History

HISTORY OF ESKBANK RAILWAY PRECINCT
Sitting in the middle of Lithgow, is a rather unknown and under used heritage precinct which is currently from the outside, looking some what dormant. It is tho, slowly coming back to life as a carefully planned and loving restored heritage precinct which will have a big connection to Lithgow's amazing past.

Located at the Eskbank railway precinct, (itself located north of the current Lithgow railway station) are 3 core areas which have played a big part in developing Lithgow and NSW since the late 1880s - the Eskbank station, Eskbank goods shed and Eskbank Locomotive depot.

RAIL DEVELOPMENT IN LITHGOW IN THE LATE 1800'S 
The expansion of the NSW railway system in the 1860s expanding outwards from Sydney, saw the NSW railway network heading in a westwards direction towards Bathurst via the Blue Mountains. Around Lithgow with the line coming into the town, the location at Bowenfels was chosen and built as the town's first railway station,with it opening in 1869. Bowenfels sandstone station building was the rail heart of Lithgow's expanding town centre but within 13years it would be complemented by Eskbank station and yard.

NEED FOR ANOTHER NEW STATION 
Lithgow was developing in the late 1860-1870s era into a very busy, bustling centre for coal mining, coal shipping and as a centre for steel manufacturing. The government railway system brought and used large quantities of both the local coal and steel. With this ongoing development and requirement for large population expansion to run these industries, it lead to a need for another railway station to be built in Lithgow. 


To help ease congestion and enable better passenger access, the new station was to be located at Eskbank and was built in 1881-82. For the next 43years, Eskbank railway yard was the base for all the railway activities in the Lithgow Valley.
To support the station and operations, a new locomotive depot, located to the north of the station was opened in 1882.

Eskbank became an important rail location as all trains movements that commenced or terminated their trips at Eskbank, as did any "through-train" which were timed to stop at Eskbank.
With Eskbank open, Lithgow was now serviced by 2 railway stations within 2km of each other. Over time more expansion in the town in the 1920s, saw Lithgow become further centralised and this would see another station be added to cater for this need.

1920s BRINGS CHANGES AT ESKBANK
Eskbank remained operational in its original role until 1925, when further rail development saw the railway station change its role. Unfortunately for Eskbank, its rail status changed after the opening of the 3rd station for the Lithgow town, with the new station located in the now heart of Lithgow about 1km west of Eskbank. The new Lithgow railway station opened in 1925 and has remained operational ever since.

Eskbank was after 1925 not used anymore for passenger work as it was becoming too far east out of town for locals to travel to.

Eskbank locomotive depot was closed in 1915, when the larger and purpose built Lithgow depot was opened nearby. Eskbank locomotive depot also supported steam operations in and out of the Valley.With expanding rail systems, the Eskbank locomotive depot was finally demolished in the late 1920s with only basic infrastructure remaining.

ESKBANK BECOMES GOODS DEPOT
With the formal closure of Eskbank railway station to passenger operations,  it was then converted to became the Lithgow Goods Depot and Station Master’s headquarters, with this role lasting until the 1980s. From the 1980s up to 2005, the Eskbank station was used as a depot for railway maintenance operations.

In 2005 the Eskbank railway precinct was taken over by the State Mine Railway. Read more about the future plans here.

This link gives further background information to what Eskbank station and rail precinct is all about - http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=4801018