Historic Photo of the Day: 2025-11-09

Today's historic photo of the day: Exactly 40 years ago today we see the station at Tahmoor, NSW, November 9 1985. Tahmoor is a small town in the NSW Southern Highlands just south of Picton and 94.5km from Sydney by rail on the Southern Highlands line. This is the main Sydney-Melbourne railway, also known in NSW as the Main South. Tahmoor station opened only in 1919 when this new double track main line opened to increase line capacity. The original 1867 single track main line through Thirlmere, 2-3km further west, then became known as the 'Loop Line'. Whilst heavy goods trains and express passenger trains have run through here for many years, 40 years ago, Tahmoor, like the many other small stations in the area, was served by just a handful of daily local loco-hauled passenger trains that ran between Sydney and Moss Vale or Goulburn. As Sydney has grown and as the Southern Highlands has become a more desirable place to live, local passenger services have increased to cater for commuters. Today, unlike the other three interurban commuter main lines out of Sydney, the Southern Highlands line remains non-electrified and is something of a Cinderella line. Shuttle services, operated by Endeavour Diesel Railcar sets, run between Campbelltown and Moss Vale, connecting at Campbelltown with T8 line EMUs to and from Sydney. On weekdays, Tahmoor now sees 23 trains each way on weekdays, but just 12 each way on weekends. Tahmoor station, though updated with modern signage and fencing etc, is largely unchanged, and the platforms and building seen here still stand today.