 1915, after a mere seven weeks, the service reverted to Milsons Point station.
The second Lavender Bay Station was a redesign of the first station, and came into use on 27 April 1924. This station was necessary because a contract had been let for the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Milsons Point land was required for workshops associated with the construction. The second Lavender Bay station was a terminus as the lines to Milsons Point were actually removed. Thus it was a more passenger-friendly version of its predecessor. The electric tram terminus was also moved to Glen Street on the cliff above the station. Lifts and escalators, the first in Australia, were installed.
After the Sydney Harbour Bridge opened on 19 March 1932, North Shore line services were diverted to the new stations at North Sydney and Milsons Point and onward over the bridge into the city. Ferry services were greatly reduced and rail services ceased to Lavender Bay. The station became the "North Sydney Electric Car Sidings", with the track used for storage of rolling stock between the morning and afternoon peak periods. Although not beautiful, the presence of this siding has prevented development of the Sydney Harbour foreshore in this area. A walking path is now provided for the public.
Read more about Milsons Point (Lavender Bay Sites) Railway Stations: Gallery
Famous quotes containing the words point, bay, railway and/or stations:
“When women reach the age of maturity, Mother Nature sometimes overworks their frustration to the point of irrationalism. Like the middle-aged man...who finds himself looking longingly at a girl in her early twenties.”
—Mark Hanna. Nathan Hertz. Dr. Von Loeb (Otto Waldis)
“The seagull’s wings shall dip and pivot him,
Shedding white rings of tumult, building high
Over the chained bay waters Liberty—
Then, with inviolate curve, forsake our eyes”
—Hart Crane (1899–1932)
“Her personality had an architectonic quality; I think of her when I see some of the great London railway termini, especially St. Pancras, with its soot and turrets, and she overshadowed her own daughters, whom she did not understand—my mother, who liked things to be nice; my dotty aunt. But my mother had not the strength to put even some physical distance between them, let alone keep the old monster at emotional arm’s length.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)
“A reader who quarrels with postulates, who dislikes Hamlet because he does not believe that there are ghosts or that people speak in pentameters, clearly has no business in literature. He cannot distinguish fiction from fact, and belongs in the same category as the people who send cheques to radio stations for the relief of suffering heroines in soap operas.”
—Northrop Frye (b. 1912)