The first railway in colonial South Australia was a line from the port of Goolwa on the River Murray to an ocean harbour at Port Elliot, which first operated in December 1853, before its completion in May 1854.[1]
During the following seven decades construction continued, by stops and starts, often to encourage agricultural development or to ameliorate unemployment. Very little additional trackage was built from the 1920s onwards. In 1966, the total was 3991 kilometres (2480 miles), comprising 2657 kilometres (1651 miles) of 1600 mm (5 ft 3 in) and 1334 kilometres (829 miles) of 1067 mm (3 ft 6 in).
Following almost total closure of regional lines in South Australia in the last decades of the twentieth century, today the state's rail network comprises 1435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge links to other states, 1600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad gauge suburban railways in Adelaide, a narrow-gauge gypsum haulage line on the Eyre Peninsula, and both copper–gold concentrate and coal on the standard-gauge line in the Adelaide–Darwin rail corridor north of Tarcoola.
History
The first railway in colonial South Australia was the horse-drawn tramway from Goolwa to Port Elliot opened in 1854, providing a rail link from the port of Goolwa on the Murray River to an ocean harbour at Port Elliot. It was later extended to a safer harbour at Victor Harbor. This line was used to move freight between the shallow-draft vessels navigating the Murray, and coastal and ocean-going vessels, without either having to traverse the narrow and shallow mouth of the river with unpredictable currents.
The first of the Railways in Adelaide was built in 1856 between the city and the port. The Adelaide railways were all built as broad gauge of 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in). Gradually, a network of lines spread out from Adelaide. These were initially built to carry ore, particularly copper, then later freight from the Murray River, and grain from the broadacre lands. In the first half of the 20th century, most of these lines carried passengers as well as freight.
The main line to Melbourne was opened after a bridge was built at Murray Bridge in 1886. It was the first railway line between colony capitals to not have a break-of-gauge. It was also the last of these to be converted to standard gauge in 1995.
In 1847, the Parliament of South Australia passed an act confirming adoption of the newly termed "standard gauge" (originally "Stephenson gauge") of 1435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) – the first Australian colony to do so.[2] In 1848 the Colonial Secretary in London, Lord Grey, recommended all the Australian colonies adopt that gauge. However, the company building the first railway in New South Wales decided to adopt the "Irish" broad gauge gauge of 1600 mm (5 ft 3 in). Soon afterwards, Victoria and South Australia ordered locomotives and rolling stock to the wider gauge. New South Wales changed back to preferring standard gauge, but it was too late for Victoria and South Australia to change yet again. Thus began Australia's "mixed gauge muddle", which persists to this day.[3]
The first main line railway in Adelaide was built in 1856 between the city and the port. The main line to Melbourne was opened after a bridge was built at Murray Bridge in 1886. It was the first railway line between Australian capital cities not to have a break-of-gauge – but it was to be 109 years before it was converted to standard gauge in 1995, the last inter-capital line to be converted.
Narrow gauge
Influenced by Queensland Railways' successful adoption of the narrow gauge for cost reasons (opened 1865), and influenced by the advocacy of people such as Abraham Fitzgibbon, South Australia changed the gauge[ambiguous] of the Port Wakefield line in the middle of construction. The Port Wakefield line, opened 1870, was originally horse drawn.
The lines on the Eyre Peninsula Railway and throughout the mid-north were built to 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) narrow gauge. Once the narrow gauge from Port Pirie to Broken Hill was converted to standard gauge, the narrow gauge from Terowie was converted to broad gauge to Peterborough. Peterborough became the change of gauge station for Broken Hill Adelaide express. The narrow gauge line was retained north from Peterborough to Quorn.
The country railways were initially owned by South Australian Railways. The narrow gauge lines north and west of Quorn were handed over to the Commonwealth Railways in 1926, though the Commonwealth had had financial responsibility for these lines since 1911. The Commonwealth Railways later merged with the SAR to become the Australian National Railways Commission (ANR) in 1978.
1884: Victor Harbor tramway strengthened to carry steam trains and extended to meet the South Line at Mount Barker Junction. A branch was also built from Sandergrove to Milang.
1982: Adelaide to Crystal Brook standard gauge railway opened to replace broad gauge from Salisbury to Port Pirie, connecting Adelaide to the standard gauge network
The first South Australian steam-operated line was built as a broad gauge (5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm)) line in 1856 between the city and Port Adelaide stopping at Bowden, Woodville and Alberton. This line is now part of the Adelaide suburban network and has been proposed for standardisation and conversion to light rail. It was extended as the Outer Harbor line to Outer Harbor in 1908. A branch was built to Grange in 1882. It was extended as the Henley Beach line to Henley Beach in 1894 and closed in 1957.
Development of the lines
Map of railways extant and proposed in 1910 in South Australia
The beginnings of the Victor Harbor line was a horse-drawn broad (1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)) gauge tramway built from the port of Goolwa on the Murray River to an ocean harbour at Port Elliot in 1854. This line was used to move freight between the shallow-draft vessels navigating the Murray, and coastal and ocean-going vessels, without either having to traverse the narrow and shallow mouth of the river with unpredictable currents. It was later extended from Port Elliot to Victor Harbor in 1864 and from Goolwa to Strathalbyn in 1869. It was extended to Mount Barker Junction on the South Line in 1884 and strengthened to carry steam trains.
A branch from the South Line between the Mount Lofty Ranges and Murray River was built to Monarto and Cambrai in 1886. It was shortened to Apamurra near Palmer before being converted then closed briefly due to the standardisation of the Adelaide – Melbourne line in 1995. The line was then converted to standard gauge later in 1995 until it then closed again in 2005.[citation needed]
In the Murray Mallee, the Pinnaroo line was built from Tailem Bend to Pinnaroo in 1906. This was connected with the Victorian Railways at the Victorian border and Ouyen by 1915. The South Australian part of this line was converted to standard gauge in 1998 to reconnect it with the Adelaide – Melbourne line. This created a break-of-gauge at Pinnaroo. The last traffic on the line was transporting grain from silos to Port Adelaide. Viterra announced that no more grain would be carried by rail on this line after 31 July 2015, with the 2015 harvest to be entirely transported by road.[7]
The Barmera railway line opened from Tailem Bend through Karoonda to Wanbi on 6 January 1913, extended to Paruna on 1 May and Meribah on 7 May 1913 (both in the Brown's Well district).[8] Even while this line was still being built, the Government of South Australia approved several spur lines from it to open up over a million acres of farmland. These were:[9][10]
Brown's Well north to Paringa (opened October 1913),[11] closed to Alawoona December 1990 then Tailem Bend August 2015
The Peebinga railway line east from Karoonda covering the gap between the Pinnaroo and Brown's Well lines, opened 18 December 1914, closed 7 December 1990.[10]
The government expected these lines to not recover the cost in the short term, but to open up land for farming wheat to "strengthen the backbone of South Australia".[9] They were built using second-hand rails, and were the first in the state to use steel sleepers.[9]
The last of these lines was the Loxton railway line which was converted to standard gauge in 1998. It closed with the transfer of the grain traffic to road after July 2015. Viterra announced that no more grain would be carried by rail in the region after 31 July 2015, with the 2015 harvest to be entirely transported by road.[7]
Southern narrow gauge lines
South Australian Railways V class No. 9 commenced service on the Kingston-Naracoorte railway with gauge of 3 ft 6 in (1.07 m), in early 1877. Transferred to northern division of S.A.R. in 1888, retired in 1953 (on display in Naracoorte).
The Mount Gambier-Heywood railway line, a broad gauge line, was opened between Mount Gambier and Heywood near Portland in 1917. From 1953 to 1956, the southeastern lines were converted to broad gauge, with the exception of the Beachport – Millicent and the Wandilo – Glencoe line, which were closed down in 1957. The Kingston – Naracoorte was closed on 28 November 1987. The other southeastern lines, including the line to Heywood, have been out of use since the standardisation of the Adelaide – Melbourne and Maroona – Portland lines on 12 April 1995. There are regular calls for their standardisation.
A branch line was built from Riverton to Clare in 1919 and Spalding in 1922.[15] This line was lifted in the early 80s and parts of it have been restored as the Rattler Trail (Riverton to Auburn) and Riesling Trail (Auburn to Clare), a bicycle and walking trail through the Clare Valley.
In 1925, a broad gauge line was built from Salisbury to Redhill and in 1937, it was extended to Port Pirie to meet the extension of the standard gauge from Port Augusta. This line was converted to standard gauge in 1982, including a deviation at the northern end to move the rail junction from Port Pirie to Crystal Brook.
Western Division narrow gauge lines
The lines in the Mid North (generally north of Goyder's Line, which is the limit of 10" annual rainfall) were built to narrow gauge1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in).
Upper Yorke Peninsula lines
Broad-gauge tracks at the abandoned cargo rail station near the port in Wallaroo.
A horse-drawn tramway was built by the Kadina and Wallaroo Railway and Pier Company between Wallaroo and Kadina in 1862 and extended to Moonta in 1866. This was acquired by the South Australian Railways in 1877 and a new narrow gauge line was built along its route and connected to Port Wakefield in about 1878. A line was built from Brinkworth to Snowtown, Bute and Kadina in 1879. These lines were converted to broad gauge in 1927.[17]
All the lines west of the Adelaide–Crystal Brook standard gauge line and the line from Snowtown to Brinkworth were closed after the Adelaide – Crystal Brook line was opened in 1982, despite proposals to convert some of them to standard gauge.
There are calls to convert the Wolseley to Mount Gambier line to standard gauge. This partly reflects the lifting of restriction on the road transportation of grain Australia-wide that followed recommendations of the 1986-88 Royal Commission into grain storage, handling and transport. This particularly affected South Australian railways because of the short distances between the growing areas and its various wheat exporting ports. The Snowtown to Wallaroo Broad Gauge was converted to Dual Gauge (Standard/Broad) during the late 1980s.
North Mount Lofty Ranges lines
A line was built from Balaklava to Brinkworth and Gladstone by 1880 and later extended to Wilmington. The Hamley Bridge – Balaklava – Brinkworth – Gladstone line was converted to broad gauge in 1927, making Gladstone a break-of-gauge junction. In 1969, when the line from Port Pirie to Broken Hill was converted to standard gauge, Gladstone became a three-gauge break-of-gauge junction (together with Peterborough and succeeding Port Pirie, which had been reduced to two gauges). In the 1980s, the broad gauge line north of Balaklava and the narrow gauge line were closed, leaving Gladstone as a purely standard gauge station.
A narrow gauge line was built from Terowie to Peterborough in 1881, creating a break-of-gauge at Terowie, although the enforced train change created an opportunity for General Douglas MacArthur to deliver his famous line "I shall return" at Terowie station on 20 March 1942. The break-of-gauge was not overcome until the Terowie – Peterborough line was converted to broad (1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)) gauge in 1970, to meet new the standard gauge from Port Pirie to Broken Hill, but it was abandoned by 1988.
The narrow gauge line was extended to Orroroo also in 1881 and Quorn in 1882, connecting with the new line from Port Augusta. This line has now been abandoned.
A narrow gauge railway was built from Port Pirie to Gladstone, Peterborough and Broken Hill, in 1888 to serve the Broken Hill silver and lead mine, which was becoming the largest and richest of its kind in the world. Since the New South Wales Government would not allow the South Australia railway to cross the border, the last 30 km (19 mi) was built by a private company as a tramway, the Silverton Tramway from Cockburn to Silverton and Broken Hill. In 1970 the line was converted to standard gauge, completing the standard transcontinental gauge line from Sydney to Perth.[18]
In 1957, the new standard gauge line was built from Stirling North (near Port Augusta) to Marree on a new alignment west of the Flinders Ranges and the narrow gauge line between Hawker and Marree was abandoned. The remainder of the narrow gauge line between Stirling North, Quorn and Hawker was abandoned in 1972, although the Stirling North – Quorn section has been taken over by the Pichi Richi tourist railway (with a more recent extension into the town of Port Augusta completed in 2001).[19] The narrow gauge line from Marree to Alice Springs was abandoned with the opening of the new standard gauge railway from Tarcoola to Alice Springs in 1980. The standard gauge line from Stirling North has since been abandoned north of the Leigh Creek Coalfield.
Eyre Peninsula lines
The isolated SAR Port Lincoln Division was built to 1067 mm (3 ft 6 in) narrow gauge, all of it lightly built since its purpose was to promote agricultural development of the area. Construction started with a railway between Port Lincoln and Cummins, opened in 1907. The network grew until 1950, when its length was 767 kilometres (477 miles).[20]: 57 It was vitally important in its early days since roads were few and unmade; communities throughout the Eyre Peninsula relied totally on the SAR for transport of their produce to port, supplies for their everyday needs, and passenger transport. As roads improved, however, "roadside goods" traffic declined, usually to one train a week, and passenger services ceased in 1968.[20]: 145 [21]
Meanwhile, from the mid-1960s, a transition took place from bagged grain traffic in open wagons to bulk grain hopper wagons in point-to-point unit trains, vastly improving efficiency.[20]: 114 The system ended in 2019 when grain distributor Viterra moved to road haulage.[22] As of 2023[update], the only remaining operational part of the original Port Lincoln Division was the 65 kilometres (40 miles) long Lake Macdonnell–Thevenard railway, on which Aurizon ran three gypsum unit trains a day.
The steel industry company, BHP, developed two separate systems on the peninsula. The so-called BHP Whyalla Tramway, a 112 kilometres (70 miles) long 1067 mm (3 ft 6 in) heavy-haul iron ore line from the Middleback Range to the Whyalla Steelworks, opened in 1901 and is still operational.[23] The Coffin Bay Tramway, also a heavy-haul line but built to 1435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in), opened in 1966 and closed in 1989. It conveyed mineral sand 39 km (24 mi) from Coffin Bay to Proper Bay on the outskirts of Port Lincoln.[20]: 349
The John Cox Bray Government in South Australia introduced the Palmerston and Pine Creek Railway Bill in 1883. The £959,300 contract went to C & E Millar of Melbourne on the proviso that they could use Asian labourers. The line reached Pine Creek in 1888 and was officially opened on 30 September 1889. Singhalese and Indian gangs did the grubbing and earthwork and 3,000 Chinese labourers laid over 1 km (0.62 mi) of track per day. A total of 310 bridges and flood openings were built.
The Commonwealth Government took over the line in 1911 and renamed it the Northern Territory Railway. The line was extended to Katherine in 1917. Further extensions in the 1920s saw it eventually reach Birdum, just south of Larrimah, in 1929, when it was further renamed the North Australia Railway, to distinguish it from the Central Australia Railway, which reached Alice Springs from the south in the same year.
Although a railway line from Alice Springs to Darwin had been discussed for many years, the North
Australia Railway was closed in 1976. However eventually the standard gauge Adelaide to Darwin Railway was finally completed on 17 September 2003 with the line between Alice Springs and Darwin. The first freight train reached Darwin on 17 January 2004.
Adelaide suburban network
Adelaide's metropolitan rail network was the last of Australia's five major cities to be electrified. Almost $500 million in funding was provided in the 2008-09 State Budget for electrification and gauge conversion.[24][failed verification]
However, not all lines have finished electrification, and at this stage,[when?] the Belair line will not be electrified.[25]
Naracoorte – Kingston SE opened 1877, now closed and dismantled.
Wandilo – Glencoe opened 1904, now closed and dismantled. **Mount Gambier – Beachport to the west via Tantanoola and Millicent. Opened 1878, now closed and dismantled from Adelaide Road, Millicent to Beachport.
Mount Gambier – Heywood to the east, linking into the Victorian network, near Portland. (closed pending standard gauge conversion)
Stirling North to Marree line (standard gauge) (1957) replaced the narrow gauge line to Marree. Used to haul coal from Leigh Creek to power stations at Port Augusta until 2016.
^A Pastoral Railway – Narrow Gauge Railways in the South-East of South Australia. Callaghan, W.H. Australian Railway History, August to December 2004. pp302-315;331-339;376-387;424-432;463-466 January to March 2005 pp15-26;68-77;83-103.
^"The Riesling Trail". The Wilson Vineyard www.wilsonvineyard.com.au. Archived from the original on 20 August 2006. Retrieved 27 April 2006.
^"Linking a Nation". Australian Heritage Commission www.ahc.gov.au. Archived from the original on 22 June 2006. Retrieved 27 April 2006.
