Yass Junction railway station, New South Wales

Yass Junction Railway Station is only remaining station serving the town of Yass in New South Wales, Australia. It lies on the Main Southern Line between Sydney and Albury. The station opened on 3 July, 1876 as Yass but changed to its current name on 20 April, 1892. [Bozier, Rolfe, [http://www.nswrail.net/locations/show.php?name=NSW:Yass+Junction "NSWrail.net: Yass Junction Railway Station"] . Accessed 6 November, 2007.] The station is not in the town itself but is located approximately 4 kilometres away near the Hume Highway.

History

The station is in its situation due to the refusal of the former Engineer-in-Chief of the New South Wales Railways, John Whitton to build the Main Southern Line through the middle of Yass itself. After a visit on 8 December, 1871, to investigate possible routes for the extension of the line from Goulburn, Whitton remarked that "to bring the station to North Yass would increase the length of the line by about three quarters of a mile; that the cost would be considerably more than I had recommended, probably £30,000 or £40,000 for works alone; and that in an engineering point of view [a] divergence to North Yass could not be entertained.Forsyth, J.H. (ed.) (1988–93), Stations & Tracks; Vol. 3A: "Southern Branch Lines". State Rail Authority of New South Wales: Sydney, p. 101.] Despite continuous objections, none of Whitton's working plans or other Government surveys were not able to find a suitable route for the railway to pass through Yass. Instead, the present route from Gunning to Bowning was chosen which passed several miles to the north. After a Government Bill was passed "to authorise the construction of tramways along certain streetts and highways in the city and suburbs of Sydney and elsewhere", a tramway was built from Yass Junction to Yass Town to convey passengers. The trams departed from a small dock platform behind Platform 2 (the Melbourne-bound platform). The line opened on 20 April, 1892.Forsyth, J.H. (ed.) (1988–93), Stations & Tracks; Vol. 3A: "Southern Branch Lines". State Rail Authority of New South Wales: Sydney, p. 103.]

Services were suspended on the line on 1 January, 1957, started again on 1 December, 1957, but again suspended on 18 May, 1958.Forsyth, J.H. (ed.) (1988–93), Stations & Tracks; Vol. 3A: "Southern Branch Lines". State Rail Authority of New South Wales: Sydney, p. 97.] A private bus service continued to carry passengers between the two locations but it also ceased on 18 May, 1967. The entire line was closed on 14 November, 1988.Forsyth, J.H. (ed.) (1988–93), Stations & Tracks; Vol. 3A: "Southern Branch Lines". State Rail Authority of New South Wales: Sydney, p. 96.]

Today, only one bus service per day (from Canberra) connects with the XPT services that travel to and from Melbourne and take passengers to Yass Town. [Rail Corporation New South Wales, [http://www.countrylink.info/__data/assets/pdf_file/0014/6134/SouthernRegion.pdf "CountryLink: Timetables: Southern region timetable"] , 4 September, 2005. Accessed 6 November, 2007.]

Platforms/Service

Currently the only trains which serve the station are the XPT services between Sydney and Melbourne. An Xplorer service to Griffith also serves the station on Saturday mornings, with a return service to Sydney on Sunday afternoon. Two services arrive in each direction per day. Services to Melbourne depart around midday and just after midnight, [Rail Corporation New South Wales, [http://www.countrylink.info/timetables/southern/melbourne_to "CountryLink: Timetables: Sydney to Melbourne"] . Accessed 6 November, 2007.] with services to Sydney departing around 4pm and around 3am. [Rail Corporation New South Wales, [http://www.countrylink.info/timetables/southern/melbourne_from "CountryLink: Timetables: Melbourne to Sydney"] . Accessed 6 November, 2007.] The night services will only stop on request.

Platform 1:

*CountryLink Southern - country services to Sydney (2 per day, 3 on Sundays).

Platform 2:

*CountryLink Southern - country services to Melbourne (2 per day); country services to Griffith (1 per week).

Platform 3:

*"Not currently in use": formerly the platform for the Yass Junction-Yass Town tramway.

Neighbouring stations

References

* [http://www.fallingrain.com/world/AS/2/Yass.html FallingRain Map - elevation = 585m]