Type : Station
Distance from Sydney : 237.972km
Opened : 14 August 1911, closed 20 October 1975, re-opened 1985
Closed : n/a
Status : In use
Name meaning : Aboriginal word meaning "a place of little sticks"
Notes : Log gallows added 11 July 1925, Siding removed 23 August 1955, Original station building removed 18 April 1985.
A station first opened at Wirragulla on 14 August 1911 and this station featured a proper platform. On 20 October 1975, the station was demolished and replaced with a wooden platform to reduce the maintenance costs.In the late 1990s it was proposed that Wirragulla, along with Allandale and Belford would be closed, as all three stations had extremely low patronage, and there were some safety concerns at these stations. The proposal to close these stations was later withdrawn and a new platform built. The station is the smallest on the North Coast line.
The siding was enlarged in 1954 as part of the Newcastle sewrage expansion as the area was a major staging ground for water pipeline construction.
The small platform at Wirragulla
Location of Wirragulla (Six Maps)
Dungog Chronicle, 01/07/1941
One of the smallest stations on the North Coast Line: Wirragulla (near Dungog). One seat on the platform and one for the car park. (Ken date)
Wirragulla, 6/5/2019 (Rob Rouse)
Today's historic photo of the day: The station at Wirragulla, NSW, snapped through an open window of a Newcastle to Dungog 620 class railcar, November 1 1984.
I wouldn't call it a town, but Wirragulla is a rural locality on the NSW lower North Coast just south of Dungog. The railway station is exactly 238km from Sydney (as you can see from the km post in shot) on the North Coast line.
In addition to interstate express trains travelling between Sydney and Brisbane, this section of track is served by local passenger trains between Newcastle and Dungog.
There are at least four fascinating points about this station.
Firstly, the status of this station (and others nearby) was a bit ambiguous at the time this photo was taken. Officially, it had been closed to passengers almost a decade beforehand in 1975. Whilst the train from which I snapped this shot sailed straight through without stopping (hence the slight blur), the train did stop that day to drop off passengers at Hilldale, an adjacent similarly 'closed' station. I suspect these closed stations may have been unofficially used by locals by arrangement with train crews despite them being officially closed. These stations certainly did not appear in the public timetables of the time.
Secondly, this station has subsequently been re-opened and is now a request stop which means trains between Newcastle Interchange and Dungog will stop here if intending passengers signal oncoming trains. This puts Wirragulla (together with neighbouring Wallarobba, Hilldale and Mindaribba) in rarified company as some of the very few request stops on Australian railways today.
Thirdly, whilst the platform, station shed and nameboard seen here have all been removed, they have been replaced by a modern but remarkably tiny station. The current day platform is long enough to serve only one door on a train, and is barely long enough to fit a bench seat.
And finally, the name itself. Today the station is named Wirragulla, but as you can see from this photo, the 1980s sign spelt the name as Wiragulla, with just a single r. I believe that historically the station name was spelt with one r until the construction of the new (short length) station probably in the '90s when the spelling was changed to match the official locality name which does have a double r.
An old timber overbridge at km. 238.800, between Dungog and Wirragulla as viewed from NT-4, the Up "Murwillumbah XPT" as it rounds the 20 chain radius curve. On the morning of 7-1-1997. (Graeme Kirkby)
A view from the Northbound "Grafton XPT" at km.238.600, between Wirragulla and Dungog, on 25-3-1994. Note the four single-deck suburban cars, recently set up for a holiday stay place. (Graeme Kirkby)
Wirragulla, 1982 - note the spelling. (State Archives)