Temple Court railway station
Introduction '''Temple Court''' is the site of a closed railway station platform on the Main North railway line on the outskirts of the Hunter Region town of Murrurundi in New South Wales, Australia. The station was opened in late April 1878 and closed in 1975.No trace of it remains.A kerosene shale deposit had been located in early 1862, but the difficult terrain of the Liverpool Ranges provided transport problems. In 1871 a shale mine was started north of the area at Mount Temi. However, it was only from 1905 that significant progress was made to develop the deposit. A loop siding, north of Temple Court, was constructed in 1910, as was a short rail line from Temple Court to the site of the shale oil retorts that were operated by the British Australian Oil Company from late 1911 to early 1915.While the retorts operated, the line carried crude shale oil destined for the company's refinery at Hamilton. It was lifted in 1931.A part of the branch railway's formation, between the existing Main North railway and Pages River, is still discernible, as a curved embankment. Another part of the old railway route is Elizabeth Street in Murrurundi.
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