There is a huge amount of activity being planned for the lead up to the momentous day on Tuesday, April 14 2015.

The Wauchope Gazette is supporting this historical occasion by publicising all the activities associated with the event as well as showcasing the contributions of individuals and community groups in making the centenary an event to remember.

With thanks to the Wauchope Centenary of Rail Committee, we are delighted to publish this first article that sets the historical scene for the railway in Wauchope.

All those years ago, communities up and down the coast struggled to convince politicians that rail transport would play a vital part in the economic development of the Hastings.

Enjoy!

ON 14 April, 1915, a crowd of some 3,000 people cheered wildly when Wauchope Shire President, Cr John Downes, said "The North Coast Railway line has been dangled before the people for a decade".

The occasion was the ceremony for the official welcoming of rail transport to Wauchope; it had been a long time coming.

Many remembered the disappointment of their parents when the sight of rail surveyors at Sancrox in the early 1880s failed to prove the beginning of railway construction in the district, while 1888 had seen completion of the Great Northern Railway line between Maitland and Wallangarra, linking towns of New England with Newcastle

After communities along the coast began lobbying politicians, in 1882, JH Young, (MP for Hastings and Manning) urged costing of rail construction from Maitland to Grafton.

The initial survey, four years later, estimated 14,917 per mile. In 1886 Duncan Bain was part of a deputation representing interests from Sydney to the Queensland border, which met with the NSW Minister for Public Works, William Lyne (after whom this Federal electorate is named).

A great supporter of rail transport, Lyne indicated his agreement subject to available funding. Another survey conducted in 1893 reduced the cost estimate to 8,531 per mile.

A proposal for building the line from Maitland to Taree was referred to the Public Works Committee in December 1895.

The Committee rejected the proposal, saying that 'the country along the route was not capable of profitable development'.

A large delegation from the North Coast Railway League, formed in 1901 to promote the North Coast line, then petitioned the Government that the full length of the proposed railway, from Maitland to Grafton, be costed.

The League noted many instances of greatly improved productivity along that rail corridor. This was supported by a petition signed by the Mayor of Grafton and representatives of the Hastings, Macleay, Manning and other North Coast communities.

With the Casino to Grafton line almost complete, the proposed rail would link up the whole North Coast.

The Public Works Committee finally recommended that the line be built and Parliamentary authority was given by The North Coast Railway Act (Act 18 of 1906) assented to on 17 November 1906.

The Dungog to Taree section was completed on 4 February 1913 and the 47 -mile Taree to Wauchope section on 12 April 1915 at a total cost of 588,923.

On 14 April 1915 the official ceremony to celebrate the occasion was held in Wauchope, then a small village in the centre of a sparsely populated rural community dominated by timber getting and rural production.

Although opponents saw the advent of rail transport as detrimental to the profitability, and therefore viability, of the coastal shipping industry, the coming of the railway would, as its proponents claimed, establish Wauchope as the commercial and industrial centre of the Hastings.