Mount Gambier railway line

Mount Gambier railway line
Overview
System	South Australian Railways
Status	Closed
Termini	Wolseley Mount Gambier
Continues from	Adelaide–Wolseley line
Continues as	Millicent line Mount Gambier–Heywood line
Operation
Opened	Wolseley–Tatiara: 18 April 1883 Tatiara–Naracoorte: 21 September 1881 Naracoorte–Mount Gambier: 14 June 1887
Closed	12 April 1995
Operator(s)	South Australian Railways Australian National
Technical
Line length	183.2 km (113.8 mi)
Track gauge	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)
Old gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Route map Wolseley Custon Frances Binnum Kybybolite Hynam Naracoorte to Kingston SE Stewarts Lucindale Avenue Reedy Creek Kingston SE Struan Glenroy Coonawarra Penola Krongart Kalangadoo Wepar Suttons to Glencoe Glencoe Wandilo to Beachport Beachport Rendelsham Millicent Cellulose Tantanoola Burrungule Marte Compton Mount Gambier to Heywood [1]

The Mount Gambier railway line was a railway line on the South Australian Railways network. Opened in stages from 1881, it was built to narrow gauge and joined Mount Gambier railway station, which was at that time the eastern terminus of a line to Beachport. It connected at Naracoorte to another isolated narrow gauge line joining Naracoorte to Kingston SE, and to the broad gauge Adelaide-Wolseley line at Wolseley, at around the same time that was extended to Serviceton to become the South Australian part of the Melbourne–Adelaide railway.

History

Kingston to Naracoorte

V class locomotive on display in Naracoorte

An isolated line was built in 1876 from the port at Kingston SE inland via Lucindale to Naracoorte. It closed on 28 November 1987.

Rivoli Bay to Mount Gambier

Another narrow gauge railway was built from the port on Rivoli Bay at what is now Beachport inland via Millicent to Mount Gambier in 1878. The line and jetty at Beachport provided the ability for farms in the district to export wool and grain. When the line was converted to broad gauge in 1956, it was cut back and no longer served Beachport, but only Mount Gambier to Millicent.

Mount Gambier to Wolseley

Former Kalangadoo railway station building

Coonawarra railway station

The railway connecting Mount Gambier to Naracoorte was initially approved by the Parliament of South Australia in 1867 to be built to 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) gauge.^[2] However it was not built at this time, and that act was repealed by a later authorisation in 1884 to build it on the same alignment to 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge.^[3]

On 21 September 1881, the first section of the line opened from Naracoorte to Tatiara. It was extended north to Wolseley on 18 April 1883 and south from Naracoorte to Mount Gambier on 14 June 1887.^[4][5]

Glencoe branch

On 22 August 1904, a 14.2-kilometre branch-line was constructed from Wandilo, 13 kilometres north of Mount Gambier, to Glencoe.^[6] The branch closed on 1 July 1957.^[4][7]

Victorian connection

On 28 November 1917, the Victorian Railways opened a broad gauge line from Heywood.^[4][8] The Mount Gambier line was gauge converted to broad gauge (to match both ends) in the 1950s. Australian National passenger services ceased in December 1990.^[9] When the Melbourne–Adelaide railway was converted to standard gauge, the Mount Gambier to Heywood line was not converted and closed on 11 April 1995 then the Mount Gambier to Wolseley line closed a day later on 12 April 1995.^[4] In 2001, expressions of interest were sought for a private operator to reopen the line with the government offering financial assistance to gauge convert, but nothing came of it.^[10] Part of the line was used by the Limestone Coast Railway tourist service, until it ceased in June 2006.

Stations

The stations and sidings included:^[11]

References

External links

• Gallery