Сидней қаласындағы тарихи St James теміржол стансасы

Heritage listed railway station in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

St James railway station is a heritage listed

Part of the Bradfield Plan, St James railway station was originally intended to be a major interchange with the Eastern Suburbs line on Sydney's underground rail system. Plans for the construction of St James included railway lines in four directions, but the original plan was never completed due to disagreements over the routes. When the Eastern Suburbs line was eventually built it was done so via a different route via Town Hall. In the 1990s, the two island platforms were connected by filling in the space between the two inner platforms, resulting in the single, large island platform seen today. The station was designed by NSW Government Architect, George McRae, but not completed until after his death. It is an example of Inter War Stripped Classical architecture influenced by Art Deco. One distinctive feature of the station is a neon sign from the late 1930s advertising Chateau Tanunda Brandy installed by Tucker, Lingard & Co. It is located at the northern entrance on Elizabeth Street. For the first 30 years, St James station was used as a terminating station for the East Hills and Illawarra lines. The St James signal box, equipped with pistol grips, was the smallest such box in New South Wales. Trains arriving at St James would disembark passengers on one of the outer platforms, then the train would move to a siding and reverse direction, coming out at the opposite outer platform. During non peak hours the driver would simply move to the other end of the train while the train was on the siding. During peak hours the train would take on a second driver in the last car while at the platform, then proceed to one of the sidings, where the drivers would exchange control of the train. In February 2010, a passenger lift between the platform and the concourse opened, followed later by a lift between the concourse and street level.

St James station is notable for the abandoned tunnels connected to the station. The Australian Railway Historical Society, with the approval of the State Rail Authority, has given tours of the tunnels, but many people have visited the tunnels by entering along the subway tracks.

From 1933 to 1934, the City Inner tunnel between St James and Circular Quay was used by Raymond Mas as the location for an experimental mushroom farm producing of mushrooms per month.

The southern tunnels were modified during World War II to serve as a public air raid shelter. The bunker was located in what was intended to be the City Inner Tunnel, access to which was provided by a wooden staircase in a shaft leading upward to Shakespeare Place. Known as St James Lake, it is off limits to the public. During 2006, it was proposed that the northern unused tunnels be used as a reservoir for irrigation water for The Domain and the Royal Botanic Gardens as part of a Clean Up Australia project to create a series of water reclamation and storage facilities. Clean Up Australia partnered with a number of groups in the attempt to move the project forward, and in 2007 obtained funding to proceed. Also in 2007, State Premier Morris Iemma announced plans to harvest rainwater at Parliament House. According to this plan all storm water from Parliament House, the State Library and Sydney Hospital (all on Macquarie Street) would be drained into the tunnels, treated, and then pumped back to storage tanks at the surface for use in non potable water systems, saving an estimated each year. The project began on 15 January 2008 when water tanks for storage of the recycled water were installed on the top of Parliament House.

The tunnels which had been prepared as an air raid shelter were also used by ABC TV as a location for one episode of the TV series Police Rescue in the early 1990s. In the episode, a boy who had fallen down a storm drain is rescued. For 21 days the sound of the bell tolling at midnight was broadcast by the ABC. In 2008, the station was used as a location for the mini series False Witness. The platforms featured in Zoë Badwi's 2010 music video Freefallin. In 2011, The Tunnel was filmed in the abandoned tunnels.

In September 2018, expressions of interest were being sought to use the tunnels as the next underground attraction in Sydney.

St James station was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999. The station is of State significance because, along with Museum, it was the first underground station in Australia and demonstrates the adaptation of the London tube style station to the Australian situation. The station is well constructed, proportioned and detailed. The station complex is an important part of the larger Sydney Harbour Bridge and the electrified City Underground Railway scheme and has associations with prominent persons such as JJC Bradfield, chief engineer and designer of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and city underground and organisations such as the Department of Railways and represents the culmination of many years of political lobbying for a city railway system. The construction of the city underground and position of St James station encouraged the retail and commercial development of the Sydney CBD in the late 1920s and 1930s, with large department stores constructed around the stations. The station head house building is a fine and largely intact example of a small scale Inter War Stripped Classical style building which adds to the general character of the immediate area. It has significance as one of two buildings of its type and style remaining in the city railway system (the other being Museum Station entrance) and is a rare example of this type of station building. The underground platforms and concourse retain many original features and provide one of the most ornate station interiors in the NSW railway system. Disused platforms demonstrate the grand plans of the 1930s railway network of Bradfield, while the air raid shelter areas in the southern tunnels are rare surviving elements of Sydney's World War II defences. Individual elements, such as the tiling, ornate stairs, lights and clocks add to the ambience of the station, while the Chateau Tanunda neon advertising sign at the Elizabeth Street entrance is a rare surviving example of a 1930s neon sign in Sydney.