In memoriam - the Great Northern Railway

The following 1988 photo from Gordon Smith's archives shows the railway station at Black Mountain north of Armidale on what was once The Great Northern Railway.

It still distresses me that the Sydney Government should have first stopped trains, then closed and failed to maintain what was once the main railway north. You see, as time passed it became harder and harder to do anything about it.

Call me sentimental if you like, but "hard headed" - I have inserted the italics advisedly - economic decisions that ignore history, sentiment and the the possibilities of future changes are not always sensible.

The Queensland Government has at least kept its part of the line open.

It is no coincidence that Queensland has been far more effective than Sydney in promoting its country rail system. The Sydney lot see rail lines as just transport, Brisbane as transport plus tourism. This is part and parcel of Sydney's failure to develop an effective tourism branding strategy that I have written about before.    

NSW Railways - a great site

This post simply records the link to a great site I found on the NSW railway system including its history. I am posting it so that I do not lose it. Rolfe Bozier should be congratulated for his work!

Photo: Gordon Smith, Great Northern Railway, New England Tablelands

Back last October I carried an introductory story on the history of New England's railways. I see that Gordon Smith is presently running a series of photos on the Great Northern Railway, the inland line that used to link Sydney and Brisbane.

The series starts here.

Transport Pioneers - The Robinson Family: a further note

Photo: Passenger vehicle used by Robinson Bros Motor Service, Kempsey.

As I dig into New England's past, I find it interesting that the influence of certain families keeps on recurring in particular sectors.

In earlier posts I spoke of the Robinsons and Virtues in the context of New England Airways and the development of civil aviation in New England and beyond (see stocktake on transport posts). Now reading Marie Neil's Valley of the Macleay (Wentworth Book, Sydney 1972 pp-79-80) I found out that the Robinson family's connection with New England actually began in the Macleay Valley.

Around 1859 George Robinson came to the Macleay Valley, soon after selecting land at Jerseyville in the Macleay delta downstream from Kempsey. He and his brother John ran a river boat service for some years (river transport was critical to Valley transport and communication) until the partnership was dissolved and George became a storekeeper at Jerseyville.

No less than four of George's sons were to become well-known in the early days of motor transport on the North Coast.

George A Robinson who was to go on to found New England Airways began conveying passengers in a sulky or buggy. In 1910 he began a charter service using a two cylinder Talbot car (and here) followed by a four cylinder Clement Bayard (here, in French I'm afraid) used to provide a twice weekly passenger service to Taree.

In 1911 George A acquired a vehicle capable of carrying ten to twelve passengers on the run and was joined in the venture by brother William T Robinson. George A was to move to Lismore and leave the partnership, although I am not sure of the exact chronology of events since Robinson Bros also (I think) operated out of Lismore.

William carried the business on, adding more vehicles and extending runs to Newcastle and Grafton before he too left the district, moving to Grafton where he later became mayor.

In addition to George and William, Walter and Albert Robinson also became involved in land transport, running early mail and passenger services between Kempsey and South West Rocks.

These early days of motor transport could be strenuous and adventurous. The often heavily laden cars travelled over unformed dirt roads that were often rough, dusty when dry, boggy when wet.