7. Old Railway Station - 1919

The Old Railway Station on Crystal Street was opened in July 1919 when the line between Broken Hill and Menindee, 112 km south-west of Broken Hill, became operational.  

Prior to this, the only railway connection was the Silverton Tramway Company [STC], which operated the forty- nine kilometre narrow gauge line between Broken Hill and Cockburn on the South Australian border. STC served the Broken Hill community between 1888 and 1970 and was a link between the different railway gauges used by the New South Wales and South Australian state railway lines. 

Broken Hill was first linked by rail with Sydney in 1927, but passengers had to transfer to the Sulphide Street Station, about a ten-minute walk, if they were traveling west via Silverton. When the standard gauge link with South Australia was completed in 1969, Silverton station was by-passed.  

The contrast between this now derelict station building with its pre-cast concrete construction (standard in a country station building) and the newer Station opposite, tells a story of the contrasting political needs during the Great War and those of the post-World War II boom. 

Audio transcript available.