Hamley Bridge-Gladstone railway line

The Hamley Bridge-Gladstone railway line was a railway line on the South Australian Railways network. It extended from a junction at Hamley Bridge on the Roseworthy-Peterborough line (which provided connection through to Adelaide) through Balaklava and Brinkworth to Gladstone.

Hamley Bridge-Gladstone railway line
Bridge over the Gilbert River at Hamley Bridge
Overview
System	South Australian Railways
Status	Closed
Termini	Hamley Bridge Gladstone
Continues from	Roseworthy-Peterborough line
Continues as	Wilmington line
Operation
Opened	Hamley Bridge-Balaklava: 15 January 1880 Balaklava-Blyth: 14 March 1876 Blyth to Gladstone: 2 July 1894
Closed	Gulnare-Gladstone: 11 May 1988 Balaklava-Gulnare: 29 March 1989
Operator(s)	South Australian Railways Australian National
Technical
Line length	147.7 km (91.8 mi)
Track gauge	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)
Old gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Route map Blue is standard gauge since 1970 to Broken Hill Gladstone to Crystal Brook George Town Yackamoorundie Creek Gulnare Broughton River Yacka Koolunga Brinkworth Brinkworth–Kadina line to Kadina & Wallaroo Anama Blyth Kybunga Hoyleton Halbury Wakefield River Balaklava Port Wakefield line to Port Wakefield Ridgeway Woods Owen Stockyard Creek Gilbert River Peterborough railway line to Burra & Peterborough Hamley Bridge to Roseworthy & Adelaide [1]

History

The earliest part of the narrow gauge Hamley Bridge-Gladstone line opened from Balaklava to Blyth on 14 March 1876 as part of the Port Wakefield line. On 15 January 1880, the line opened from Hamley Bridge to Balaklava.[2] It was extended north from Blyth to Gladstone on 2 July 1894 where it joined the Port Pirie-Cockburn and Wilmington lines. The line was gauge converted to 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) on 1 August 1927. The line from Gulnare to Gladstone closed on 11 May 1988, followed by the Balaklava to Gulnare section on 29 March 1989.[3] The section track between Balaklava and Gladstone was removed in late 1989, and the 10 km section between Halbury and Balaklava has now been converted into the Shamus Liptrot Cycling Trail.[4]

As Balaklava railway station was originally on the Port Wakefield to Blyth line, before the railway from Hamley Bridge was built, and the new line entered the town from the south-east, trains using the route between Gladstone and Adelaide needed to change direction at Balaklava, as both the north and south lines entered the station from the east, with Port Wakefield being to the west.[5]

The "Western System" included the railway from Hamley Bridge to Gladstone, along with the lines from Balaklava through Port Wakefield, Kadina and Wallaroo, and the line from Kadina through Snowtown to Brinkworth. All of these lines were prepared for conversion from narrow to broad gauge in the mid-1920s,[6] with the switch made on 1 August 1927.[3][7]

References

1. South Australia. Chief Engineer for Railways; Vaughan, A. (Alfred); South Australia. Surveyor-General's Office (1910), Map shewing lines of railways in South Australia, Novr. 1910, Surveyor General's Office, retrieved 1 December 2015
2. "Hamley Bridge and Balaklava Railway". South Australian Register. Adelaide, SA: National Library of Australia. 26 November 1879. p. 5. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
3. Quinlan, Howard; Newland, John (2000). Australian Railway Routes 1854 - 2000. Redfern: Australian Railway Historical Society. pp. 56, 58. ISBN 0 909650 49 7.
4. Steve Hudson (13 October 2017). "Shamus Liptrot Trail". Weekend Notes. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
5. "Railway Carriage Derailed". South Australian Register. Adelaide, SA: National Library of Australia. 20 May 1914. p. 9. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
6. "Braodening Narrow Gauge Railways". The Advertiser. Adelaide, SA: National Library of Australia. 16 October 1923. p. 8. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
7. "Kadina & Wallaroo Times". The Kadina and Wallaroo Times. SA: National Library of Australia. 30 July 1927. p. 2. Retrieved 2 December 2015.

External links

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