Lineside Liaisons #28 Donnybrook

One of the most beautifully restored old railway stations I've come across, Donnybrook, WA.

Every now and then I manage to be surprised by an old railway station that I wasn't expecting to find. Donnybrook Railway Station in Western Australia is one of them. Despite researching the routes of five different abandoned railway lines ahead of my trip west to collate the poems and photos needed for my book Last Train to Bunbury, I'd somehow missed seeing a single photo of Donnybrook's restored 1893 station until seeing it in person during a magical late afternoon highway stop in the summer of 2018. Donnybrook is an apple growing town located an easy half hour drive south of Bunbury along the South Western Highway, and the station still takes pride in a pleasant park-like setting in the heart of town. The town's 1890 English Oak trees inspired my poem Oak Trees and Apples, featured memorably inside my book Last Train to Bunbury.