Morgan_railway_line

Morgan railway line

Morgan railway line

Former railway line in South Australia

The Morgan railway line or North-West Bend railway was a railway line on the South Australian Railways network.

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History

Bridge over the Gawler River (2012)
Morgan railway station during operation

The first section of the line opened from Gawler. It was built to service the copper mining at Kapunda, opened on 13 August 1860.[2] It was extended to Morgan on 23 September 1878[3] to provide a more efficient freight and passenger connection between the Murray paddle steamers and both the city of Adelaide and Port Adelaide for ocean transport.[4][5]

The Eudunda to Morgan section closed on 2 November 1969, and Morgan residents requested that the line was preserved to Mount Mary, though this was rejected, with the line being removed not long after.[6] In 1975, the remaining line to Eudunda and the Robertstown branch came under the ownership of Australian National as part of the SAR's sale to the Federal Government. The Kapunda to Eudunda section was closed on 11 March 1994 by AN, with the deterioration of the River Light bridge at Hansborough being cited as a reason for closure.[4] This section was pulled up the following year. The remaining Gawler to Kapunda section was leased by the South Australian Government to Australian Southern Railroad (later known as ORA) in 1997 as part of AN's SA freight asset sale to Genesee and Wyoming. The line's last documented use was on 21 May 2003 by Australian Railroad Group locomotive CK4, though grain services had ceased years before.[7] In 2015, a short section of the line within Kapunda was repurposed as the Swann path (also known as the Kapunda rail trail,) and it is planned to be extended to the southern end of the town in the future.[8][9] The lease of the land and ownership of the rail infrastructure passed to Aurizon in 2022, following their purchase of One Rail Australia (the final successor of Australian Southern Railroad).

The line's present owner, Aurizon does not list the line as being open or in use, but it is available for access.[10] The line has fallen into disrepair, being damaged by floods and bushfires.[11] The line has been severed at several points for drainage and road surface improvements. In 2022, the line was blocked off from the Gawler line, and the wider Adelaide metropolitan network after a fence was installed at the Gawler River bridge.

Route

Railway bridge over Light River at Hansborough (2010)

The Kapunda railway was the first extension of the line from Adelaide to Gawler. It passed through Roseworthy from where the Peterborough line later branched. The line headed northeast from Roseworthy to reach Freeling, then the line crossed the River Light just south of Kapunda. The extension continued through Hansborough, running across the River Light once again and Pine Creek before reaching Hampden, then turning south and going through a steep descent into Eudunda. From there, the line curved northwards towards the junction for the Robertstown line, then heading west across the plains adjacent to what is now the Thiele Highway to Morgan. The Robertstown line branch opened in 1914 from Eudunda to Robertstown, passing through Point Pass along the way.[4][12]

Possible extension

There were proposals to extend the line to connect to Wentworth, New South Wales,[13] and even to Hay to provide a more direct rail route to Sydney.[14]

References

  1. [1]
    Chief Engineer for Railways. "Map showing lines of railways in South Australia" (Map). Johnny's Pages. South Australian Railways. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  2. [2]
    Opening of the Kapunda Railway South Australian Advertiser 14 August 1860
  3. [3]
    "Opening of the North-West Bend Railway". The South Australian Advertiser. Adelaide. 2 November 1878. p. 9. Retrieved 3 September 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. [4]
    Quinlan, Howard; Newland, John (2000). Australian Railway Routes 1854 - 2000. Redfern: Australian Railway Historical Society. p. 55. ISBN 0 909650 49 7.
  5. [5]
    The Formation of the South Australian Railways National Railway Museum
  6. [6]
    name=VisitMorgan Railways Visit Morgan
  7. [7]
    "Burra Railway". Burra History. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  8. [8]
    "Kapunda Rail Trail". Rail Trails Australia. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
  9. [9]
    "ADELAIDE WINE CAPITAL CYCLE TRAIL" (PDF). Light Regional Council. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
  10. [10]
    "Access to South Australia Regional Rail Network". Aurizon. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
  11. [11]
    Marcus, Candice; Gage, Nicola (26 November 2015). "SA bushfire: Residents make emotional journey home to assess property damage". ABC News. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
  12. [12]
    "Robertstown Railway". The Advertiser. Adelaide. 10 December 1914. p. 9. Retrieved 23 September 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. [13]
    "Public Works". South Australian Register. Adelaide. 14 June 1879. p. 3 Supplement: Supplement to the South Australian Register. Retrieved 3 September 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. [14]
    "Hay to Morgan". The Maitland Weekly Mercury. NSW. 10 June 1922. p. 3. Retrieved 3 September 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
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