Wallaroo railway station
Wallaroo | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 An overgrown railway track at the former railway yard | |||||||||||
| General information | |||||||||||
| Location | John Terrace, Wallaroo, South Australia | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 33°55′55″S 137°37′35″E / 33.9318527424249°S 137.62625029322552°E | ||||||||||
| Operated by | Australian National | ||||||||||
| Line(s) | Balaklava-Moonta line | ||||||||||
| Distance | 159 kilometres from Adelaide | ||||||||||
| Platforms | 1 | ||||||||||
| Tracks | 1 | ||||||||||
| Construction | |||||||||||
| Structure type | Ground | ||||||||||
| Other information | |||||||||||
| Status | Closed | ||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
| Opened | 1862 | ||||||||||
| Closed | 1968 (passenger) 2009 (tourist) | ||||||||||
| Services | |||||||||||
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Wallaroo railway station was located on the Balaklava-Moonta railway line. It served the town of Wallaroo, South Australia.
History
[edit]Wallaroo railway station opened in 1862 when a horse-drawn tramway was opened between the port at Wallaroo and mines near Kadina. It was later extended to the mines near Moonta in 1866.[1] This was originally constructed as 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) gauge. A railway from Port Wakefield reached and joined with the tramway (converted into a railway).[2] This then became the Balaklava to Moonta railway line. The current railway station was built in 1914 as a replacement for the older station, which was demolished in 1926, to cater for increasing passenger traffic.[3][4] It was built in the American Art Nouveau style. Identical stations were built at Moonta, Tailem Bend and Bordertown.[5] The station also consisted of a goods shed and railway yards.
Regular passenger services ceased in 1968.[6] In 1978, the station and all associated infrastructure was included in the transfer of South Australian Railways to Australian National. The station was heritage listed on 1 September 1983.[7] The line from Wallaroo to Moonta closed on 23 July 1984.[8] After closure, part of the line from Wallaroo to Bute was used by the Lions Club of Yorke Peninsula for heritage tourist train services but this ceased in 2009. The railway yard was lifted and turned into a parkland.[9] The railway line between Kadina and Wallaroo was ripped up and converted into the Copper Coast rail trail. [10] The station building is now housed for community use.[11]
References
[edit]- ^ Hoyleton to Port Wakefield Railway Line
- ^ "THE PORT WAKEFIELD AND KADINA RAILWAY". South Australian Register. Vol. XLIII, no. 9953. South Australia. 8 October 1878. p. 6. Retrieved 24 September 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ former Railway Station
- ^ [1]
- ^ The 1914 Wallaroo Railway Station built in American Art Nouveau style
- ^ Railways and Colonisation in South Australia
- ^ SA Heritage Places Database Search
- ^ Quinlan, Howard; Newland, John (2000). Australian Railway Routes 1854 - 2000. Redfern: Australian Railway Historical Society. pp. 56–58. ISBN 0-909650-49-7.
- ^ Wallaroo Heritage Walk
- ^ Trail Open Copper Coast Rail Trail
- ^ Railway Station Wallaroo