Northfield railway line

Northfield Line
Overview
Locale	Adelaide, South Australia
Termini	Adelaide Northfield
Operation
Opened	1857
Closed	1987
Technical
Line length	14.3 km (8.9 mi)
No. of tracks	Quadruple track to Torrens Junction Double track to Dry Creek Closed from Dry Creek (formerly single track)
Route map To Adelaide Dry Creek-Port Adelaide line 10.6 Dry Creek Gawler line Churchill Road North Port Wakefield Road 12.1 Cavan 12.9 Pooraka Main North Road 14.3 Northfield Opened 1961 Briens Road 14.3 Northfield Closed 1961 14.9 Stockade

The Northfield railway line was a railway in northern Adelaide. The line branched east from the Gawler line just north of Dry Creek station. In its later years, it was operated as part of the metropolitan passenger rail network and served three stations: Cavan, Pooraka, and Northfield. In earlier years, it saw mixed freight including livestock in and meat out of the Gepps Cross abattoirs and sale yards.

History

The Stockade line was opened in 1857 at the same time as the Adelaide-Smithfield section of what is now the Gawler Central railway line, making it one of South Australia's oldest rail lines. It was built to carry stone from the quarries behind Yatala Labour Prison.^[1] In the 19th century the line was a mixed use line, as the line was originally designed for cargo. The line functioned in the late 20th century primarily as a commuter rail line, with cattle delivered by rail to the saleyards until 1995.^[1]

When the Metropolitan and Export Abbattoirs Board (MEAB) was formed in 1933, it transferred more slaughter work to Gepps Cross, and a new siding named Export Siding was built in 1937 to deliver sheep and lambs direct to the abbattoirs.^[2]

The State Transport Authority decided that passenger services on the line was uneconomic and patron numbers were low, and the last passenger trains ran on 24 July 1987. However cattle trains still used some of the line up to Cavan station until 1995. The stations were mostly demolished and the track lifted.

The triangle junction where the track joined to the Gawler line remained in place until late 2009 and was used as a storage area for rails, sleepers and Maintenance of Way equipment by TransAdelaide. With the decision to replace the Adelaide Railcar depot (located on the southern side of Adelaide station yard), the triangle was removed and the site prepared for the new Dry Creek railcar depot. This project also took over the site of the former Australian Railway Historical Society depot which was vacated in 1995.

The dual gauge track from the triangle junction north to Dry Creek North Yard, which ran through former sheep loading facilities, was leased by TransAdelaide to Genesee & Wyoming Australia for storage of some standard gauge rolling stock before construction of the new railcar depot. The former siding and sheep loading facilities are also part of the new depot complex.

After the line was closed, services which previously operated from Adelaide to Northfield were cut back to terminate at Dry Creek, known by local railway enthusiasts as "Dry Creek squirts". These continued to operate until April 2008.

External links

• Photos of the remains of the line

References

1. "A Brief History of the Dry Creek to Stockade Railway". Catch Point. May 2007. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
2. Richard Maurovic (2007). The Meat Game: A History of the Gepps Cross Abattoirs and Livestock Markets. Wakefield Press. p. 59. ISBN 978 1 86254 726 1. Retrieved 18 March 2015.