Bridgewater railway line

Bridgewater Line
Overview
Locale	Adelaide, South Australia
Termini	Adelaide Bridgewater
Stations	Goodwood Mitcham Blackwood Belair Mount Lofty Aldgate
Operation
Opened	1883
Closed	23 September 1987
Technical
Line length	37.3 km (23.2 mi)
Number of tracks	Quadruple Track to Goodwood Single Track to Belair (formerly double track) Closed from Belair (formerly single track)

The Bridgewater railway line is a former passenger railway service on the Adelaide to Wolseley line in the Adelaide Hills. It was served by TransAdelaide suburban services from Adelaide. In September 1987, the service was curtailed to Belair. In 1995, the line was converted to standard gauge as part of the One Nation infrastructure program, disconnecting these stations from the broad gauge suburban railway system.

History

The line from Adelaide to Belair/Bridgewater opened in 1883. The Bridgewater line headed east from Belair parallel to the northern side of Belair National Park. The line then turned south through the national park and then turned east again, where the National Park station used to be. It continued east past Long Gully and Nalawort stations to the Upper Sturt station, 28.9 kilometres from Adelaide station. 500m later the track turned north east and continued to Mount Lofty station, 31 km from Adelaide. After that it turned south and reached Heathfield station (33 km), just after the line turned north east. It reached the village of Aldgate just as it passed the Madurta station, then the track reached the Aldgate station (34.5 km). The line continued east, passing the Jibilla and Carripook stations and finally, the line terminated at Bridgewater station, 37.3 km by rail from Adelaide Railway Station.

The Bridgewater line had a fairly steep grade for most of the journey, sometimes resulting in derailments due to the tight bends. Services from Adelaide to Bridgewater usually took an average of one hour (stopping all stations), and about 50 minutes (express). Only one train per two hours operated during off-peak and weekends (most trains terminated at Belair) and no more than two trains per hour in either direction during peak-hours. This was because the line was single track (which is still the case today) with crossing loops located at Belair, Long Gully, Mount Lofty, Aldgate and Bridgewater.

Services

Services on the Bridgewater line were mainly operated by Redhen railcars, with the 2000 class railcars occasionally used in its final years.

On special occasions after 1987, such as the Oakbank Easter Racing Carnival held every Easter weekend at Oakbank, trains went further east to terminate at Balhannah station, however this service ceased prior to the standard gauge due to the expense of operating the line..

Closure of the line

When the more direct South Eastern Freeway opened in the 1960s, patronage to Bridgewater declined heavily, as more people had access to cars and the car journey was much quicker and shorter. In 1985, the State Transport Authority sought to have the service withdrawn. At this stage the line had 12 services on weekdays, nine on Saturdays and five on Sundays.^[1]

On 23 September 1987, passenger services to Bridgewater were withdrawn, attributed to high cost of operation and low passenger numbers. All stations beyond Belair were closed and all suburban trains now terminate at Belair.^[2]

In 1995, the Adelaide to Wolseley line was converted from Broad Gauge (1600mm) to Standard Gauge (1435mm) ruling out any restoration of local trains to Bridgewater or beyond, and also disconnected a number of the South Australian country broad gauge services from Adelaide. Between Goodwood and Belair, the former double track route became two parallel single lines, one broad gauge for Adelaide Metro suburban services, the other standard gauge freight services.^[3]

Along with this conversion, stations on the Belair line at Mile End Goods, Millswood, Hawthorn and Clapham closed. The other Belair line stations each had one platform closed.

Millswood reopened on 12 October 2014 for a 12-month trial. The trial was successful, and the station was reopened permanently.

Stations

Bridgewater Line
Broad Gauge, Standard Gauge
Legend
0.0 km Adelaide [4] Adelaide Junction to Gawler, Grange & Outer Harbor Adelaide-Port Augusta line to Crystal Brook Adelaide Parklands Terminal 5.0 km Goodwood Glenelg Tram Goodwood Junction to Seaford & Tonsley 21.5 km Belair Current terminus of Adelaide Metro Belair line suburban services Crossing loop until 1995 Sir Edwin Avenue No. 6 Tunnel 25.4 km National Park (Closed April 1987) 26.7 km Long Gully (Closed April 1987) – Crossing loop until 1995 No. 7 Tunnel Nalawort (Closed 1950s) 28.9 km Upper Sturt (Closed April 1987) No. 8 Tunnel 31.0 km Mount Lofty (Closed April 1987) – Crossing loop Avenue Road 33.0 km Heathfield (Closed April 1987) Cricklewood Road 33.7 km Madurta (Closed April 1987) 34.5 km Aldgate (Closed April 1987) – Crossing loop until 1995 Mount Barker Road Yatina Road 35.6 km Jibilla (Closed 1987) Kalin Avenue 36.2 km Carripook (Closed April 1987) Bridgewater Road 37.2 km Bridgewater (Closed April 1987) Adelaide-Wolseley line to Melbourne to Victor Harbor & Mount Pleasant lines

References

1. "South Australia" Railway Digest June 1985 page 193
2. Callaghan, WH (1992). The Overland Railway. Sydney: Australian Railway Historical Society. p. 217. ISBN 0 909650 29 2.
3. D3 Wolseley to Mile End Australian Rail Track Corporation
4. Universal Press (2002), UBD on Disk Adelaide