Summit Tank was a railway station on the Unanderra-Moss Vale line

Unanderra-Moss Vale railway line, New South Wales

The Unanderra – Moss Vale railway line is a cross country railway line in New South Wales, Australia. The line branches from the Illawarra railway line at the town of Unanderra and winds west over the Illawarra escarpment to the Southern Highlands town of Moss Vale...

 in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

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History

In the late 1920s it was decided by the then New South Wales Government that a railway was needed between Moss Vale

Moss Vale, New South Wales

Moss Vale is a town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. It has a population of 7,339 and is sited on the Illawarra Highway, which connects to Wollongong and the Illawarra coast via Macquarie Pass...

 and Wollongong

Wollongong, New South Wales

Wollongong is a seaside city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. It lies on the narrow coastal strip between the Illawarra Escarpment and the Pacific Ocean, 82 kilometres south of Sydney...

 to get freight trains from southern locations directly to Port Kembla

Port Kembla, New South Wales

Port Kembla is a suburb of Wollongong 8 km south of the CBD and part of the Illawarra region of New South Wales. The suburb comprises a seaport, industrial complex , a small harbour foreshore nature reserve, and a small commercial sector. It is situated on the tip of Red Point, first sighted...

 and away from the increasing passenger train services in southern and south western Sydney. A right of way was surveyed from Unanderra

Unanderra, New South Wales

Unanderra is a suburb of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately 10 km south-west of the Wollongong CBD. It is bordered to the west by Farmborough, Cordeaux Heights and Farmborough Heights in the Mount Kembla foothills, the north by Figtree, the east by Berkeley...

 just south of Wollongong through the southern part of Farmborough Heights

Farmborough Heights, New South Wales

Farmborough Heights is a southern, medium-high wealth suburb in the city of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. It is situated to the west of Unanderra in the foothills of Mount Kembla. The suburb mainly consists of separate residential dwellings, but also has a general store and a take away....

 on a gradient of 1 in 33 to Moss Vale.

Summit Tank is a location where banker or pusher engines

Bank engine

A bank engine or helper engine or pusher engine is a railway locomotive that temporarily assists a train that requires additional power or traction to climb a grade...

 were taken off Moss Vale bound trains and for extra braking were added to heavy Wollongong or Port Kembla bound trains. Summit Tank had a passenger platform, train crew amenities and a 60 feet (18.3 m) manual turntable for turning locomotives and ash pits.

Today

Summit Tank still sees the occasional bank engine with heavy steel trains regularly using the Unanderra to Moss Vale line to gain access to the Main South Line to Melbourne. Other traffic on the line includes container trains, bulk wheat and other grain trains, mostly from southern New South Wales; coal trains from Tahmoor and Glenlee; western coal trains using the line during Illawarra line trackwork; limestone trains from Medway, as well as the once-a-month Cockatoo Run to and from Sydney.

Summit Tank has a mainline and passing loop

Passing loop

A passing loop is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at a station, where trains or trams in opposing directions can pass each other. Trains/trams in the same direction can also overtake, providing that the signalling arrangement allows it...

 with a platform for safeworking duties including a local control panel and radio antenna for train operations. Further towards Moss Vale there is a platform where Cockatoo Run passengers can alight to visit a scenic look-out on the edge of the Illawarra Escarpment

Illawarra escarpment

The Illawarra Escarpment is the fold created cliffs and plateau eroded outcrop mountain range west of the Illawarra coastal plain south of Sydney, Australia, enclosing the region known as the Illawarra which stretches from Stanwell Park in the north to Kiama, Gerringong and the Shoalhaven river in...

, with views over Lake Illawarra

Lake Illawarra

Lake Illawarra is a large coastal lagoon located in the city of Wollongong about 100 km south of Sydney, New South Wales.The lake receives runoff from the Illawarra escarpment through Macquarie Rivulet and Mullet Creek, and has a narrow tidal entrance to the sea at Windang...

 and the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

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