Gunning railway station

Gunning railway station is a heritage-listed railway station located on the Main Southern line in the Upper Lachlan Shire of New South Wales, Australia. It serves the town of Gunning. It is also known as Gunning Railway Station and yard group. The property was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.

History
The line from Goulburn to Yass was contracted to be completed by 31 December 1875 however, "as soon as the line was sufficiently advanced, arrangements could be made to open it to Gunning". As a result, Gunning station officially opened on 9 November 1875 (however, freight traffic commenced operations on 2 November 1875 ) when the Main South line was extended from Goulburn. Gunning appeared in the timetable published on 20 January 1876 with a twice-daily service. The journey time (from Sydney) was a little over 8 hours.

Gunning served as the terminus until the line was extended to Bowning on 3 July 1876. A second platform was added in 1913 when the line was duplicated.

Services


Gunning is served by one daily NSW TrainLink XPT service in each direction operating between Sydney and Melbourne, and a twice weekly NSW TrainLink Xplorer between Griffith and Sydney split from Canberra services at Goulburn. This station is a request stop, so the train stops only if passengers booked to board/alight here. The evening Melbourne XPT service and the morning Sydney XPT service pass through this station without stopping.

Description
The complex comprises a series of station buildings including a type 4, standard roadside station, erected in 1875; a type 11, station building, duplication, erected in 1913; a type 3 signal box, with a timber skillion roof building on platform, completed in 1913; an out shed, completed in 1913; and a per way shed of corrugated galvanised iron, that is no longer extant. Other structures include brick platform faces, erected in 1875 and 1915; and a dock platform. Artefacts include closing keys for signal frame, (AA08), signal box - the signal box was decommissioned (prior to 2004, date unknown).

Heritage listing
Gunning station group is one of the best surviving examples of a small late Victorian country station complex with elements from the opening of the line in 1875 (when it was terminus for a year) through to 1913, when the last building on the site was added. It clearly demonstrates the changes from single track to double track operation in 1915 with addition of a second platform and more complex signalling arrangements. It exhibits a confidence in railway building and its importance in the development of the country by the scale of the buildings, particularly the station master's residence. It presents as a reasonably intact site with all of the major elements still evident. The original station building was an early prototype of standardised design in station buildings.

The Gunning railway station was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register in 1999 having satisfied the criterion: "The place possesses uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales." It was assessed as historically, scientifically, architecturally and socially rare.