Belmore railway station

The Belmore railway station is a heritage-listed railway station located on the Bankstown line at Burwood Road, Belmore in the Canterbury-Bankstown Council local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It is served by Sydney Trains T3 Bankstown line services. It was designed and built by NSW Government Railways from 1895 to 1937. It is also known as Belmore Railway Station Group and Burwood Road. The property is owned by RailCorp, an agency of the Government of New South Wales. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.

History
Belmore station opened on 1 February 1895 when the opened from Sydenham. It served as the terminus of the line until it was extended to Bankstown on 14 April 1909.

Belmore is located on the Sydenham to Bankstown line and was opened as the initial terminus station on 1 February 1895. Its initial construction name was Burwood Road but it was named Belmore on opening. There is no evidence that the station was to be named St. George as suggested in some sources. However it was not unusual for a number of names to be publicly canvassed in the lead-up to opening of a station and this was probably the case in this instance. The locality and station were named after the Earl of Belmore, Governor of New South Wales between 1868 and 1872.

The station was built when Belmore was still rural. The station layout featured a typical brick station building on an island platform. A station master's residence was also built in 1895 and is still extant at 346 Burwood Road, opposite the station, but is now in private ownership.

The line had its origins in Railway Commissioner Goodchap's 1882 recommendation that an additional line was needed between Newtown and Liverpool to relieve traffic on the Southern Line and to encourage agriculture and suburban settlement. Lobbying by local interests and land speculators achieved Parliamentary approval by 1890 and construction commenced in 1892. The most important stations on the line, Belmore, Canterbury and Marrickville, were built with impressive near-identical brick buildings, the other intermediate stations (Campsie, Dulwich Hill and Hurlstone Park) receiving more modest timber buildings (later replaced), possibly reflecting economies of the depression of the 1890s.

The depression suppressed the profitability of the line and the extension to Liverpool did not proceed. However, suburban development followed in the early twentieth century, particularly during the interwar period when many War Service homes were built west of Canterbury. The line was extended to Bankstown in 1909 (and then to Regents Park in 1928, making it part of a loop line through Lidcombe), its justification by then being the servicing of suburban development.

Prior to 1909 there were sidings for the storage of locomotives due to the railway terminating at Belmore. Suburban development intensified post World War I when many War Service homes were built in the area. Sidings at the station were extended during the 1920s for Belmore and Canterbury Councils for the purposes of unloading timber and other material for house construction and municipal works.

In 1925-26 a number of works were undertaken in preparation for electrification of the line including a sub-station and platform extension. The sub-station is now used as a signals training facility.

The overhead timber booking office at Belmore was constructed c.1937 at the top of the steps fronting onto the down side of Burwood Road to take the ticket selling and parcel functions. The change was also made to most other stations built to a similar configuration. The station master's office remained in the platform building for another forty years, but this function too has now moved to the street level building and the platform building remains largely unused.

Transport links
Punchbowl Bus Company operates one route via Belmore station:
 * 942: Lugarno to Campsie

Transit Systems operates one route via Belmore station:
 * 415: Chiswick to Campsie station

Belmore station is served by one NightRide route:
 * N40: East Hills station to City (Town Hall)

Heritage listing
As at 21 July 2009, Belmore Station is of State significance as it was the initial terminus station on the Sydenham to Bankstown Line which had been constructed to relieve congestion on the Main South Line as well as to promote agriculture and suburban growth. The platform building represents the period of transition from the boom time of the 1880s to the standardisation of NSW railway building design of the 1890s onwards and the high level of aesthetic design of pre-1900 standard railway buildings, which included the use of polychromatic brickwork, decorative dentil coursing, ornate awning brackets and carved bargeboards. The building is relatively intact and is representative of a small group of such ornate platform buildings including Canterbury and Marrickville on the Bankstown Line.

Belmore railway station was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999 having satisfied the following criteria.

The place is important in demonstrating the course, or pattern, of cultural or natural history in New South Wales.

Belmore Railway Station possesses state historical significance as it was the initial terminus station on the Sydenham to Bankstown Line built to relieve the crowding on the Main Southern Line and encourage agriculture and suburban growth in the late 1800s and early 20th century. The brick platform building represents that period which marked the transition from the boom period of the 1880s to the standardisation of NSW railway building design of the 1890s and onwards.

The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales.

The platform building at Belmore Station has state aesthetic and technical significance because it demonstrates the particular design and style of brick island buildings erected by the NSW Railways in the pre-1900s and also because of the excellent quality of its aesthetic features such as the polychromatic brickwork, dentilled brick cornice and cement mouldings which distinguish it from other platform building types.

The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group in New South Wales for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.

The place has the potential to contribute to the local community's sense of place, and can provide a connection to the local community's past.

The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural or natural places/environments in New South Wales.

The station is representative of, and is a fine example of a pre-1900 standard railway station building. It's styling reflected the importance of the station at that time, the other important stations on the Bankstown line with the same design being Canterbury and Marrickville. The overhead booking office is also a representative example of this type of railway building and is largely intact.