Wickham railway station, New South Wales

Prior to Wickham and Civic stations, Honeysuckle railway station, which was located opposite Steel Street in Newcastle West (at 32°55′35″S 151°45′54″E),[2] originally serviced areas west of the central business district. It was first built as the passenger service terminus of the Newcastle railway line, and opened as Newcastle railway station in March 1857.[3] While the new railway line was originally built with the express purpose of assisting the sea ports in the city, the original Newcastle railway station proved to be not close enough to adequately serve the ports, and thus the railway was extended further east, with a brand new Newcastle station opening in March 1858 as the line's new passenger terminus, and the former Newcastle station being renamed Honeysuckle station.[3] The station was later renamed Honeysuckle Point station, before it was ultimately closed in 1872 and another station, Hamilton, was opened two kilometers down the line towards the Main North railway line junction.[3] While the station lay dormant for many years after its closure to passenger services, Honeysuckle was finally demolished in 1936, prior to the opening of Wickham and a year after the opening of Civic station,[4][5] though the sandstone foundations of the platforms remained in place through to their rediscovery during excavations for the Newcastle Light Rail project in July 2016.[6]

Extended 8-car platform at Wickham under construction in May 2007.

In the years after Honeysuckle station's closure, Newcastle's population and urban development grew. As a response, two new stations on the Newcastle railway line were built, as Honeysuckle was demolished, to address the growing demand for transport[7] – Civic, which was built around 600 meters to the east, and Wickham, which was built 400 meters to the west. Wickham station was opened on 9 February 1936, two months after Civic station was opened.[8] The station housed an important signal box, located at the station's eastern end, which controlled the entire length of the Newcastle railway line from Newcastle to Hamilton, where the signal box at Hamilton Junction takes over.[3] The original signal box was built in 1928, and replaced in 1965 with a two-storey fibro signal box that was recognised as Australia's first television-equipped level crossing, being equipped with a closed-circuit television link between the box and the level crossing at Stewart Avenue, located at the station's western end.[8]

The station's structure remained largely the same for the rest of the 20th century. In 1992, a footbridge connecting the two platforms across the tracks, also located at the station's eastern end, was built, allowing access between the platforms.[8] In 2007, a number of changes were made as part of the New South Wales Government's Newcastle Rail Corridor Project, a refurbishment campaign across the railway line designed to extend the life of the Newcastle railway line,[9] described by contemporary media as a "backflip" for the Iemma Government, whom originally planned to close the line altogether.[10] The changes included an extension of the station's southern platform to fit eight-car trains bound for Newcastle, new entrances to the station via the level crossing at Stewart Avenue, and an upgrade of the CCTV system at the crossing assisting the signal box.[9]

The Newcastle railway line past Hamilton was closed on 25 December 2014, along with Wickham, Civic, and Newcastle stations.[11] The decision by Transport for New South Wales under the O'Farrell Government, followed a decades-long public campaign to remove the rail line to allow open access to the Hunter River foreshore and to allow urban renewal projects to take place in the region.[12] The cause, however, was not without controversy and opposition, with numerous efforts seeking to prevent the line's closure and removal.[13][14] The station was demolished in May 2017 to make way for the light rail depot.[15][16]

A new Newcastle Interchange opened to the west of Wickham station on 15 October 2017 as a terminus for the shortened Newcastle railway line and the Newcastle Light Rail.[17][18][19][20][21][22]