Picton – Mittagong loop railway line

The Picton-Mittagong Loop Line is a partly disused railway line between the towns of Picton and Mittagong in the Southern Highlands.

History
The Picton-Mittagong line was originally built in 1867 to extend the Main Southern Line. The line originally ran westwards from Picton Station, over the Picton Viaduct, across the Great South Road, thence through a 592 ft tunnel in the Redbank Range and turned southwest.

Stations were constructed at Thirlmere (1885), Couridjah (1867), Buxton (1893), Balmoral (1878), Hill Top (1878), Colo Vale (1883) and Braemar, 1867. There were a number of smaller stops ('halts'), sidings and passing loops along the line, as well. North of Hill Top, the cutting through Big Hill Lower Siding, now Balmoral Village was for many years the deepest in Australia (see Fig. 15); the extraordinary manual effort required for its construction is celebrated by a memorial nearby.

To service the line, Picton became a busy station with an engine depot for bank engines, dormitories for train crews, and goods sidings.

The original Main Line, while gently curved, had gradients as steep as 1 in 30. It was also a single-track line, and even though deviations were constructed between Hill Top and Colo Vale to ease grades, these factors combined to create a bottleneck, as rail traffic increased. In 1919, the main railway shifted eastwards to an alignment with 300 metre radius curves and much easier 1 in 75 grades; the track was also duplicated. The old line and stations continued to be used for passenger services until 1978.

The Loop Line Today
The Loop Line now consists of a section of permanent way between Picton and Buxton which is regularly used by excursion trains (see Fig. 13). Some of the remainder of the track southwards from Buxton is overgrown or decaying, and impassable by rail traffic. The road underbridge at Colo Vale is disused and condemned (see Fig. 22). The section from the turnout north of Mittagong to Braemar station is still in use for goods traffic to and from a concrete railway sleeper factory and the railway wagon plant.

Coach Route
NSW TrainLink operates coaches in lieu of the former rail service. Six services are provided in each direction on weekdays:


 * Picton railway station
 * Westbourne Avenue, Thirlmere
 * West Parade, Couridjah
 * West Parade, Buxton
 * Wilson Drive, Balmoral
 * Wilson Drive, Hill Top
 * Wilson Drive and Church Street, Colo Vale
 * Mittagong railway station
 * Bowral railway station

Railway Transport Museum Use
The New South Wales Rail Transport Museum, located in Thirlmere and accredited as a rail operator, currently leases and maintains a 14km. section of the line to run historic-train trips.