Woy Woy Tunnel
Northern portal of the tunnel
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| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Location | Woy Woy |
| Coordinates | 33°29′27″S 151°16′56″E / 33.490946°S 151.282199°ECoordinates: 33°29′27″S 151°16′56″E / 33.490946°S 151.282199°E |
| Start | 1 March 1884 |
| Operation | |
| Opened | 16 January 1888 |
| Owner | RailCorp |
| Technical | |
| Line length | 1 mile 4 chains (1.7 km) |
| No. of tracks | 2 |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) |
Woy Woy railway tunnel opened on 16 January 1888 between Wondabyne and Woy Woy stations on the Main Northern railway line in New South Wales, Australia.
Sydney Morning Herald extract
15 November 1887, Mr. H. Deane, inspecting engineer of the Railway Department, returned to Sydney from an inspection of the Woy Woy tunnel. It was revealed that a creek which passes over a portion of the tunnel was swollen by an unusually heavy rainfall. The water forced its way through the creek bed, around a portion of the tunnel lining and found an outlet through the weep-holes of the masonry work. No damage was done to the tunnel. To prevent the possibility of any future problems arising, it was proposed to temporarily channel the creek over the tunnel using flumes, whilst constructing a permanent solution.
The construction of the Homebush-Waratah line was broken up into sections:
Between April 1887 and May 1889, the Woy Woy Tunnel's major benefit of significantly reduced travel times were not able to be fully appreciated by passengers until the completion of the Hawkesbury-Mullet Creek section of track which involved the construction of the first Hawkesbury River railway bridge. Prior to the opening of the Hawkesbury-Mullet Creek section, which was dictated by the opening of the Hawkesbury River bridge, passengers disembarked from either Hawkesbury River, from the south, and Mullet Creek (closed 11 September 1897), from the north. Mullet Creek was located 400 metres north of the current Wondabyne station and 1.5 km from the western entrance to the Tunnel. Passengers were required to catch a ferry between Hawkesbury River and Mullet Creek that met with trains at both terminus.
The line was built with 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) tracks and a loading gauge that accommodated 8-foot-4-inch-wide (2.54 m) carriages on double track with 11-foot (3.4 m) centres.
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