This platform has also always been the ‘special services’ platform: the place where the Governor set off in his own car to the Governor’s Residence in Sutton Forest and where General Macarthur arrived in World War II.

Central Station

Platform 1 is also a symbol of the hard work that is associated with running the railways. There is a goods lift about half way along this platform. This lift would take workers into another world where thousands of different kinds of parcels were handled every day – coffins, dogs and cats, furniture, postal packages all being sent around the state and the city.

You will notice number series printed in black and yellow on the piers of the awning. These numbers mark the distance you are from the buffers at the end of platform 1. At BO037 read the plaque dated 23 February 1970.

There are many NSW families who have a tradition of 'working on the railways'. Commissioner McCusker, whose name is on this plaque came from such a family. His father had risen to be Station Master and retired after 50 years’ service. Commissioner McCusker started as a junior porter at Byrock to rise to the top over 49 years of service. He was credited with making Sydney’s railways the first in the world with a fleet of double deck carriages.