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Railway Luncheon Club Visit to Cronulla Station 18 August 2010
Mention of Cronulla these days usually conjures up visions of the riot of a few years ago. But such activity was far from the minds of the 35 members who visited Cronulla on 18th August 2010. Unfortunately for some of our regulars damaged overhead at Beecroft threw northern train services into chaos. Consequently anyone coming from the Newcastle and Central Coast found it difficult to get there, and some of us didn't get there at all.
However, those that were there heard from Stuart Sharp of the history of this seaside station, the only one in suburban Sydney.

Cronulla (a corruption of the original aboriginal name Kurranulla, meaning “place of pink seashells”) Station was opened on 16th Dec 1939, along with the railway from Sutherland, replacing a tramway which had operated from 1911 until 1931. The station was designed along Inter - War Functionalist lines and is the NSW station which comes closest to Art-Deco style. Amongst its features, are:-

  • The largest terminal building on a NSW branch line, apart from Newcastle,
  • The largest station in Sydney, other than at a junction,
  • The first and best example of the Inter-War Functionalism design,
  • The only two-storey station planned after Sydney Terminal was opened in 1906,
  • The only station with two staffed booking offices on the same platform,
  • The longest platform in Sydney at the time of station opening,
  • The only use of a clock tower with a working clock in NSW at the time of the station opening,
  • The first use of blond bricks as an ornamental design feature,
  • The first use of curved building corners,
  • The first use of wide fascias on the canopies,
  • The first application of large, cantilevered brackets to support the platform awning,
  • The first use for an entire line of the cantilevered platform copings, and
  • The first application of public gardens as an integral feature of station planning.

After the station visit, lunch at the nearby Cronulla RSL Club completed the day.
The next Luncheon Club outing is our 2 day visit to Lithgow on 14th and 15th September 2010. This in now fully booked. Travel is by the 8.24am Lithgow service from Central.

On October 20th, we are going to Helensburgh. Here we will be looking at both the current station and the old abandoned one, as well as nearby old earthworks. Note that most of the walking is level and on concrete paths. To give sufficient time for the inspection and the necessity to go back to Sutherland for lunch (there are no suitable lunch facilities near Helensburgh station), we will be meeting on Helensburgh platform at 10.00am i.e. after the arrival of the service from Sydney departing Central at 9.03 am.
Gary Hughes

Crunulla Station
Click on image for a larger version

Cronulla Station as seen in 1994, showing the Art - Deco style.
The clock face on the clock tower can be seen behind the traffic light support arm.
Image: Peter Neve.
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