RAAF Base Glenbrook (ICAO: YGNB) is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) base located in Glenbrook, in the Lower Blue Mountains, approximately 60 kilometres (37 mi) west of the Sydney central business district in New South Wales, Australia. The base serves as home to Headquarters Air Command of the RAAF. There is no airfield although it has a heliport, or helicopter landing site (HLS) and most administrative services are located on the nearby RAAF Base Richmond.
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288 m
The Lapstone Zig Zag was a zig zag railway built between Emu Plains and Blaxland stations on the Main Western Line of New South Wales in Australia. Constructed between 1863 and 1865 to overcome an otherwise insurmountable climb up the eastern side of the Blue Mountains, the zig zag and associated Knapsack Viaduct, a sandstone arch viaduct, were designed by John Whitton, Engineer-in-Charge of New South Wales Government Railways, and were built by William Watkins. The zig zag was listed on the Blue Mountains local government heritage register on 27 December 1991; while the adjacent Knapsack Viaduct was listed on the New South Wales Heritage Database on 2 April 1999. The Lapstone Zig Zag was the world-first Zig Zag constructed on any main-line railway.
The ruling grade was already very steep at 1 in 33. Another of the early plans had been to build the whole line across the Blue Mountains on a completely different route through the Grose Valley with a 3-kilometre-long tunnel, but this was beyond the resources of the colony of New South Wales at the time. The track included the Knapsack Viaduct and the subsequently abandoned Lucasville station, opened in 1877.
The zig zag closed in 1892 when the Main Western line was diverted via the Glenbrook Deviation and subsequently sections of the line were repurposed as the Great Western Highway, and later use as a walking track.
325 m
Lucasville railway station was a railway station on the Lapstone Zig Zag, part of the Main Western line in New South Wales. The station was open between 1878 and 1892.
John Lucas purchased land for a country retreat adjacent to the top road of the Lapstone ZigZag. He built his house called Lucasville. The house has disappeared but traces of its gardens and access paths are still visible immediately to the west of the ZigZag walking track.
For the convenience of himself, his family, and his guests, Lucas used his political clout to have a railway station built on the Top Road of the ZigZag. Lucasville Station opened in 1878 and the substantial concrete platform, with rock-cut steps leading west into Lucasville grounds.
Today the station is part of the Historic Lapstone Zig Zag walking track.
449 m
The Glenbrook Tunnel is a heritage-listed single-track former railway tunnel that has also seen use as a mustard gas storage facility and as a mushroom farm. It is located on the former Main Western Line at Glenbrook, New South Wales, Australia. The Department of Railways designed the tunnel and built it from 1891 to 1892. It is also known as Lapstone Hill tunnel and Former Glenbrook Railway and World War II Mustard Gas Storage Tunnel. The property is owned by Blue Mountains City Council and Land and Property Management Authority, an agency of the Government of New South Wales. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 5 August 2011. The railway tunnel was originally part of the Glenbrook 1892 single-track deviation, which bypassed the Lapstone Zig Zag across the Blue Mountains. It is 634 metres; 693 yards long and is constructed in an 'S' shape with a gradient of 1:33.
The tunnel was built to the east of Glenbrook railway station and opened on 18 December 1892. Due to the steep gradient, seepage keeping the rails wet causing slippage, poor ventilation and planned duplication of the track, plans were drawn up to bypass the steep route. Trains commonly stalled in the tunnel for some time before having to back the locomotive out of the tunnel for another attempt. The tunnel was closed on 25 September 1913, and was utilised for growing mushrooms. In 1942, during World War II, the Royal Australian Air Force stockpiled bulk mustard gas stocks in preparation for a possible Japanese chemical weapons attack. The facility was known as No. 2 Sub Depot of No. 1 Central Reserve RAAF and was vacated by the RAAF after the war. It features in the "Alcatraz Down Under" episode of Cities of the Underworld on the History Channel.
in July 2021, the local state member Stuart Ayres announced that the NSW Government had allocated $2.5 million to progress the opening of the tunnel for public recreation
541 m
The Glenbrook deviation was a section of track on the Main Western line from the first Knapsack Viaduct to old Glenbrook station in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. The approximately five-mile-long deviation was constructed from 1891 to 1892 and replaced the Lapstone Zig Zag. The deviation was closed in 1913 when it was replaced by the second Glenbrook deviation and the second Glenbrook Tunnel, that continues to carry the Main Western line today.
842 m
Leonay is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 58 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Penrith. It is part of the Greater Western Sydney region.
Leonay is located on the western side of the Nepean River, at the foot of the Blue Mountains. The suburb is bounded by the M4 Motorway, the western railway line, and the Nepean River. One of Leonay's prominent features is the golf course which meanders through the suburb.
Parts of the 28-hectare (69-acre) site are heritage-listed and comprise the Officers' Mess, once the Lapstone Hotel. During World War Two, men stationed at the base co-ordinated the stockpiling of mustard gas in the disused Glenbrook railway tunnel. In 2009 the Minister for Defence, John Faulkner, announced that the base would be closed by 2015, and its command operations transferred to RAAF Base Amberley. In 2026, the Federal Government’s Defence Estate Audit recommended the sale of RAAF Base Glenbrook.