Hamilton railway station

Hamilton railway station opened 1872 and is located in Hamilton, a suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. The station is an interchange between NSW TrainLink Newcastle & Central Coast line and Hunter line services. These services go to Sydney, Maitland, Dungog and Scone. After the railway line east of Hamilton (including Wickham, Civic and Newcastle stations) ceased operations, Hamilton served as a temporary terminus and did so until October 2017, when the new Newcastle Interchange station opened.

Platforms and Services
Hamilton railway station opened 1872 and is located in Hamilton, a suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. The station is an interchange between Newcastle & Central Coast line and Hunter line services. These services go to Sydney, Maitland, Dungog and Scone.

Hamilton Junction Signal Box
Hamilton Junction Signal Box is separated from Hamilton Station by Beaumont Street Level Crossing. The elegant Victorian signal box was built by McKenzie & Holland in 1897, making it one of the oldest surviving mechanical signal boxes in Australia, and also one of the busiest. Originally fitted with a McKenzie & Holland mechanical lever frame, it now has a 56 lever tappet frame designed by Cyril Byles, the British-born NSWR Signal Engineer and manufactured in Sydney in the former NSWR's Interlocking Workshops. The frame is linked to mechanical points, colourlight running signals of the Double Light Colour Light type (see Australian railway signalling), and a single wire-pull revolving target shunting signal. All running lines are continuously track-circuited, and the method of signalling conforms to the early conventions of Track Circuit Block with block bells. Formerly a much busier location, this signal box once had control of multiple lines, sidings and a short branch for the Vacuum Oil Company. After rationalization in the 1980s and 1990s, the signal box now controls Hamilton Junction, Beaumont Street Level Crossing and entry to and exit from sidings used for storing track maintenance vehicles. Platform 2 was modified as part of a level crossing upgrade project in 2007. The departure signal, formerly on the Maitland-end of the platform, was removed to a point roughly 50 metres closer to Newcastle. The platform was extended to accommodate eight carriages. These modifications slightly increased the real train running time through Hamilton on the Down Main Line, since the practice of closing the level crossing to road traffic and clearing departure signals before the train's arrival has now been abandoned to some extent, meaning that arriving trains receive more restrictive signal indications on the approach to Hamilton Station. The signal box is currently manned continuously for an intensive NSW TrainLink DMU and EMU passenger service, a significant number of empty coaching stock movements and occasional track machine activity. There is no provision for switching-out. It is anticipated that resignalling within the next decade will see its closure.

Upgrade
Hamilton underwent an upgrade as part of the Transport Access Program. This included redesigning and rebuilding the existing ramp from the platform to the station entrance, off Beaumont Street. The upgrade was completed in March 2013.