Broken Hill is a city in the far west region of outback New South Wales, Australia. An inland mining city, is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. It is 315m above sea level, with a hot desert climate, and an average rainfall of 235mm. The closest major city is Mildura, 300 km to the south and the nearest State Capital City is Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, which is more than 500 km to the southwest and linked via route A32.
Molong is a small town in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia, in Cabonne Shire.
The Australian state of New South Wales has an extensive network of railways, which were integral to the growth and development of the state. The vast majority of railway lines were government built and operated, but there were also several private railways, some of which operate to this day.
Australians generally assumed in the 1850s that railways would be built by the private sector. Private companies built railways in the then colonies of Victoria, opened in 1854, and New South Wales, where the company was taken over by the government before completion in 1855, due to bankruptcy. South Australia's railways were government owned from the beginning, including a horse-drawn line opened in 1854 and a steam-powered line opened in 1856. In Victoria, the private railways were soon found not to be financially viable, and existing rail networks and their expansion were taken over by the colony. Government ownership also enabled railways to be built to promote development, even if not apparently viable in strictly financial terms. The railway systems spread from the colonial capitals, except for a few lines that hauled commodities to a rural port.
The first railway in colonial South Australia was a line from the port of Goolwa on the River Murray to an ocean harbour at Port Elliot, which first operated in December 1853, before its completion in May 1854.
Cockburn is a town and locality in the east of the Australian state of South Australia immediately adjacent to the border with New South Wales near Broken Hill. It was established because the New South Wales government refused to allow locomotives of the South Australian Railways to operate in its jurisdiction, requiring locomotives to be changed at the town for 84 years until 1970, when the route was converted from 1067 mm to 1435 mm standard gauge.
The Commonwealth Railways were established in 1917 by the Government of Australia with the Commonwealth Railways Act to administer the Trans-Australia and Port Augusta to Darwin railways. In 1975, all assets were acquired by the Australian National Railways Commission, branded as Australian National Railways and subsequently Australian National, trademarked as AN.
Rail gauges in Australia display significant variations, which has presented an extremely difficult problem for rail transport on the Australian continent since the 19th century. As of 2022, there are 11,914 kilometres (7,403 mi) of narrow-gauge railways, 18,007 kilometres (11,189 mi) of standard gauge railways and 2,685 kilometres (1,668 mi) of broad gauge railways. In the 19th century, each of the colonies of Australia adopted their own gauges.
Southern & Silverton Rail was an Australian rail operator founded in 1886 as the Silverton Tramway Company. The company operated the 1067 mm Silverton Tramway, conveying silver-lead-zinc concentrates 58 kilometres from Broken Hill to the South Australian border. In 1970, its main line was bypassed by the newly standardised, government-funded line from Broken Hill to Port Pirie. It then diversified to operating hook-and-pull services and in the mid-1990s rebranded to Silverton Rail. In 2006, it was purchased by South Spur Rail Services and rebranded again as Southern & Silverton Rail, before both entities were sold to Coote Industrial. In June 2010 it was sold to Qube Logistics and absorbed into that brand.
The Main Western Railway is a major railway in New South Wales, Australia. It runs through the Blue Mountains, Central West, North West Slopes and the Far West regions. It is 825 kilometres (513 mi) with 484 kilometres (301 mi) operational & 341 kilometres (212 mi) under construction & repairs.
Rail transport in Australia involves a number of narrow-gauge railways. In some states they formed the core statewide network, but in the others they were either a few government branch lines, or privately owned and operated branch lines, often for mining, logging or industrial use.
The Silver City Comet was a train service that operated from September 1937 until November 1989 between Parkes and Broken Hill in western New South Wales. It was the first air-conditioned train in Australia.
The Silverton Tramway was a 58-kilometre-long 1,067 mm railway line running from Cockburn on the South Australian state border to Broken Hill in New South Wales. Operating between 1888 and 1970, it served the mines in Broken Hill, and formed the link between the 1,435 mmstandard gauge New South Wales Government Railways and the narrow gauge South Australian Railways lines. It was owned and operated by the Silverton Tramway Company (STC).
The Sydney–Perth rail corridor is a 1435 mmstandard gauge railway route that runs for 4352 kilometres (2704 mi) across Australia from Sydney, New South Wales, to Perth, Western Australia. Most of the route is under the control of the Australian Rail Track Corporation.
The Crystal Brook–Broken Hill railway line is a 371 kilometre line running from Crystal Brook to Broken Hill on the Australian Rail Track Corporation network.
Broken Hill railway station is a heritage-listed railway station located on the Broken Hill line in Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
Menindee railway station is located on the Broken Hill line in New South Wales, Australia. It serves the town of Menindee.
Sulphide Street railway station was the terminus of the Silverton Tramway in New South Wales, Australia. It served the city of Broken Hill.
The Tarrawingee Tramway was a railway in the Barrier Ranges region of New South Wales.
The railway station located at Port Pirie South bore the name "Port Pirie" from when it was built in 1876 until it was superseded in 1902 by a passenger station in the centre of Port Pirie. The new station was then assigned the name "Port Pirie railway station" and the original was named Port Pirie South railway station, in keeping with the naming of the adjacent Port Pirie South railway yards.
