About SideTracked Caches
This simple multi-cache (BYOP!) belongs to the SideTracked series. It is not designed to take you to a magical place with a breathtaking view. It's a distraction for the weary traveller, but anyone else can go and find it too. More information can be found at the SideTracked Website.
The Cache
**Please Note**
At all times, for safety, you must remain behind the YELLOW LINE on the platform while searching for the information you need. According to the regulations, anyone entering a railway platform must have tapped on with their Opal Card, even if they don't intend to board a train. After gathering the information for this cache, you can then tap off, which reverses the transaction. Apparently, transport inspectors can and occasionally do check the Opal Cards of people on railway platforms.
To collect the details for this cache start at the posted coordinates, on platform 3 just west of the station's main building:
There are 3 brown doors into the building from this platform, with consecutive room numbers except for a gap. What room number is missing in the sequence (A B)?
There is a red sign on the vertical metal conduit underneath the bridge, on the opposite side of the track to the platform: "Danger C D E volts"
Walk up the stairs to the concourse and turn right:
Phone number for the Lindfield Railway Bookstall is 02 94FG 88H5
Checksum (sum of the numbers represented by A - H) = 34
The container is (hopefully) located at:
S33° 46.ECH' E151° 10.(F-D)EB'
Being a commuter station usage is concentrated around the morning and evening peaks, hence be particularly muggle-aware at these times, at all waypoints.
About Lindfield Station
Lindfield railway station is located on the North Shore line, serving the Sydney suburb of Lindfield. It is served by Sydney Trains T1 North Shore line and T9 Northern line services. It opened on 1 January 1890 when the North Shore Line opened from Hornsby to St Leonards, and was named after a cottage near the station, which was in turn named "Lindfield" after the native town in Sussex, England, of Mr List, the owner. The cottage was moved to Narrabeen in 2 sections in the 1940s, but has since been demolished.
It ranks 60th in the network with about 4,000 daily users (2014 data).
About Lindfield
Lindfield was originally the traditional land of Aboriginal people. The first land usage by Europeans at Lindfield was the extension of the Lane Cove Sawing Establishment to the level ground adjacent to what is now a roundabout marking the intersection of Fiddens Wharf Road, Bradfield Road and Lady Game Drive. The camp at the river end of Fiddens Wharf Road had been established from c1805, and it is likely that the more permanent camp was established to cater for the cattle, and for the 48 convicts based there. The camp was still in existence in 1816, but was likely to have been abandoned by 1819.
By 1812, the government was promising land to likely settlers on the undertaking that they would start improving the land by clearing the timber prior to farming. One such settler was Daniel Dering Mathew, whose promised land (granted eventually in 1819) spanned the present Roseville / Lindfield, extending along the eastern side of the highway as far north as Tryon Road. All early grants were measured from the main road.
Apart from William Henry (who occupied land along the Lane Cover River from 1814), Daniel Mathew and Richard Archbold, little is known of the early Lindfield pioneers. An exception is George Cadby, of the NSW Veteran Corps who in 1831 was promised 100 acres of land on the west of the ridge. Cadby was authorised to take possession of the land in July 1833. He soon made an application for six convicts to work for him.
George Cadby’s grant was located in the heart of Lindfield, extending along the main road from Bent and Balfour Streets to Lindfield Public School, then westwards to beyond Ivey Street. Cadby is listed as living in Lane Cove from 1834 to 1837. He returned to England and died there in 1864.
Between 1840 and 1880 Lindfield, as part of the area known as Lane Cove, was a timber-getting community and evolved into a farming community as the land was cleared. Fruit trees and later market gardens were planted. The Lane Cove River was the main transport artery, and early development focused there. It was not until the second half of the 19th century that the highway emerged as the major route, with a consequent increase in settlement.
Lindfield's shopping centre developed between the wars with a second block of shops along Lindfield Avenue. Significant growth occurred in the postwar years and more recently many units have been built along the Pacific Highway and Lindfield Avenue. More significant changes in Lindfield are likely in response to State Government plans to provide denser housing in and around key commercial centres and to help increase retail and commercial development to cater for the needs of the local community. There is some resistance to this trend towards urban consolidation in a suburb that prides itself on its leafy gardens and relaxed suburban life style.
At the 2021 census, the suburb of Lindfield recorded a population of 10,943.
(sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindfield_railway_station, https://khs.org.au/lindfield-local-history/)
Congratulations to Jackscruff on the FTF!