Type : Loop
Line : North Coast Line
Distance from Sydney : 574.816km
Opened : 19 October 1943 as a loop
Closed : 5 February 1963 (signal box removed 1970), houses relocated (one to Mount George), platform removed 1960.
Status : Closed
Name meaning : Named after a castle near Bonnyrigg, Scotland
Notes: Tom Borton was signalman at the location. Employee platform added December 1950. The signal box was on the main line on the Up side. The houses at the location faced the Down side loop. The Railway Staff Changes in 1943 note that one Tom F Harris relocated from Lyndhurst to Dalhousie Creek - he was a originally a porter and became the first signalman here, he took along his wife and mother-in-law. Theft of kerosene from the signal lights by local fishermen was an issue throughout the lifetime of the location.
Location of Dalhousie Creek (Six Maps)
Old bridge still in place after the track was realigned.
The Railway Staff Changes in 1943 note that one Tom F Harris relocated from Lyndhurst to Dalhousie Creek - he was a originally a porter and became the signalman here. Quite a move for him too, he took his wife and mother-in-law as well. The addition of the platform is an odd one (given the location) and I suspect may simply be a reference to a small halt being added rather than a full-blown station platform.
Theft of the kerosene from the signals by local fishermen was a problem in this area.
No 26 Up North Coast Daylight Express crossing No 11 Down Mail at Dalhousie Creek, 19/4/1957 (C Skiller)
Dalhousie Creek railway houses - photos taken in 1963 at which stage they had already been vandalised by the locals, both houses removed to other locations shortly after this (one went to Mt George).
Ray Geraghty:
After Dalhousie closed.Tom Borton worked as a traffic officer with snow hunters extra gang
Greg Lee:
Tom Borton was one of the T/Os with the Resurfacing Gang when I joined them in 1982. I have posted before about Snow Hunter's Extra Gang, but I will dig it out and find something relevant to repost.
Tom Borton was a lovely bloke and good to work with, and he also liked a beer. He died in Grafton not that long ago. The reason why he was a T/O was because he injured his back pulling off a Distant stick; that might have been at Bungabee, but I'm not sure about that.
I remember Tom talking about the theft of kerosene from the signal lamps at Dalhousie Creek. Every second time the signalmen looked, one of the lights was out. The fishermen used it in their pressure lamps when they were prawning.
Roger Mika:
Worked with John Daley in Soco, he worked as a SWSA there at one time.
Old and new bridge at Dalhousie Creek (Anthony Brodsky)
Old bridge at Dalhousie Creek (Anthony Brodsky)