View source for Berry railway station

{{Short description|Railway station in New South Wales, Australia}}
{{Use Australian English|date=April 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{more citations needed|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox station
| name               = Berry
| style              = NSW TrainLink
| image              = Berry train station.jpg
| alt                = Berry railway station
| caption            = Berry station in January 2006
| address            = Station Road, [[Berry, New South Wales|Berry]]
| borough            = [[New South Wales]]
| country            = [[Australia]]
| coordinates        = {{coord|-34.7805|150.6964|display=inline,title}}
| elevation          = {{convert|11|m}}
| owned              = [[Transport Asset Holding Entity]]
| operator           = [[NSW TrainLink]]
| line               = [[South Coast railway line, New South Wales|South Coast]]
| distance           = {{convert|140.8|km}} from [[Central railway station, Sydney|Central]]<ref name=asa>{{cite web|url=http://www.asa.transport.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/asa/asa-standards/ts-toc-3.pdf|date=30 April 2015|title=Train Operating Conditions (TOC) Manual – Track Diagrams (version 3.0)|author=Asset Standards Authority|access-date=19 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923174359/http://www.asa.transport.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/asa/asa-standards/ts-toc-3.pdf|archive-date=23 September 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| platforms          = 1, 113 metres<ref name=asa />
| train_operators    = [[NSW TrainLink]]
| structure          = Elevated platform
| parking            = Yes
| bicycle            = Yes
| accessible         = Yes
| status             = * Weekdays: 
Staffed: 5am to 9pm
* Weekends and public holidays:
Staffed: 5am to 9pm
| zone               = 
| website            = [https://transportnsw.info/stop?q=10101388#/ Transport for NSW]
| opened             = 2 June 1893<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nswrail.net/locations/show.php?name=NSW:Berry|title= NSWrail.net: Berry Station|first=Rolfe|last=Bozier}}</ref>
| passengers         = *38,270 (year)
*105 (daily)<ref name="note1">This figure is the number of entries and exits of a year combined averaged to a day.</ref>
| pass_year          = 2023<ref>{{cite web |title=Train Station Monthly Usage |url=https://opendata.transport.nsw.gov.au/dataset/train-station-entries-and-exits-data |website=Open Data |access-date=26 January 2024}}</ref>
| pass_rank          = 
| pass_system        = Sydney Trains, NSW TrainLink
| services           = {{Adjacent stations
|system1=NSW TrainLink
|line=SCO|left=Bomaderry|right=Gerringong|to-left=Bomaderry|to-right=Kiama|note-mid=Bomaderry Shuttle
}}
}}
'''Berry railway station''' is a heritage-listed single-platform [[Regional rail|intercity train]] station located in [[Berry, New South Wales]], [[Australia]], on the [[South Coast railway line, New South Wales|South Coast railway line]]. The station serves [[NSW TrainLink]] [[diesel multiple unit]] trains travelling south to [[Bomaderry railway station|Bomaderry]] and north to [[Kiama railway station|Kiama]].<ref name="timetable">{{Cite New South Wales transport timetables|South Coast}}</ref> Early morning and late night services to the station are provided by train replacement bus services.<ref name="timetable" /> In the past, the station precinct also catered to freight trains carrying cattle and dairy products.<ref name="heritage">{{cite web|url=http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=4801132|title=NSW heritage register: Berry railway station group|author=Office of Environment & Heritage|date=7 July 2009|access-date=16 August 2015}}</ref>

It was added to the [[New South Wales State Heritage Register]] on 2 April 1999.<ref name=nswshr-1084>{{cite NSW SHR|5011927|Berry Railway Station group and movable relics|hr=01084|fn=s96/00468|access-date=2 June 2018}}</ref>

== History ==

The [[New South Wales Government Railways|NSW Government Railways]] opened its South Coast Line extension, from [[Bombo railway station|Bombo]] to Bomaderry, on 2 June 1893. Berry Station was built to serve what was at the time the largest town on the alignment, and opened as part of this extension. The station, constructed by the firm of G. J. Featherstone & T. J. Barbel, included a [[passing loop]], stationmaster's cottage, platform, waiting shed and goods shed. The main platform building contained a ticket office, general waiting room, 'ladies' room' and toilet. The buildings were constructed from [[Clapboard (architecture)|weatherboard]] with [[Corrugated galvanised iron|corrugated steel]] roofs. Though the original plans called for a second platform and waiting shed, these did not eventuate.

1907 plans show the station with the following structures: on the east side of the railway tracks (south to north): Berry Central Butter Factory, engine boiler house, goods shed, and a Fettler's cottage near the level crossing; west side (south to north): cattle yards, Fettler's cottage, levers, platform with horse dock at southern end, platform building, Station Master's residence with a fern house attached to the south-western corner, and a further Fettler's cottage to the west of the level crossing.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

The station precinct grew to include the Berry Central Butter Factory, cattle yards, and a number of residences for railway workers. A signal box was added in 1912. In 1912 the goods siding was extended to serve the Berry Central Butter Factory, it being also extended in 1913 to send milk to the [[Sydney]] markets.<ref name=nswshr-1084/> A brick toilet block was added in 1979. Of the former goods yard, today only a small up siding opposite the station and a small down siding to the west remain.<ref name=asa /> With most of its 1893 buildings intact as of 2009, Berry Station is considered state-significant heritage by the [[Office of Environment and Heritage (New South Wales)|Office of Environment & Heritage]]. As the buildings pre-date the standardisation of railway buildings such as cottages, they are relatively rare examples of their type.<ref name="heritage" />

Plans annotated in the 1960s note the shortening of the goods stage attached to the south of the goods shed in 1960 and the construction of a ramp to the goods shed and demolition of the cattle yards (by this stage marked as "trucking yards") in 1968.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

Plans dated 22 April 1974 show a proposed gang shed and proposed migratory gang camp amenity building on the former site of the cattle yards and fettlers cottage south of the station (west side). These plans also show toilet upgrades to the platform building and the demolition of a separate gents toilet building, the former Station Master's residence being leased to the Boy Scouts, and the former Fettler's house to the west of the level crossing also being leased for private rental accommodation.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

Two other stations in the district, Jaspers Brush to the south and Toolijooa to the north, opened at the same time, but were closed in 1974 as part of a network-wide rationalisation of low-patronage stations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nswrail.net/locations/show.php?name=NSW:Toolijooa|title= NSWrail.net: Toolijooa Station|first=Rolfe|last=Bozier}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/704479/RevisedTrainAppendices.pdf|title=A changing network: the historical context of lines and closures|first=Jim|last=Longworth|date=November 2004}}</ref>

The Berry Station Master's residence is now disused (2009) but its immediate past use was as a Scout Hall. It is presumably during this period of use as a Scout Hall that most of the internal walls to the front main gable roofed section of the residence were removed.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

== Operations ==

The South Coast Line south of Kiama is non-electrified single track. Since 2001, most northbound trains from Berry have terminated at Kiama, requiring passengers to change to [[electric multiple unit]] services to [[Wollongong railway station|Wollongong]] and [[Sydney]]. In 2005, then [[Minister for Transport (New South Wales)|Minister for Transport]] [[John Watkins (Australian politician)|John Watkins]] announced that electrification would be extended to the terminus at Bomaderry at an unspecified future date, but the proposal did not progress.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2005-07-01/govt-announces-kiama-bomaderry-rail-electrification/2048898|date=1 July 2005|title=Govt announces Kiama-Bomaderry rail electrification|work=ABC News|location=Australia}}</ref>

Berry and Bomaderry were the last locations in the NSW metropolitan rail network to use the [[Token (railway signalling)|electric staff]] signalling system. The system, installed in 1908, was replaced with automated signalling in 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sydneytrains.info/about/heritage/ETS-End-of-Line-Video-Transcript.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924011915/http://www.sydneytrains.info/about/heritage/ETS-End-of-Line-Video-Transcript.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2015-09-24|title=End of the line: the electric train staff system – video transcript|author=Sydney Trains}}</ref> The same year, electronic ticketing in the form of the [[Opal card|Opal smart card]] became available at Berry.<ref>[http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/opal-card-available-on-all-sydney-trains-by-next-friday-20140320-353x4.html Opal card available on all Sydney trains by next Friday] ''Sydney Morning Herald'' 20 March 2014</ref>

==Platforms and services==

{{Sydney Trains platform box
|p1linename = South Coast Line
|p1stop     = services to {{rwsa|Kiama}} & {{rwsa|Bomaderry}} (Nowra)
|p1notes    = <ref name=timetable/> }}

== Description ==

The heritage-listed station precinct includes the station master's residence (1893),<ref name=nswshr-1084-1621>Type 6</ref> platform building (1893, [[awning]] added in 1901),<ref name=nswshr-1084-1622>Type 14</ref> platform garden beds and topiary shrubs, signal box (1912), lamp room (1893), out of room aka parcels office (1893), produce [[shed]] ({{circa}} 1940s), goods shed (1893, 1960), platform (1893) and the 1923 waiting room and ticket office signs attached to the platform 1 building.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

Berry Railway Station is located on Station Road opposite and south of David Berry Park and Memorial Park, and the intersection with Alexandra Street (which leads north onto the Princes Highway). There is a station car park located to the north of the railway station platform. Perimeter fencing for the station is modern powdercoated white aluminium fencing. The Station Master's residence is located northeast of the station platform building, east of the car park.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

The railway station is in a picturesque setting with the Illawarra escarpment visible beyond the station buildings, and the single platform and platform buildings are oriented facing south, with the exception of the Out-of-room, which has a door to the north opening into the station car park. The buildings on the platform generally string along the platform east–west. From east to west the buildings are ranged as follows: lamp room; Out-of-room; signal box; platform building; 1979 brick toilet block. The goods and per way [[sheds]] are located at the western end of the station, on the southern side of the railway lines.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

;Station Master's Residence (1893)

The 1893 Berry Station Master's residence is a relatively early example of the J2 type Station Master's residence design, having been constructed prior to the 1899 issue of the series of standard plans for these buildings. It is also one of a number of railway residences built at Berry, including a gatekeeper's house at 66 Prince Alfred St. (The other railway residences at Berry are now in private ownership).<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

The "J2" design is a standard type residence dating from 1885 to 1920, usually of timber or brick with a high gabled roof with rafters extending to form a veranda across the front of the building, and two chimneys. The buildings featured a simple symmetrical façade with central four-panel front door, front room windows to either side and a rear skillion service wing. While the overall form remained similar to J1 it was 4&nbsp;ft wider, and provided larger rooms. Plans dated 1903 show new rear extensions to the Station Master's residence.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

The residence is located on an unfenced site with a number of large trees, both native and exotic, with the front facade facing west into the Berry Railway Station car park. A straight concrete path leads to the centre of the front [[veranda]] from the station car park. This is a freestanding single storey [[weatherboard]] residence on brick [[Pier (architecture)|piers]] with a gabled corrugated steel roof, a [[Skillion roof|skillion]] corrugated steel roofed veranda across the width of the front of the house. The veranda is carried on 4 timber posts (corner post at southeast corner damaged) and has a timber floor. The residence has a rear section with two skillion roofs and a [[gable]] roofed rear wing to the north-eastern corner of the house, all roofed in corrugated steel. Part of a rear skillion roofed veranda is extant. The front facade is symmetrical, with a central 4 panel front door (now covered over on the exterior) flanked by timber famed double hung windows, each [[Sash window|sash]] having a single vertical glazing bar. The residence originally had 2 brick [[chimneys]] at the apex of the gabled roof, however only the southern of these is extant (note roof is patched in the former location of the northern [[chimney]]). There is a simple brick chimney near the north-eastern corner of the building to service the kitchen, where a hearth is extant. Part of the rear sections have fibro asbestos walls. Windows are generally timber framed double hung with vertical glazing bars to sashes. The front and back doors are timber 4-panel doors with [[fanlight]]s. These doors are blocked up on the outside.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

Internally, walls have been largely removed, leaving only 2 rooms in the main section of the house. There are timber floors and tongue & grooved timber ceilings.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

;Platform Building (1893)

The platform building is a long rectangular weatherboard building with a concrete base and a corrugated steel skillion roof sloping towards the rail lines, with the awning supported on cantilevered timber roof beams braced with curved metal braces. All of the rooms open onto the platform with no interconnection between rooms. The building contains a waiting room, station masters office and staff instruments room. The building has aluminium framed double hung windows, with one extant timber framed double hung window frame (in the waiting room); security screen doors and security screens to windows. There are steel [[Bracket (architecture)|brackets]] to the platform building awning, which faces south, timber beams and a timber valance to the east and west ends of the awning. There are no chimneys to the roof, however there is an extant chimney breast to the waiting room. There is an air-conditioning unit on the roof.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

The internal layout of the platform building appears to be relatively intact. There are timber tongue & grooved internal wall linings and ceilings, except in the waiting room. There are operable metal vents to the interior near the top of walls. The waiting room has modern floor tiling and fibre cement sheeting to walls and ceilings, and 2 modern aluminium framed windows, one within an original timber window frame. There are "staff instruments" still operating in the room at the eastern end of the platform building. This room has timber tongue & grooved ceiling and walls. The fog signalman's equipment is also located in this room.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

;Platform Garden Beds and Topiary Shrubs
The topiary shrubs and garden beds form part of the station platform's setting and character.<ref name=nswshr-1084-1624>Longworth, 2012, 10</ref> While railway gardens were once fairly common, surviving such elements are becoming rare today.<ref name=nswshr-1084-1625>Stuart Read, pers.comm., 30 July 2013</ref><ref name=nswshr-1084/>

;Signal Box (1912)
The signal box is a small weatherboard building located directly next to the platform building and is raised on a concrete base, the base being attached to the platform building. The signal box has a corrugated Colorbond skillion roof. Originally this building had no wall on the platform side, however a wall with windows and central doorway has been added.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

The original signal lever frame remains within the signal box.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

;Out of Shed (1893)
This is a small weatherboard skillion roofed structure, located east of the signal box, with entrances to both platform and car park behind. It has a solid timber tongue & grooved board sliding doors to the centre of the north and south elevations.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

Interior: The out of shed has a concrete floor and no wall linings.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

;Lamp room
The lamp room is a diminutive gable roofed building with a corrugated steel roof, and a central timber tongue & grooved board door on the north elevation facing the car park.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

Internally, the floor is concrete, and there are no ceilings or wall linings. There is timber shelving installed to the interior of the east wall.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

;Goods Shed (1893)
This is a [[Corrugated galvanised iron|corrugated iron]] side shed 36&nbsp;ft × 16&nbsp;ft with a small timber platform along the rail side and a wider platform at the northern end with sliding timber doors to both road and rail sides. The building is in intact condition however the tracks have recently been removed in changes to the yard layout.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

;Produce Shed ({{circa}} 1940s):
This is a large corrugated steel shed with a gabled corrugated steel roof located west of the goods shed. Noted on c. 1974 plans as being leased by Berry Rural Co-op Society.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

;Platform (1893)
The platform face is brick with brick copings and indicates the extension of the platform in 1915 to accommodate longer trains. The centre of the platform has been capped with concrete to raise the height.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

;Landscape/Natural Features
There are significant plantings on the platform, between the station platform buildings, including topiary shrubs. The Shoalhaven LEP 1985 (as amended) lists - as part of Schedule 7: Heritage Items: the Berry Railway Station Group - the following plantings: [[Ilex cornuta]] (Chinese Holly) and [[Gardenia thunbergia]] (Gardenia). In addition, the site of the Station Master's residence contains a number of large mature trees, both native and exotic.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

;Moveable items
Signals (in signal box); staff instruments (in room at east end of platform building); fog signalman's equipment (in room at east end of platform building); timber trolley (in Out-of-room); timber indicator board (located between the signal box and the Out-of-room).<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

As at 4 September 2013, the platform building, signal box, out of room, per way shed, goods shed and platform were in good condition, the lamp room was in moderate condition, the station master's residence was in poor to very poor condition, and the moveable items were in good to very good condition.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

Various structures such as the timber loading stage, [[perway]] shed and cattle yards are no longer extant at Berry, however the core group of 1893 platform buildings, goods shed and Station Master's residence are extant, along with an extensive range of early moveable items which remain in context and a c. 1940s produce shed. While interior fitout to the platform building has altered over time, much of the original fabric is extant. The interior of the Station Master's residence has been extensively altered (most internal walls removed), however it is externally relatively intact, though in poor condition. The signal box is of moderate to high integrity, retaining its signalling equipment and associated items in situ, though has undergone some modifications to its external appearance on the rail side.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

=== Modifications and dates ===
* 1901: awning added to the originally awningless platform building
* 1903: between 1901 and 1903 a butter factory was constructed east of the rail lines, and new rear extensions constructed to the Station Master's residence
* 1907: fernery (no longer extant) built to south-western corner of Station Master's residence
* 1912: Goods siding constructed to serve the Berry Central Butter Factory; signal box constructed.
* 1913: Goods siding to Butter Factory extended
* {{circa}} 1915: Platform lengthened {{circa|1915}} for racecourse traffic
* {{circa}} 1940: Produce shed constructed
* 1960: shortening of goods stage and construction of ramp to goods shed
* 1974: internal alterations to platform building
* {{circa}} 1974: internal alterations to Station Master's residence (removal of most internal walls)
* 1979: new brick toilet block
* 1983: internal alterations to platform building
* {{circa}} 1980s: most internal walls removed from main front gable roofed section of Station Master's residence
* unknown date: Per way shed demolished<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

== Heritage listing ==
Berry Railway Station is of State historical significance as an important country railway station complex built from 1893 to the 1940s, with most of its original 1893 elements intact, including platform buildings, early equipment and the original station masters residence, and for its relationship to the development of the town of Berry.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

The Berry Railway Station is of State aesthetic significance as a rare group of simple early weatherboard station buildings including goods shed and Station Master's residence, with later corrugated steel produce shed, located in a picturesque location within the historic Berry township, with the [[Illawarra escarpment]] visible beyond. The small weatherboard Out-of-room, signal box and lamp room are typical of small sheds built extensively for these purposes throughout the state. The Station Master's residence is a representative, now rare, early example of a railway residence, which predates the standard railway residence designs of 1899. The Berry Railway Station group is of technical and research significance for its early moveable items including staff instruments, signals, fog signalman's equipment, early timber trolley and timber indicator board.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

Berry railway station was listed on the [[New South Wales State Heritage Register]] on 2 April 1999 having satisfied the following criteria.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

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

Berry Railway Station is of State historical significance as an important country railway station group built from 1893 to 1912, with most of its original elements intact, including early equipment and the original Station Master's residence, and for its relationship to the development of the town of Berry. The Berry Station Master's residence is of historical significance as one of a number of railway residences constructed at Berry which evidence late 19th century railway operational arrangements to accommodate staff on site, and as an early design residence, constructed prior to the issue of a series of standard plans for railway residences in 1899.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

'''The place has a strong or special association with a person, or group of persons, of importance of cultural or natural history of New South Wales's history.'''

The Berry Station Master's residence design has historical association with Henry Deane, Engineer in Chief for Railways Construction 1891–1901.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

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

Berry Railway Station is of State aesthetic significance as a rare group of simple early weatherboard station buildings with later corrugated steel goods and produce sheds, located in a picturesque location within the historic Berry township, with the Illawarra escarpment visible beyond. The small weatherboard Out-of-room, signal box and lamp room are typical of small sheds built extensively for these purposes throughout the state. The Berry Station Master's residence is of aesthetic significance as a small vernacular Victorian Georgian style dwelling, purpose-built for accommodation of railway staff.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

'''The place has 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.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

'''The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.'''

Berry Railway Station is of research significance for its early moveable items including staff instruments, signals, fog signalman's equipment, and timber indicator board.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

'''The place possesses uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.'''

This item is assessed as historically rare. This item is assessed as arch. rare. This item is assessed as socially rare.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

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

The Berry Station Master's residence is a representative example of an early design railway residence, which predates the standard designs of 1899. The small weatherboard Out-of-room, signal box and lamp room are typical of small sheds built extensively for these purposes throughout the state.<ref name=nswshr-1084/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
* {{cite web|last=Longworth|first=Jim|date=2012|title=Conservation Guide: Railway Gardens|url=http://www.nswrailheritage.com.au/railheritage1.htm|access-date=24 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180710134943/http://www.nswrailheritage.com.au/railheritage1.htm|archive-date=10 July 2018|url-status=dead}}

=== Attribution ===
{{NSW-SHR-CC-contains|name=Berry Railway Station group and movable relics|dno=5011927|id=01084|year=2018|accessdate=2 June 2018}}

==External links==
*{{commons category-inline|Berry railway station, New South Wales|Berry railway station}}
*[https://transportnsw.info/stop?q=10101388#/ Berry station details] Transport for New South Wales

{{Transport for New South Wales railway stations|South Coast=y|state=collapsed}}

[[Category:Easy Access railway stations in New South Wales]]
[[Category:Railway stations in Australia opened in 1893]]
[[Category:Regional railway stations in New South Wales]]
[[Category:New South Wales State Heritage Register]]
[[Category:Berry, New South Wales]]