Belmont railway line, Western Australia
The Belmont Railway Line was a branch railway in Western Australia that extended from the Midland Railway Line at Bayswater to Belmont near the Ascot Racecourse. The line closed in 1956.
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History
Shortly after the completion of the Eastern Railway between Fremantle and Guildford in 1881, a proposal was submitted by James Dobson for the construction of a railway from the existing line at Bayswater to Busselton, via Canning, Serpentine, Pinjarra, and Bunbury.[1] The proposal was abandoned following the announcement of the construction of the South Western Railway in 1891 which provided a more direct route bridging the Swan River further to the south, but not before portion of the railway was constructed to the Swan River.[2]
In 1897 the line was extended across the Swan River, and a new station built on the southern side of the racecourse.[3][4] The new station was opened on 21 October 1897.[5]
The railway service to Belmont was suspended in 1926 following floods.[6]
Consideration of closing the railway had been publicly discussed as early as 1930.[7][8]
The Belmont branch line was closed in 1956 following a fire on the bridge crossing the Swan River, and the bridge, line and stations were removed in 1957.[9][10]
References
- 1886/044, cons 1067, WAS 4410, State Records Office of Western Australia(SROWA)
- City of Bayswater Municipal Heritage Inventory
- Quinlan, Howard; Newland, John R; Australian Railway Historical Society. New South Wales Division (2000), Australian railway routes 1854 to 2000, Australian Railway Historical Society – New South Wales Division, ISBN 978-0-909650-49-0 page 66 WN 36
- History of stations on the Midland line Right Track
- City of Belmont (Heritage) Inventory 2012 page 32
- "Belmont Service Suspended". The West Australian. Perth: National Library of Australia. 22 July 1926. p. 10. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
- "BELMONT RAILWAY BRIDGE". The Daily News. XLIX (17, 180). Western Australia. 29 May 1930. p. 9 (HOME FINAL EDITION). Retrieved 27 July 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
- "BELMONT RAILWAY BRIDGE". The West Australian. XLVI (8, 737). Western Australia. 24 June 1930. p. 5. Retrieved 27 July 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
- West Australian Newspapers (1957), Partly demolished Belmont Railway Bridge looking towards Bayswater, retrieved 27 July 2017
- West Australian Newspapers (1957), Workers demolishing the Belmont Railway Bridge, retrieved 27 July 2017