The Royal National Park Branch

The Royal National Park line linked the station of Loftus on the South Coast Line to the nearby Royal National Park. The line opened with the main line and at various times served an army camp, park visitors and residents of nearby Grays Point. At its peak, 25 services were provided on weekends. When electric trains were introduced in 1926, this branch was surprisingly included in the electrification.

The Scouts Platform was introduced in 1946 to serve the nearby NSW Scouts Jamboree of that year. The original terminus station boasted a 10-car island platform, goods bank and 5 sidings.

Services were reduced in the 60s and 80s, and by the mid 1980s only two trains a week serviced the branch. Because of this, it was sometimes used for unusual purposes. Following the 1990 Cowan Bank collision, the branch was used to test where automatic sanders could insulate a train's wheels from the track circuit (they could). It was also used for driver training, and track irregularities from wheel skids are still visible is places.

In 1978, the old The Royal National Park station was closed to make way for an improved national park visitors centre. A new station was constructed adjacent to the site, and opened in time for the park's centenary the following year.

In 1991, a signalling problem caused the suspension of services. When it was found that $400 000 would be required to bring the line up to acceptable standard, the line was officially closed. At the time, patronage was an average of 3 people per train.

Two years later the line was taken over by the Loftus-based Sydney Tramway Museum, who now use it to run tourist trams from Loftus to the new The Royal National Park platform.