Note - This cache is near an unfenced train line and road used by heavy vehicles. Keep geokids under close supervision. It is however, located in a safe location. The cache is not under the bush with thorns.
About SideTracked Caches
This cache belongs to the SideTracked series. It is not designed to take you to a magical place with a breath taking view. It’s a distraction for the weary traveller, but anyone else can go and and find it too. More Information can be found at the SideTracked Website
About Maldon Station
Maldon is a closed railway station on the Main South railway line. The station originally opened in 1889 as Wilton, and renamed as Maldon a year later. The stationvclosed in 1976.
South of the station site is a siding to the cement works, whilst to the north of the station is the site of the incomplete junction of the unfinished Maldon-Dombarton line. This goods line was to link Maldon with the south-coast line to Port Kembla with coal as the main freight. It has several unfinished bridges and the beginnings of the longest rail tunnel in NSW. The project was abandoned by the government in 1988.
Information from NSWrail.net and Wikipedia
Nearby two events of historical interest occurred.
On 9 January 1920 the NSW Governor Sir Walter Davidson escaped injury when a stone was thrown at his carriage, smashing the window and coming to rest on the floor next to him. Two men were detained by police, but no charges were laid.
A collision on 8 May 1952 occurred when a double-diesel train from Goulburn crashed into the brake van of a mixed goods train about 100 yards from Maldon station. The brake van was flung from the rails, dragging 16 trucks behind it. One of the engines was brand new which added to the damage. In the afternoon, the first passenger train passed the wrecked goods train which began to collapse onto the track. The passengers had to be cut out which took one and a half hours.
This accident did not receive much publicity as half an hour after this accident, a passenger train ran into another train at Berala in Sydney, killing four passengers and injuring 100. This was a major news item of course. You can read some newspaper clippings from The Sun and Sydney Morning Herald with the story of the Maldon accident.
The Maldon Dombarton Line
This line was to provide a short cut between Maldon on the Main South Line and Dombarton at the foothills of the Illawarra plateau, near Port Kembla.
Construction began but was not completed. The two major structures on the line are the partially-complete bridge over the Nepean River near Maldon and the incomplete Avon Tunnel near Dombarton. The Avon Tunnel, if completed, would have been the longest in Australia, at 4km.
This line was to be electrified at 25kV AC rather than the 1500V DC like the rest of the electrified network. Stanchions were erected on the Unanderra - Moss Vale line between Unanderra and Dombarton for this purpose.