Take a trip down the Ropes Creek railway line

THE idea of a north-south rail link isn’t a new one.In World War II, a purpose-built passenger rail line was created to service the ADI-owned munitions site in Sydney’s west.

The railway line in front of Dunheved Farm was for the transport of munitions out of the ADI factory site in the 1940s.

The idea of a north-south rail link isn’t a new one.

In World War II, a purpose-built rail line was created to service the St Marys munition factory site.

The land at Dunheved Farm was compulsorily acquired in the 1940s for the site of the munitions factory. The rail line was used to transport munitions out of the site. Photo, courtesy of Penrith City Library.

Named after a nearby creek, the short disused line was built to serve the Australian Defence Industries (ADI) area to the north of St Marys station in 1942.

Starting at St Marys Station, the line incorporated Dunheved (Junction), St Marys munitions works, Dunheved Station, Cochrane Station, Ropes Creek Station, and Ropes Creek dead end.

Remains of a pre-cast concrete electrical hut (Dunheved Station, 2006). Photo: nswrail.net

Cochrane Station as it looked on January 18, 2005. Photo courtesy of railpage.com.au

Dunheved, Cochrane, and Ropes Creek stations opened on March 1, 1942; September 2, 1957; and June 29, 1942, respectively.

In the early 1980s, the line was closed to passenger rail traffic but remained open to freight traffic for Sims Metal.

Pictured on April 3, 2011, is Ropes Creek Station. The timber building was badly damaged by fire two months later, according to the railpage.com.au website.

The Ropes Creek passenger line was closed altogether on March 22, 1986.

The first kilometre of the line is however still used as a storage siding that is privately owned by Pacific National.

Pictured in 1996 at Dunheved Station are carriages N5127 and C3866, no longer there. Photo by Rolfe Bozier, courtesy of nswrail.net

The lever frame, photographed by Rolfe Bozier at the old Dunheved Station in 1996, has also been removed. Photo, courtesy of nswrail.net

In 2014, Ropes Creek Station was turned into a park for Ropes Crossing residents, featuring the remaining platform, overhead beams, rail tracks and old machinery as design elements.

Back in its heyday, the station had a 40-lever frame to operate signals and points.

The opening of the new Ropes Crossing park in 2014, built on the site of the old Ropes Creek Station.

There was a waiting room, toilet facilities and at the foot of the stairs a small weatherboard structure where station staff stood to collect tickets.

“The Ropes Creek line sits on Commonwealth land, so its current or future use is managed by the Federal Government,” a Sydney Trains spokesman said.

Who remembers the ADI-owned munitions factory in St Marys?