Clapham railway station, Adelaide

Clapham railway station was located on the Belair line, in the inner southern Adelaide suburb of Clapham, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from Adelaide railway station.[1]

Clapham
Location	Clapham
Line(s)	Belair Line
Distance	10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from Adelaide
Platforms	2
Bus routes	n/a
Construction
Parking	n/a
Bicycle facilities	n/a
History
Opened	1910s
Closed	28 April 1995
Services
Preceding station   TransAdelaide   Following station Torrens Park toward Adelaide Belair line Lynton toward Belair

History

Clapham was opened sometime in the 1910s, just north of the Springbank Road overpass. It consists of two earth-filled concrete faced platforms, one each side of the dual lines, which were originally both broad gauge. Each platform had a timber and iron open passenger shelter, and there was a ticket office at the foot of the western platform which was manned only at peak hours in the 1960s. There is a shelter (the bench is gone though) and disused public address speaker on the down platform.

The station was originally the terminus of the Clapham branch line, which began at Mitcham station, and the original station was to the west of the more recent platforms (which were on the main line); this explains the unusual layout of the intersection of the local roads west of the Springbank Road overpass (opened 1924). At that time, Belair Road, known as Bull's Creek Road, ran on the west side of the railway line from Wattlebury Road to McPherson Street. (The then main road to Belair, now called the Old Belair Road, was via Blythwood Road). The Clapham branch line, and the old station, were abandoned formally in 1917. Presumably, the newer station was built a little before that.

It closed on 28 April 1995 along with Millswood and Hawthorn when the line was converted to two single lines as part of the standardisation of the Adelaide-Wolseley line. The Clapham passenger service, typically a P class locomotive and a couple of carriages, was known as the Clapham Dodger. During the Belair line renewal in 2009, the top edge of the eastbound platform was removed because of the risk of it being struck by passing trains. On Adelaide Metro rail network maps in most carriages, gaps on the Belair line map remain where the entries for Clapham and the other disused stations on the Belair line, have been removed.

References

1. Clapham Railway Station, Open Street Map

• Callaghan WH. The overland railway. ARHS NSW, St James. 1992.
• Eardley, G. "The P class locomotives of South Australia." ARHS bulletin 416, June, 1972.
• Jennings R. Line clear: 100 years of train working Adelaide-Serviceton. Mile End Railway Museum, Roseworthy. 1986.