In 1881 a new timber platform and station were built in Katoomba, to the west of the level-crossing. The goods yard between the station and Bathurst Road, then the Great Western Highway, was developed in 1883-4, with a goods shed, dock, siding and crane (which is still on the site, although not in its original position).
This expansion was necessary because of Katoomba’s growth in the 1880s and 1890s as a tourist and local commercial centre.
In 1890 it was decided to build a more adequate station. The present wooden station building, uniquely curved to conform with the new curving platform, was constructed in 1891, with a reconfiguration of the rail alignments, incorporating two goods sidings.
The 1881 station building was then moved to the improved goods yard to the south. The Katoomba Times reported on 10 October 1891 that “the old Katoomba station building is to be the goods shed, and was put into position last Wednesday, 7 October 1891”, with the 1884 crane adjacent to the east. Around 1921 the goods yard was altered, the siding was realigned and the goods shed (the former station of 1881) was moved 18m to the east, where it still resides. The 1884 five-tonne crane was moved along with the shed to its present position.
The station itself and its goods yard are of unusually high significance at the state level.
The goods yard has particular significance in preserving the 1881 wooden station building as its goods shed and the 1884 crane still in a meaningful relationship to its original function.
Katoomba Railway Station is one of few surviving timber railway station buildings outside of the Sydney Metropolitan area.
The information above is from the NSW Department of Environment.
