Pontville

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Type : Station
Line : Apsley Branch
Distance from Brighton Junction : 004.685km
Opened : 22 April 1891
Closed : 29 September 1947, Pontville continued to receive a limited special service until a few months after the formal closure of the line.
Status : Closed
Name meaning : Possibly translated from the French as 'bridge town' and that it could describe the bridge over the Jordan River.
Notes : The platform (originally constructed of timber) was on the Down side of the line. It had a ladies room, general waiting room, office, store and gents toilets. In 1923 this building was relocated to Tunbridge following the destruction of that station by fire. It was later replaced with a small shelter. The initial survey for the location notes this as "Brooksby station". ('Brooksby' (constructed around 1840) is a two storey stone Georgian house originally built for Lieutenant George Brooks Foster, the Assistant Police Magistrate in the district.
The tender for the construction of the station was let to W H Cheverton on 22/03/189 for a cost of £829 6s 1d.
Pontville had a corrugated iron goods shed on an Up siding and a wooden loading bank platform, the goods shed was removed some time prior to the closure of the line.
Pontville, along with Mangalore and Bagdad, was served in the last months of the line with a weekly (Friday) railmotor service to Hobart. In 1923, following fire damage to the Tunbridge station building, the Railway Department moved the Pontville station building to Tunbridge, the local council expressed hope that a new building would be constructed, although it was noted that they "expected the lines to be pulled up next".  By July of that year new, temporary, fencing had been erected and although no report mentions construction of a new building, a shelter was erected.

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Original Pontville station at Tunbridge.

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Diagram of Pontville

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The exact location of the one-time station is difficult to determine now as the entire area has been obliterated by roadworks, however the northern end of the yards was located near to "Shene Lane", although this no longer exists it may be what is now called Shene Road which would place the station and yards near to the large roundabout (or adjacent to it) in the following image. Further research is required to support this supposition.

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This image of Pontville (drawn between 1930 and 1935) shows the configuration of the station and yards in the latter part of the life of the line.
The platform is shown with what appears to be a basic waiting shed (this indicates that it was reconstructed after the station building was relocated to Tunbridge, albeit in a very simple format).
The goods loop and associated structures are also clearly marked which shows that at this point they had not yet been demolished. The assumption is that they were likely still in use at this point although they would be demolished before the station closed.