 Looking across Avon Yard from the west, October 2013 | |
 | |
| Location | |
|---|---|
| Location | Northam, Western Australia |
| Characteristics | |
| Owner | Arc Infrastructure |
| Operator | Aurizon |
| Type | Freight |
| Roads | 22 (as built) |
| History | |
| Opened | 15 February 1966 |
Avon Yard is a railway yard west of Northam, Western Australia. It lies on the southern side of the Avon River on the Eastern Railway between Toodyay and Northam.
As part of the project to gauge convert the East-West rail corridor from narrow gauge to standard gauge, a new yard was built on the Eastern Railway to the west of Northam by the Western Australian Government Railways. [1] [2] It was built as a dual gauge yard to allow freight from the narrow gauge Albany, Mullewa and Wyalkatchem lines to be transferred for forwarding via the standard gauge line. [3]
Extending for 3.2 kilometres and built on 40 hectares, as built it had 22 roads, both narrow (1,067mm) and standard gauge (1,435mm). It opened on 15 February 1966, initially only for narrow gauge trains. [4] It had a diesel locomotive servicing depot, four 45 metre lighting towers and an eight cell CBH grain silo. [5] [6] [7]
In October 1968, a gantry crane assembled by Vickers Hosking in Bassendean was commissioned to transfer intermodal containers. [8] [9] It was last used in July 1981. [10] In 1978 a turntable assembled at Midland Railway Workshops was installed. [11]
The yard has been modified at various stages, as the different operators dealt with the services required. [12] It has also been considered as redundant grain receival or storage location with some arguments for bypassing the facility and railing direct to Fremantle. [13] [14]
It ceased being used as an operational yard by Aurizon in May 2013, however was still used to store withdrawn rolling stock. Watco Australia used the depot to maintain its CBH class locomotives and rolling stock. [15] As part of its new contract with CBH Group that commenced in September 2021, Aurizon reopened the yard. [16] [17] [18]
Forrestfield is a suburb of the City of Kalamunda in Western Australia. It lies 15 kilometres to the south-east of Perth at the base of the Darling Scarp and the southern border of Perth Airport.
The Eastern Railway is the main railway route between Fremantle and Northam in Western Australia. It opened in stages between 1881 and 1893. The line continues east to Kalgoorlie as the Eastern Goldfields Railway.
The AvonLink is a rural passenger train service in Western Australia operated by Transwa between Midland and Northam.
The Prospector is a rural passenger train service in Western Australia operated by Transwa between East Perth and Kalgoorlie. On this service, two trains depart almost at the same time in opposite directions, one travelling between East Perth and Kalgoorlie, and the other between Kalgoorlie and East Perth. The original vehicles ordered in 1968 for trains providing this service were replaced in 2004 with vehicles capable of reducing journey times to 6 hours 45 minutes.
Kewdale Freight Terminal is a large intermodal rail facility in the Perth suburb of Kewdale, Western Australia. Branching off the Kwinana freight railway, it was built in the 1960s to replace the Perth marshalling yard. It initially comprised ten narrow gauge (1067mm) and seven standard gauge (1435mm) arrival roads.
Australian Railroad Group (ARG) was an Australian rail freight operator. It began operations in Western Australia on 17 December 2000 following its purchase of the Westrail freight business. It was purchased by QR National in June 2006. The main commodities hauled by ARG included grain, mineral sands, alumina, bauxite, coal, woodchips, quartz, nickel and iron ore around Western Australia. In June 2011, it ceased trading as a separate brand, and became part of QR National.
Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) was the operator of railway services in the state of Western Australia between October 1890 and June 2003. Owned by the state government, it was renamed a number of times to reflect extra responsibility for tram and ferry operations that it assumed and later relinquished. Its freight operations were privatised in December 2000 with the remaining passenger operations transferred to the Public Transport Authority in July 2003.
The Eastern Goldfields Railway was built in the 1890s by the Western Australian Government Railways to connect Perth with the Eastern Goldfields at Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie.
Railways in Western Australia were developed in the 19th century both by the Government of Western Australia and a number of private companies. Today passenger rail services are controlled by the Public Transport Authority through Transperth, which operates public transport in Perth, and Transwa, which operates country passenger services. Great Southern Rail operates the Indian Pacific.
The GT46C is a model of diesel electric locomotive designed and built by Clyde Engineering using Electro-Motive Diesel components. Entering service from 1997 for a number of Australian rail freight operators, those built for Westrail are known as the Q class, those for FreightLink are the FQ class and a single unit for Freight Australia is the V class. All 24 locomotives are currently owned by Aurizon since its purchase of One Rail Australia in October 2021.
The CBH Group, is a grain growers' cooperative that handles, markets and processes grain from the wheatbelt of Western Australia.
The K class are a class of diesel locomotives built by English Electric, Rocklea for the Western Australian Government Railways between 1966 and 1969.
The L Class are a class of diesel locomotives built by Clyde Engineering, Granville and Eagle Farm for the Western Australian Government Railways between 1967 and 1973.
The Esperance Branch Railway is a railway from Kalgoorlie to the port of Esperance in Western Australia.
The CBH class is a class of diesel-electric freight locomotives designed and manufactured in the United States by MotivePower in Boise, Idaho, for Western Australian grain growers' co-operative CBH Group.
The wheatbelt railway lines of Western Australia were, in most cases, a network of railway lines in Western Australia that primarily served the Wheatbelt region.
Watco Australia is a rail haulage operator that was formed in 2010 to haul grain for the CBH Group in Western Australia. In 2019, it commenced operating in Queensland under a contract with GrainCorp. It is a subsidiary of Watco.
Toodyay railway station is located on the Eastern Railway in the Avon River town of Toodyay in Western Australia.
Northam railway station is located in Northam on the Eastern Railway route in Western Australia. It is the second and more recent railway station in Northam.
The Midland railway line runs from Midland Junction to Walkaway in Western Australia. Built by the Midland Railway of Western Australia, the 446 kilometre line opened in November 1894.
Media related to Avon Yard, Western Australia at Wikimedia Commons
Coordinates: 31°38′34″S116°37′59″E / 31.64278°S 116.63306°E