Mount Pleasant railway line

Mount Pleasant Line
Overview
Locale	Adelaide, South Australia
Termini	Adelaide Mount Pleasant
Stations	Balhannah Oakbank Woodside Charleston Mount Torrens Birdwood Mount Pleasant
Operation
Opened	1918
Closed	1953
Technical
Line length	33.8 km (21.0 mi)
No. of tracks	single track
Route map km to Adelaide To Adelaide 45.8 Balhannah Balhanna Junction Adelaide-Wolseley line 48.1 Oakbank Mappinga Riverview 53.4 Woodside Kayannie 57.8 Charleston Muralappie 65.4 Mount Torrens Milkappa Road 71 Birdwood Crane Road Narcoonah 79.8 Mount Pleasant

The Mount Pleasant railway line is an abandoned South Australian line. It was opened between Balhannah and Mount Pleasant in 1918 and ran until 1953 as a freight and passenger service.^[1] Part of its trackbed is now the Amy Gillett Bikeway rail trail near to Adelaide.^[2]

History

Around 1918, a railway line was opened between Balhannah, 10 kilometres east of Mount Lofty, and Mount Pleasant. It closed in 1964. The way between Balhannah and Oakbank has mostly returned to private landowners.^[2] The line had six stations and a number of halts, typically the halts were located near level crossings.

The six stations were Oakbank, Woodside, Charleston, Mount Torrens, Birdwood, and Mount Pleasant. The seven halts were Mappinga, Riverview, Kayannie, Muralappie, Milkappa Road, Crane Road, and Narcoonah.

Rail trail

This former railway is in the jurisdiction of the Adelaide Hills Council, which in 2003 commissioned a feasibility study into the best use of the land. The report recommended it be converted to a rail trail, which the council agreed with but considered it beyond their means to do so. However, since that time, the development of a rail trail lead to the opening of the Amy Gillett Rail Trail in 2010, named in honour of the late Amy Gillett, a South Australian born Olympic Cyclist.^[2]

References

1. Adelaide Hills Rail Trail - History
2. Rail Trails news article Archived 23 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine.