Historic Photo of the Day: 2025-10-26

Today's historic photo of the day: Exactly forty years ago today, we see the station buildings and platforms at Galong, NSW, October 26 1985. Galong, 365km from Sydney on the Main South line, is a small town with a complex railway history. Rails reached Galong when a single-track extension of the main South line from Binalong to Harden opened in 1877. That line took a more northerly path, and the first Galong station was a few hundred metres away out of shot to the right. 1915 was a big year in town. First, a new branch line to Boorowa opened, branching off to the north from the original station. A few months later, a whole new main line, and this station, opened as part of the duplication of the main South line. The old main line was abandoned, but a short part of it, including the stretch through the original station, was retained as part of the Boorowa branch. The junction was reversed so that Boorowa trains now ran off the Up main line back behind this photo The Boorowa branch line was still open in 1985 and the signal box could be cut in when needed, but Galong station no longer served passenger trains. Since this photo was taken, the nameboards have been removed, the semaphore signals replaced with colour lights and the Boorowa branch is disused. Part of the building on the down platform was demolished after a derailment in 2002, but buildings remain on both platforms. Passenger and goods trains still run through here, but none stop these days.