Glenbrook Railway Deviation

Item details


Name of item:	Glenbrook Railway Deviation
Type of item:	Built
Group/Collection:	Transport - Rail
Category:	Other - Transport - Rail
Primary address:	From Knapsack Gully Viaduct (1912) to Bruce Rd overbridge, Glenbrook, NSW 2773
Local govt. area:	Blue Mountains

Boundary:

North: A line following the northern edge of the railway tracks, tunnel, and cutting; South: A line following the southern edge of the railway tracks, tunnel, and cutting; East: A line across the railway tracks, adjacent to the northern property boundary at 61 Byrne St; West: The eastern side of the Bruce Rd overbridge (excluding the overbridge).

All addresses

Street Address	Suburb/town	LGA	Parish	County	Type
From Knapsack Gully Viaduct (1912) to Bruce Rd overbridge	Glenbrook	Blue Mountains			Primary Address

Owner/s

Organisation Name	Owner Category	Date Ownership Updated
RailCorp	State Government
RailCorp	State Government
RailCorp	State Government

Statement of significance:


	The Glenbrook Railway Deviation, including the 1913 railway cutting and tunnel, has local significance for its ability to demonstrate the engineering achievements associated with the massive railway deviation works of 1911-13, which were the last major construction works on the Blue Mountains line.
	Date significance updated: 04 Dec 09
	Note: There are incomplete details for a number of items listed in NSW. The Heritage Division intends to develop or upgrade statements of significance and other information for these items as resources become available.

Description


Construction years:	1911-1913
Physical description:	STRUCTURES Railway Tunnel (1913) Railway Cutting (1911) RAILWAY TUNNEL Brick double-track tunnel with brick portals, 283m in length. RAILWAY CUTTING Railway cutting through the sandstone Glenbrook Gorge, with a 1 in 60 ruling grade.
Physical condition and/or Archaeological potential:	Good
	Date condition updated:24 Nov 08
Further information:	Links to late twentieth century trussed bridge over freeway at east end. (Blue Mountains Heritage Register Review, 1999)


Current use:	Railway Deviation
Former use:	Nil

History

Historical notes:

The original railway line built in 1863-7 crossed Knapsack Gully by one of the great viaducts of Australia (G 023). This viaduct led, however, to the Lapstone Zig Zag and its 1892 replacement, the Glenbrook Tunnel. The unsatisfactory nature of the tunnel led to reappraisal of the whole ascent of the escarpment above Emu Plains and an entirely new route was planned and built in 1911-13.

In 1911, line through Glenbrook Gorge was opened. The east end of this major deviation called for a new crossing of Knapsack Gully, to the south of the 1865 stone viaduct. The new viaduct was built in brick, with eight arches, and was designed for double track from the outset, although it was envisaged that up-trains would continue to go down the Glenbrook Tunnel and across the 1865 viaduct.

The new viaduct was completed in 1912 and opened in May 1913. From 25 September 1913 onwards all trains, both up and down, were routed over the new viaduct.

The new route ran through virgin country south of the old alignment as far as the present Lapstone station and then turned west through a short tunnel under the Bluff and finally north to the new Glenbrook station (Singleton 1956). This route remains in use to the present day.

The new Glenbrook station opened in May 1913 for up trains only, but from September in the same year it handled both up and down trains, when Glenbrook Tunnel was finally closed to rail traffic.

Historic themes

Australian theme (abbrev)	New South Wales theme	Local theme
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies	Transport-Activities associated with the moving of people and goods from one place to another, and systems for the provision of such movements	Building the railway network-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities.	Evolution of design in railway engineering and architecture-

Assessment of significance


SHR Criteria a) [Historical significance]	The Glenbrook Railway Deviation has historical significance as the final stage of realigning the initial ascent of the Blue Mountains by rail.
SHR Criteria c) [Aesthetic significance]	The Glenbrook Railway Deviation has technical significance as it demonstrates the last major engineering achievements associated with the Blue Mountains line.
SHR Criteria g) [Representativeness]	The tunnel is representative of numerous other tunnels constructed throughout NSW during the early 20th Century.
Integrity/Intactness:	High
Assessment criteria:	Items are assessed against the State Heritage Register (SHR) Criteria to determine the level of significance. Refer to the Listings below for the level of statutory protection.

Listings

Heritage Listing	Listing Title	Listing Number	Gazette Date	Gazette Number	Gazette Page
Heritage Act - s.170 NSW State agency heritage register	Railcorp S170 Register

Study details

Title	Year	Number	Author	Inspected by	Guidelines used
S170 Heritage & Conservation Register Update	2009		ORH		Yes

References, internet links & images

Type	Author	Year	Title
Written	Croft and Walker	1982	Heritage Study, Blue Mountains
Written	Davies, Paul	1978	History of New South Wales Railway Architecture, 1890-1915
Written	Jack, R.I for University of Sydney	1999	Blue Mountains Heritage Register Review
Written	Singleton, C.C	1956	Australian Railway Histroical Society Bulletin, no. 227
Written	Singleton, C.C	1948	Australasian Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin, vol. 22, no. 132
Written	Tropman and Tropman	1992	Heritage Study Review, Blue Mountains

Note: internet links may be to web pages, documents or images.

(Click on thumbnail for full size image and image details)

Data source


The information for this entry comes from the following source:
Name:	State Government
Database number:	4803226

Every effort has been made to ensure that information contained in the State Heritage Inventory is correct. If you find any errors or omissions please send your comments to the Database Manager.

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