| Physical description: | BUILDINGS
Station Buildings, Platform 1/2, brick, type 13 (1943)
Station Buildings, Platform 3/4, brick, type 13 (1943)
STRUCTURES
2x Island Platforms, brick faced (1943)
Footbridge, steel beam with RSJ steel supports and stairs (1946, 2018)
Underbridge and Archaeological Remains (c1860, c1880, 1946, 2013)
STATION BUILDING PLATFORM 1/2 (1943)
External: The building on Platform 1/2 is larger than Platform 3/4 building and is a post war Functionalist style railway building. It is of face brick construction with low pitched gabled roof and brick parapets at each end with courses of recessed heeler bricks capped by a course of bullnosed bricks. The northern end of the building is defined by a curved masonry bay with a single door. Centrally located on each parapet is an Art Deco style projecting vertical masonry fin constructed of heeler bricks in a contrasting colour. The parapets step down on each side from the fin. The roof is clad with Colorbond, which extends as an awning on all four sides of the building. The awning on the southern end, which provides shelter to passengers purchasing tickets from the ticket window and the machine, is supported by two rectangular brick columns with curved corners. On Platform 1/ 2, one ticket window remains in use while the other is bricked up. Steel framed windows with three horizontal hopper panels (central panel fixed) are vertically proportioned and placed regularly on both platform elevations. A contemporary canopy connects the building from the underside of the original awning to the stairs and footbridge.
Internal: Internally the building has a linear floor layout with a series of rooms in various sizes including combined former booking/parcels office (now booking office and staff area) with storeroom, general waiting room, ladies room and toilets, men's toilets with a store room in the curved bay. The doors are secured by metal grill gates while the windows are covered with security mesh. All of the original interior fit-out has been removed.
STATION BUILDING PLATFORM 3/4 (1943)
External: The station building on Platform 3/4 is approximately half the size of the Platform 1/2 building featuring the same detailing and architectural style with the exception of the curved bay on one end. It is of face brick construction with low pitched gabled roof and brick parapets at each end with courses of recessed heeler bricks capped by a course of bullnosed bricks. Centrally located on each parapet is an Art Deco style projecting vertical masonry fin constructed of heeler bricks in a contrasting colour. The parapets step down on each side from the fin. The roof is clad with Colorbond which extends as an awning on all four sides of the building. The awning on the southern end, which provides shelter to passengers purchasing tickets from the ticket machine, is supported by two rectangular brick columns with curved corners. The building has one ticket window, unlike Pendle Hill (and formerly Westmead) which had two. Early timber doors are extant. The standard steel framed windows with three horizontal hopper panels (central panel fixed) are vertically proportioned and placed regularly on both platform elevations between the solid timber doors. A contemporary canopy connects the building from the underside of the original awning to the stairs and footbridge.
Internal: Internally the building has a linear floor layout consisting of a former booking office and a waiting room. The doors are secured by metal grill gates while the windows are covered by security mesh. The former booking office is currently used for storage purposes. The internal finishes are the same as the other platform building.
PLATFORMS (1943)
Both island platforms have brick faces with concrete deck and asphalt surfaces. Some sections are steel rail post and concrete panel cast in situ. Modern aluminium palisade fencing, timber bench seating, lighting and signage are located on both of the platforms.
FOOTBRIDGE (1946)
The footbridge is a steel beam structure supported on RSJ steel trestles with concrete deck over the platforms and main lines with stairs to each of the platforms, and a ramp to street level on each side. It is of a simple structure with no ornamentation representing economic policies of the time. During 2018, the footbridge was upgraded as part of the Transport Access Program. The footbridge structure was retained, but non-compliant ramps were removed. The ramps were replaced with new stairs to provide station access
from Wentworth Avenue and Portico Parade. The footbridge was widened to accommodate ticketing and passenger information facilities and four new concrete lift structures were added.
UNDERBRIDGE & ARCHAEOLOGICAL REMAINS (c1860, c1880, 1946)
The visible areas of the underbridge consists of a 1946 four rail line crossing over Greystanes Creek with wooden sleepers over riveted steel girder with steel box and Pratt truss transoms supported on 1946 dry-pressed brick foundations. Underneath and at the edges of this underbridge are the piers of two previous bridges including top sections of c1860 sandstone aggregate piers and at the edges remnants of c1880 concrete pylons with blue metal aggregate. The present bridge replaced the c1880 underbridge with concrete pylons. The water level and weed growth obscures much of the view of the remains. In 2013 the transom top underbridge was converted to ballast top. The timber footings from remain.
MOVEABLE HERITAGE
NSW Railway heritage listed sites contain significant collections of stored movable railway heritage, including furniture, signs, operational objects, ex-booking office and ticketing objects, paper records, clocks, memorabilia, indicator boards and artwork. Individually, these objects are important components of the history of each site. Together, they form a large and diverse collection of movable objects across the NSW rail network. Sydney Trains maintains a database of movable heritage. For up-to-date information on all movable heritage items at this site, contact the Sydney Trains heritage team.
Key items at this station include but are not limited to:
A Milners Patent Fire Resistant Special Safe is located in the booking office.
There is a rack in the Platform 3/4 former booking office that maybe the book rack identified as potential moveable heritage in 2000.
The booking office on Platform 3/4 has also an original built in timber counter.
Set of two and a single timber rollover indicator board with clock faces and foot pedals (still in use in 2016).
POTENTIAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL FEATURES
Toongabbie Railway Station site is considered to have low archaeological potential, with little evidence of the early station buildings likely to remain. The archaeological potential for the remains below the Underbridge are likely to be high as there is no evidence that suggests they have been removed, rather than simply overgrown. |
| Modifications and dates: | 1947 - Unspecified improvements to station building. Subsequent modifications not known.
1997 - Modifications to booking office.
1946 - Bridges supporting the two tracks crossed Greystanes Creek near Portico Parade demolished and replaced
N.d - Internal modifications to station building.
2013 - Underbridge converted from transom top to ballast top.
2016 - Kiosk (c1954) demolished.
2018 - Toongabbie Station upgrade completed (New lifts, stairs, canopies, interchange amenities, family accessible toilets, lighting and CCTV) |