Mount Gambier railway line

Mount Gambier railway line
Overview
System South Australian Railways
Status Closed
Termini Wolseley
Mount Gambier
Continues from Adelaide-Wolseley line
Continues as Millicent line
Mount Gambier-Heywood line
Operation
Opened Wolseley-Tatiara: 18 April 1883
Tatiara-Naracoorte: 21 September 1881
Naracoorte-Mount Gambier: 14 June 1887
Closed April 1995
Operator(s) South Australian Railways
Australian National
Technical
Line length 183.2 km (113.8 mi)
Track gauge 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)
Old gauge 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Route map

 Wolseley
 Custon
 Frances
 Binnum
 Kybybolite
 Hynam
 Naracoorte
 to Kingston SE
 Struan
 Glenroy
 Coonawarra
 Penola
 Krongart
 Kalangadoo
 Wepar
 Suttons
 to Glencoe
 Wandilo
 to Beachport
 Mount Gambier
 to Heywood
[1]

The Mount Gambier railway line was a railway line on the South Australian Railways network. Opened in stages from 1881, it was built to narrow gauge and joined Mount Gambier railway station, which was at that time the eastern terminus of a line to Millicent. It connected at Naracoorte to another isolated narrow gauge line joining Naracoorte to Kingston SE, and to the broad gauge Adelaide-Wolseley line at Wolseley, at around the same time that was extended to Serviceton to become the South Australian part of the Melbourne-Adelaide railway.

History

Former Kalangadoo railway station building
V class locomotive on display in Naracoorte
Coonawarra railway station

The railway connecting Mount Gambier to Naracoorte was initially approved by the Parliament of South Australia in 1867 to be built to 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) gauge.[2] However it was not built at this time, and that act was repealed by a later authorisation in 1884 to build it on the same alignment to 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge.[3]

On 21 September 1881, the first section of the line opened from Naracoorte to Tatiara. It was extended north to Wolseley on 18 April 1883 and south from Naracoorte to Mount Gambier on 14 June 1887.[4][5]

On 22 August 1904, a 14.2 kilometre branch line was constructed from Wandilo, 13 kilometres north of Mount Gambier, to Glencoe.[6] The branch closed on 1 July 1957.[4][7]

On 28 November 1917, the Victorian Railways opened a broad gauge line from Heywood.[4][8] The Mount Gambier line was gauge converted to broad gauge (to match both ends) in the 1950s. Australian National passenger services ceased in 1990.[9] When the Melbourne-Adelaide railway was converted to standard gauge, the Mount Gambier line was not converted and closed in April 1995.[4] In 2001, expressions of interest were sought for a private operator to reopen the line with the government offering financial assistance to gauge convert, but nothing came of it.[10] Part of the line was used by the Limestone Coast Railway tourist service, until it ceased in 2006.

Stations

The stations and sidings included:[11]

References

  1. ↑ Chief Engineer for Railways. "Map showing lines of railways in South Australia" (Map). Johnny's Pages (South Australian Railways). Retrieved 5 March 2016.
  2. ↑ Mount Gambier and Narracoorte Railway Act 1867 No. 19, Government Printer, 2008-06-20, retrieved 31 July 2015
  3. ↑ Mount Gambier and Naracoorte Railway 47 and 48 Vic., 1884, No. 327, Government Printer, 2009-05-14, retrieved 31 July 2015
  4. 1 2 3 4 Quinlan, Howard; Newland, John (2000). Australian Railway Routes 1854 - 2000. Redfern: Australian Railway Historical Society. pp. 53, 58, 59. ISBN 0 909650 49 7.
  5. ↑ "The Mount Gambier And Narracoorte Railway". South Australian Weekly Chronicle (Adelaide, SA: National Library of Australia). 18 June 1887. p. 11. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  6. ↑ "The Wandilo-Glencoe Railway". Adelaide Observer (SA: National Library of Australia). 27 August 1904. p. 4 Supplement: The Observer Country Supplement. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  7. ↑ Wandilo and Glencoe Railway (discontinuance) Act, 1959. No. 27, Government Printer, 2011-05-24, retrieved 31 July 2015
  8. ↑ Mount Gambier Line Vicsig
  9. ↑ Friday rewind - bus travel 1940s style ABC South East SA 16 January 2015
  10. ↑ South East Rail Freight Operations] Department for Transport, Urban Planning & the Arts Annual Report 30 June 2002 page 21
  11. ↑ "Attachment 10 Photos of SE Railway line Wolseley to Kalangadoo" (PDF). Retrieved 29 July 2015.

External links

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