A Class E17 locomotive at a level crossing in Corrimal, a northern suburb of Wollongong in NSW.
There are quite a few clues pointing to the date of this image.
Can you date this photograph?
We have many other undated photographs in Photo Investigator and on our Flickr account. If know the dates or any other interesting facts about these images please let us know.
Category: -- Can you date...?
Tag: locomotive, Moments in Time
michael lightfoot says:
This is the Corrimal Colliery railway where it crossed the Princes Highway at Tarrawanna (not really a suburb, just known locally as that). Traawanna Scrap Metal is in the background (I do recall seeing that scrapyard when I was a child).
This railway was pulled up sometime around the very early 1960s.
Railway experts will confirm or modify my childhood memories…
Allan Cole says:
Sadly I have no memories of the area but based on the make of vehicles and the fact that Lindsay and Bruce in Wollongong did not seem to operate until about 1948 I would date the picture to some time in the 1950’s. Others are probably more able than myself.
Fiona Sullivan says:
Thanks @Michael Lightfoot AND @Alan Cole. Between the two of you we have a date range of c.1948-1960 for the picture.
I was quite struck by the human barrier at the traffic crossing. Quite different to the mechanised versions of today!
Kent Broadhead says:
Intersection of Tarrawanna Rd with the Princes Highway, Corrimal, looking south. The warehouse behind the train is the (now former) Streets ice-cream factory. Cars (FB/EK Holdens) date it as 1960-62 or later. An earlier view of the same crossing./intersection is at http://illawarraimages.wollongong.nsw.gov.au/IllaIms/P03/P03588.jpg
Sandra says:
this is the crossing I used to ride my bike on going to corrimal hs from Kendall st tarrawanna. time period from 1957 to 1961. I left there in 1961 and the Streets factory and train line were still there.
Sandra says:
further to the Lindsay and Bruce connection, was it their shop which was just 50 metres away up the hill, where the first televisions were used to attract us to the shop to watch tv earlier in the 50s?
Hugon Zweep says:
I think the engine was retired to Corrimal Rest Park where it became a popular climbing place for children from about 1965-67. The path of the rail line to the east was incorporated in the Corrimal Court shopping centre. It may also be of interest that the Street’s Icecream factory in the background was the original factory which became supplementary to the Sydney factory in the 1950s.
Greg Wynn says:
Think you’ll find that these trains ran until about 1963. The line used to run alongside Tarrawanna Rd, cut Underwood St (which has since been joined up) before crossing the highway. I have a feeling the police station was where Corrimal Court is now but that was developed after the new station was built. We are also pretty certain that is our dad, Ted Wynn, sitting in the Lindsay and Bruce ute waiting for the train to pass.
Noel Broadhead says:
Television wasn’t introduced to Wollongong until 1962, so it’s unlikely to be any earlier than 1963.
http://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/television/highlights/television-comes-regional-australia