Hamley Bridge–Gladstone railway line | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Bridge over the Gilbert River at Hamley Bridge | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Overview | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Status | Closed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Termini | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Continues from | Roseworthy-Peterborough line | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Continues as | Wilmington line | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Service | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
System | South Australian Railways | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Operator(s) | South Australian Railways Australian National | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
History | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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.
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]
Adelaide railway station is the central terminus of the Adelaide Metro railway system. All lines approach the station from the west, and it is a terminal station with no through lines, with most of the traffic on the metropolitan network either departing or terminating here. It has nine below-ground platforms, all using broad gauge track. The station is located on the north side of North Terrace, west of Parliament House.
Gladstone is a small rural town in the Mid North of South Australia in the approach to the lower Flinders Ranges. At the 2006 census, Gladstone had a population of 629.
Snowtown is a town located in the Mid North of South Australia 145 km north of Adelaide and lies on the main road and rail routes between Adelaide and Perth – the Augusta Highway and Adelaide-Port Augusta railway line. The town's elevation is 103 metres and on average the town receives 389 mm of rainfall per annum.
Wakefield Regional Council is a local government area in the Yorke and Mid North region of South Australia. The council seat is at Balaklava.
Wallaroo is a port town on the western side of Yorke Peninsula in South Australia, 160 kilometres (100 mi) northwest of Adelaide. It is one of the three Copper Triangle towns famed for their historic shared copper mining industry, and known together as "Little Cornwall", the other two being Kadina, about 8 kilometres (5 mi) to the east, and Moonta, about 18 kilometres (11 mi) south. In 2016, Wallaroo had a population of 3,988 according to the census held.
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.
Hoyleton is a former railway town in South Australia, west of the Clare Valley, halfway between Leasingham and Halbury.
Brinkworth is a town in the Mid North region of South Australia with a current population of 401. It is 31 km (19 mi) north west of the regional centre of Clare.
Kadina is a town on the Yorke Peninsula of the Australian state of South Australia, approximately 144 kilometres north-northwest of the state capital of Adelaide. The largest town of the Peninsula, Kadina is one of the three Copper Triangle towns famous for their shared copper mining history. The three towns are known as "Little Cornwall" for the significant number of immigrants from Cornwall who worked at the mines in the late 19th century.
The town of Balaklava is located in South Australia, 92 kilometres north of Adelaide in the Mid North region. It is on the south bank of the Wakefield River, 25 kilometres east of Port Wakefield.
Blyth is a small town in the Mid North of South Australia, located 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) west of the renowned Clare Valley. The town is located on the lands of the Kaurna people, the indigenous people who lived there before European settlement. It has a population of 306, the farming community spanning the plains between the Clare Hills and the Barunga/Hummocks ranges. Altitude is 189 metres (620 ft), and rainfall is approximately 400 millimetres (16 in) per annum.
Halbury is a former railway town in South Australia, west of the Clare Valley, halfway between Balaklava and Auburn.
Hamley Bridge is a community in South Australia located at the junction of the Gilbert and Light rivers, as well as the site of a former railway junction.
Gulnare is a settlement in South Australia. At the 2006 census, Gulnare had a population of 95. It is where the east–west Goyder Highway crosses the former Gladstone-Balaklava railway, and about a kilometre east of the south–north Horrocks Highway, 188 kilometres (117 mi) north of Adelaide. The railway was built as a narrow gauge in 1894 and converted to broad gauge in 1927. The railway had been closed by 1993.
Gladstone railway station is located on the Crystal Brook-Broken Hill line in Gladstone, South Australia.
The Balaklava-Moonta railway line was a railway line on the South Australian Railways network. It ran across the top of the Yorke Peninsula.
The Kadina-Brinkworth railway line was a railway line on the South Australian Railways network.
The Plains Producer is a weekly newspaper published Wednesdays by Papers and Publications Pty. Ltd. in Balaklava, South Australia. It was founded in 1903 and was printed until 1941, when it was stopped by the second world war. The publication was revived in 1946 and it has been published continuously since then.