Travel west from Sydney and over the mountains to Australia's 'Colour City'. Take a short trip north to a town with 'Olde Worlde Charm,' take the road and down the 'Lane'. At the Lane's end take a right turn and two clicks to the Village Road. At the end of the road once stood a railway station, which at one time had the claim to fame of being the longest platform in New South Wales. Where are you?

McGruff

Baan Baa, pronounced "barn-bar", is a village with a population of 211, located in northern New South Wales, Australia in Narrabri Shire Council Local Government Area and Pottinger County. It is approximately 38 kilometres south of Narrabri and 56 km north of Gunnedah on the Kamilaroi Highway. The Baan Baa Literary Institute building which constructed of local cypress pine timber, was erected in 1923, and is now the local community hall. Baan Baa was once a bustling railway village, which once had its own bakery, butchery and service station. The village now serves primarily a grain rail terminal. It is a central delivery point for wheat and barley grown in the surrounding districts including Harparary, Maules Creek, and Turrawan. Baan Baa once had the longest railway platform in country New South Wales. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baan_Baa,_New_South_Wales Apr 01 10, 10:23 PM

McGruff

Looking at a map, I don't think that's right. The "Colour City" is Orange, but I get lost after that, and Baan Baa is too far north. Apr 01 10, 10:31 PM

Paul1405

Baan Baa is way way off the mark. Back to the 'COLOUR CITY' where I was born, not that thats much help. SHORT trip NORTH on the highway to the town with 'OLDE WORLDE CHARM', I never thought so but maybe the main street has. Paul. Apr 01 10, 11:28 PM

gtho4

The township north of Orange with that Olde World Charm is probably Molong. From there I followed the railway lines but couldn't find anything on google maps which ran alongside a road called Village Road. I also tried the other rail line that goes north out of Orange, no luck there either. Going through historical websites about Orange or Molong was also fruitless .. I was hoping to stumble across a reference to railways stations and platforms. All I found was a reference to Molong being the end of the line, terminus, for the railway from Sydney during the 1880s .. which sort of implies a platform *may* have been a whopper. The NSW government has closed a lot of railway lines and stations out west over the last 30 or so years .. so today's maps may not be of much use if the rails have been pulled up and platforms demolished. Maybe that will help someone else, as I'm going blind looking at maps. Apr 03 10, 12:17 AM

looney_tunes

Following the train line north from Orange led me to Kerr's Creek, which could have been reached by road on the Kerr's Creek Village Road. Backtracking, sees that road end on Euchareena Rd. Going north on Euchareena Rd we reach Boomey Lane. Turning west, we can travel to the Molong-Euchareena Road, and thence to Molong. Travelling in the direction of the question, then, we drove from Sydney to Orange, and on along the Mitchell Highway to Molong; took the Molong-Euchareena Road until we reached Boomey Lane, at the end of which we travelled on the Kerr's Creek Village Road to Kerr's Creek, which has a train station. I have not, however, been able to find any information as to the size of the platform. Being in the middle of pastoral country, it could well be long, to service lengthy freight trains. http://maps.google.com.au/maps?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=wBI&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&q=orange+nsw&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Orange+NSW&gl=au&ei=yvK2S8fhC5PQtgPj_8XoDA&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CAoQ8gEwAA Apr 03 10, 2:15 AM

gtho4

Nice work, I couldn't get to that Village Road from Molong. I looked at this site for Kerr's Creek, but there's no info about the platform,and the pictures don't show much. http://www.nswrail.net/locations/show.php?name=NSW:Kerrs+Creek Apr 03 10, 2:41 AM

looney_tunes

The pictures don't look as if the platform was all that long, do they? So ma be that's not the intended spot, but the roads seem to fit the instructions! Apr 03 10, 4:35 AM

Paul1405

Well done Looney Tunes yes the answer is Kerr's Creek. Orange is the Colour City, Molong is the town with Olde Worlde Charm, you see that written on their website, the main street comes under the national trust. I spent the early part of my life growing up on a property near Kerrs Creek Once upon a time a thriving community with a very long railway station,station master and railway employees, post office a couple of shops etc etc. The station platform was in the 1930's the longest in the state, the long platform was to do with loading of sheep and wool, and it was an inportant place for trains to take on water. Later as steam trains went the station was shortened and finally closed and demolished around 1975. There is much info about the place in the book Kerr's Creek The village and the district by Helen Haynes published in 1990, not a best seller, but contains a bit of history. Cheers Paul Apr 03 10, 4:38 AM