Steam trains were quite the drawcard at Hornsby station

This week our history columnist remembers when steam trains were at Hornsby railway station.

The rail motor, with trailer, and the pay-bus stored behind the turntable at the rear of Platform 1. Behind the paybus, to the right, may be seen the gentle slope of the original approach to the station from George Street.

Hornsby railway station has many memories for those of us who recall it during the age of the steam train.

The design of the entrance to the station was often a matter for public comment.

At the southern end of the station, there was a pedestrian bridge, from which access was provided to a second bridge, linking the four original platforms.

The bridge, which joined two sides of Hornsby, was frequently flooded during heavy rain, causing passengers to pass through water that could be ankle-deep.

The bridge arrangement was completed in 1910 and there was discussion as to if it was been better to have had a subway at the northern end of the station. Instead, in 2012, a bridge was provided at the northern end, with the aim of allowing passengers to change trains without having to walk the length of the station.

A gate permitting passengers to leave the station at that end, but not to enter it, proved popular with the customers of the nearby Hornsby Hotel, who arrived at Hornsby in carriages close to the locomotive and darted for the pub before the mandatory 6pm closing time.

As the steam period reached its peak in the 1920s, the Hornsby Shire Advancement Society asked if the bridge and the entry to the station could be moved to a central position on the station and widened.

The platforms were shorter then and the society pointed to the fact that the steam engines pulled up beneath the bridge, creating a smoke nuisance damaging to clothing and a noise nuisance that made it difficult for passengers to be heard by staff.

During the 1940s and ’50s, before the electrification of the line to Gosford, the railway yard provided fascination for people waiting for trains, especially at night.

Steam engines were housed on the eastern side of the wide goods yard and goods trains shunted the sidings along the North Shore line at night.

The bridge replacement from Florence St to the station brings back memories of the former entry, which was a wide, sloping path up from George St.

There was often an added attraction of watching the turntable in action.

It was located behind the Number One Platform and could be viewed from the entry ramp, or from the platform. The area was also used to store the rail motor that served the people from Hornsby to Cowan.

We knew the rail motor as “The Squirt” and it operated either with or without the trailer behind the main vehicle. Occasionally, too, we would see, stored in that area, the “pay-bus” which was used to deliver pay packets to the workers throughout the system.

While there has been some controversy over whether lifts or ramps should be used for the replacement bridge, there are some old-timers who question if it should simply have been demolished, with a return to the original entry, managed by properly synchronised lights.