Pulletop Station
HISTORY
Located at the 585.100km marker, Pulletop was a typical early 1900s era NSW pioneer type branch line station. The initial name of the station was named after the nearby property estate and also meaning an Aboriginal word of “taking up a tree”. The nearby Pullitop property was owned by the Westby family from 1868 to 1911.The Westby’s undertook significant improvements to the property over the 40 years which saw a spacious homestead and garden built.
Pullitop railway station was constructed as part of The Rock to Westby railway branch line. Agitation for the construction of the railway line goes back to 1911 when the Pulletop Railway League advocated for a railway line from The Rock to Pulletop.
While waiting for a political decision, the League sought to have the line further extended and run to Jingellic. In 1919, the NSW Parliament passed The Rock to Pulletop Railway Act but with post WW1 debt and supply issues impacting NSW, this delayed the branch line construction and work didn’t commence until February 1923. Unlike the Leagues original request, the Railway Act sanctioned the construction works to only build to Pulletop but the actual works resulted in the line instead continuing for a further 5km on to the new terminus location at Westby.
STATION
On 5 August 1925 the initial named Pullitop railway station precinct opened. Intriguingly the initial rail works had built a concrete wall loading bank / goods facility which was positioned on a sliding off the branch line. Later on in the 1930s it is understood, as a need for a passenger service were identified, at 30m and offset to the north of the loading bank, located on the up side, a simple pioneer style low cost passenger platform was erected. This platform had underneath supports using rail sections, a timber deck and timber hand rails.
A ramp was built at both ends for people to access the station. A station sign was also installed on the platform. On 8 May 1932 the location was renamed to Pulletop. The station was unattended and thus was only used when a person/s needed to alight or board the train. The Westby railway line’s fettler teams maintained the station precinct.
REMAINS
The Pulletop railway section was closed down on 24 January 1952 due to the large scale bushfire damage. With the removal of the branch line a few years later with the track and sleepers were taken away, behind leaving a pathway. It is not known when the station platform was removed but it maybe in the early 1960s. The former rail corridor is nowadays used as an access track to a nearby property and the only current remains is the concrete wall from the loading bank.