Berrima Junction

Coal and the first railway branch

Near Moss Vale, a set of railway tracks opens a story of coal, cement and the industry that connected the Southern Highlands to the wider rail network. Berrima Junction is where the western branch meets the Main South line; its history runs through nearby Medway and New Berrima.^[6][7]

The Berrima Coal-Mining and Railway Company, formed in 1880, built a private railway from its colliery at Medway to the main line near Moss Vale. A later Society newsletter letter dates the connection’s opening to 22 December 1881. Council’s heritage study describes the branch as a means of moving coal from the mine into the railway network.^[5][6]

Changing names and industry

The names tell a story of their own. In a correction published by the Society, David Kemmis recalled a water tank installed at nearby Austermere in 1879 for steam locomotives. The railway renamed that watering place Bong Bong in 1889. Berrima Junction was a separate location: it briefly became Medway Junction in 1927 before returning to its earlier name later that year. His account is a useful companion when exploring old timetables, maps and photographs.^[5]

In the 1920s Stan Taylor’s Medway Colliery and Railway Company rebuilt the branch, much of it along the old right of way. Council dates its reopening to February 1927 and links the railway with Taylor’s plan for a cement works at New Berrima and a limestone supply from Marulan. The branch’s role changed with industry; a later planning assessment records rail facilities at Berrima Junction serving several businesses. The railway remains an operational corridor, not a public walking route.^[6][7]

On 25 June 1967, members of the Australian Railway Historical Society travelled from Sydney to visit the cement works and colliery. The company arranged a special steam train on its branch from the junction to the colliery; the company newsletter captured the train beside the works before the visitors returned via Wollongong.^[8]