Cootamundra

16 FOAM HOUSE Protected by concrete-filled double brick walls, the Foam House was constructed adjacent to the upper fenced perimeter. Its role was to generate foam for pumping around the site to put out minor grass fires and smother leaking fuel from damaged tanks. To help it do this, it was equipped with a four cylinder petrol engine, a centrifugal pump, a foam generator and soap solution tank with rotary pump and various lines. Photos taken in the 1950s capture foam being sprayed into the air on one of the fuel tanks after Ampol Australia took over the depot as the district’s main fuel distributor. Virtually all of the foam house and some of its equipment are still intact. RAILWAY SIDING One of the most important components of the inland fuel depot was the siding constructed across the road about 100 metres south east of the Sutton Street entrance gate. The 112 feet (34 metre) long rail siding platform accommodated rail tankers shunted into position from the main Cootamundra rail yard for loading and unloading fuel. The rail tanker was connected to nearby fixed pipes which ran under the main Southern rail line and Olympic Way. By 2014, all that was left of original siding included some pipework, concrete drainage, a sump and railway sleepers. After hostilities ceased the land was returned to the owner Mr Haissal and site remediation carried out. Brick encased foam house at top of depot site Cootamundra main lines, south signal box and locomotive yard, NSW April 1949. National Library of Australia Foam house interior