terminal

The title "Copy of artists impression of Central Railway Station, Sydney (NSW)" is very misleading. The plans were for a station closer to the centre of Sydney in St James Road, at the northern end of Hyde Park. It would have meant bye-bye to the park. The current site of "Central" is the resulting compromise, only a couple of blocks north from the original Redfern Terminus.

See another view -

Imagine if that had been built here - Google Street View

There was over a decade of argy-bargy in the 1890s about extending the railway to the city centre - " In 1888 Railway Commissioner Eddy asked the New South Wales Government if the terminal station could be moved closer to the City. Subsequently, a lengthy Royal Commission in 1891 recommended two stations: a terminal station at the Benevolent Asylum site to the north of Devonshire Street for long distance trains; and a station in Hyde Park facing King Street for suburban trains, with a branch to the eastern suburbs. The 1890s Depression put a stop to any action being taken on new stations at this time. The subsequent Railway Commissioner made a strong request for a new station in 1896 and this led to yet another Royal Commission in 1896/97 on the City Railway. This Royal Commission concluded that having two separate terminal stations would be impractical, and recommended a single larger station at the Hyde Park site facing St James Road. However, with public opposition to the loss of parkland and with a change of government in 1899, the St James Road scheme was abandoned. Interestingly, the first reference to Central Station appears to have come from an initial report of the Royal Commission into this scheme. [maybe explains this 'faulty' title?] The abandoning of the St James Road scheme was much to the disappointment of the Railway Commissioner. In 1900, State Parliament accepted a compromise solution that was the brainchild of the then Minister for Public Works, E.W. O'Sullivan. He proposed that a new station be built just north of Devonshire Street, a stone's throw from the existing terminus. However, to both commuters and the Railway Commissioner, it did not constitute a City railway extension. " from - www.cityrail.info/about/history/central_station_in-depth

beachcomber australia Imagine how much noisier Sydney would be if Central Station was at Hyde Park! Quicker to get to, though :) Thanks for your research into this. I'll update the caption to say "Copy of artist's impression of (a possible) Central Railway Station at St James Road, Hyde Park signed 'W. Bowry .98'" Hopefully this will make more sense. AB

And that's surely a gorgeous old Dakota on the apron.

there used to be a great restaurant overlooking the tarmac while that was main terminal!

Wonderful old photo! Love the building and that airplane is classic.

Just an overall classic picture, beautiful "snapshot in time" !

I came up from Limerick a few times in the '50's on "educational tours" and part of our education was to be taken out there and to see the building which was considered 'state of the art' at that time! Internally it is still a very attractive building though it is hard to even see it today due to all the other buildings put up around it. If my memory serves me right I saw an Aer Linte Super Constellation there though some airplane buff might correct that for me???

Nice light, cool limos. I've never seen an old one like those before.

this must be the predecessor to richmond international? it looks gorgeous no matter what.

As far as I know, the terminal shown here is incorporated into the present terminal, though you can't really tell it today.

That was back in the day when you could go out to the airport and stand at the fence and watch the planes land and take off. I remember taking our sons out there in the late 60's and early 70's.

what an awesome looking building! Why can't airport buildings look this simple and clean these days?