Devil's Elbow

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Two shots of Devil's Elbow (SLNSW)

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Type : Construction siding and wharf
Line : North Coast Line
Distance from Sydney : 371.000km (approximate)
Location : -31.867196, 152.399258
Opened : Prior to April 1910
Closed : 1916
Status : Closed
Name meaning : Named after the location on the Manning River
Notes : Devil's Elbow was a construction-era siding and wharf on the Manning River, used during the building of the Dungog–Taree line. It appears in the 1915 Working Timetable between Wingham and Kolodong, listed as an asterisked unattended stop (Devil's Elbow\*) — confirming it was still in operational use in 1915. The siding was formally removed on **15 August 1916** at 7.30 a.m. (reference 16–26,260). No opening notice has been found in the Weekly Notices collection (it predates the collection or predates the formal gazettal system for construction sidings).

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Location of Devil's Elbow around 4km north of Wingham (at the 371km mark). It is mentioned in the primary sources as a loading area for material in the early 1920s for the Grafton section of the NCL with steamships collecting here. It is unlikely that there was ever passenger facilities here though.

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Plan of the area

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13/02/2021 (Lance Lyon)

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Plan of the siding at Devil's Elbow

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Devil's Elbow c. 1912 (Manning Valley Historical Society)

[Lorraine Jones]

This location was the limit for ship navigation on the Manning River when ocean-going coastal ships ran up and down the NSW North Coast before completion of the North Coast Railway line.

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# Devil's Elbow (North Coast Line)
## Entries from NSW Government Railways Weekly Notices, 1915–1916

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**Type:** Construction Siding and Wharf (Closed) 
**Line:** North Coast Line (Wingham–Taree section; between Wingham and Kolodong) 
**Distance from Sydney:** 371.000 km (approximate; between Wingham at 367.055 km and Kolodong) 
**Between:** Wingham and Kolodong 
**Opened:** Prior to April 1910 
**Closed:** **15 August 1916** — "Siding will be dispensed with and removed" at 7.30 a.m. (W.N. — 1916) 
**Status:** Closed 
**Name meaning:** Named after the bend in the Manning River at this location 

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> **Notes:** Devil's Elbow was a construction-era siding and wharf on the Manning River, used during the building of the Dungog–Taree line. It appears in the 1915 Working Timetable between Wingham and Kolodong, listed as an asterisked unattended stop (Devil's Elbow\*) — confirming it was still in operational use in 1915. The siding was formally removed on **15 August 1916** at 7.30 a.m. (reference 16–26,260). No opening notice has been found in the Weekly Notices collection (it predates the collection or predates the formal gazettal system for construction sidings).

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## 1915 — Listed in Working Timetable Between Wingham and Kolodong

### Timetable Position — 1915 (appears three times)
> **Down journey**: Wingham → **Devil's Elbow\*** → Kolodong → State Lime Works Siding
>
> **Up journey**: Kolodong → **Devil's Elbow\*** → Wingham → Killawarra
>
> The asterisk (\*) indicates unattended stop. Wingham milepost: 79; Devil's Elbow: 79 (same milepost area). *(Source: 1915 Weekly Notices — Working Timetable, appearing three times)*

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## 1916 — Siding Removed — 15 August 1916

### Siding Removed — W.N. — 1916
> **Devil's Elbow (North Coast)** — On **Tuesday, 15th August, 1916**, at **7.30 a.m.**, the Siding will be dispensed with and removed. (16–26,260.) *(Source: 1916 Weekly Notices)*

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## Summary of Key Events

| Date | Event |
|------|-------|
| Pre-April 1910 | Siding and wharf in existence — used during construction of Dungog–Taree line |
| 1915 | Listed as unattended stop (\*) in Working Timetable — between Wingham and Kolodong (three times) |
| **15 August 1916** | **Siding removed** — "dispensed with and removed" at 7.30 a.m. (reference 16–26,260) |

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*Extracted from NSW Government Railways Weekly Notices, 1915–1916.* 
*Note: Devil's Elbow was operational as a working siding for approximately three years after the Dungog–Taree line opened (February 1913), suggesting it continued to serve a purpose — possibly timber or river transport — beyond its original construction function. Its removal in August 1916 coincides with the period when ETS working was being installed on the Gloucester–Taree section (March 1917), suggesting rationalisation of intermediate sidings in preparation for the new safeworking system.*