Tailem Bend railway station

Tailem Bend railway station is located on the Adelaide-Wolseley line in Tailem Bend, South Australia.[1] It is also the junction point for the Loxton and Pinnaroo lines.

Tailem Bend
Station front in January 2010
General information
LocationRailway Terrace, Tailem Bend
Coordinates35°15′18″S 139°27′23″E
Operated bySouth Australian Railways 1886 - 1978 Australian National 1978 - 1997 Great Southern Rail 1997-1999
Line(s)Adelaide-Wolseley
Loxton
Pinnaroo
Distance120.50 kilometres from Adelaide
Platforms1
Construction
Structure typeGround
Other information
StatusClosed to passenger services, now used as a museum
History
Opened1 May 1886
ClosedMay 1999
Rebuilt7 October 1913
Services
Preceding station Australian Rail Track Corporation Following station
Monteith
towards Adelaide
 Adelaide-Wolseley railway line Cooke Plains
towards Serviceton

History

Tailem Bend station opened on 1 May 1886 as a station on the Nairne-Bordertown extension of what became the Adelaide-Wolseley line.[2] It became a junction station with the Pinnaroo line constructed in 1906 and the Brown's Well line in 1913. The Brown's Well line was eventually extended to Barmera in 1928, and had several branches with trains that operated back to Tailem Bend. Trains on the Peebinga, Loxton, Moorook and Waikerie lines all passed through Tailem Bend.[3] All were built as broad gauge lines. The current station was opened on 7 October 1913.[4] On 27 June 1926, locomotive servicing facilities were opened including a roundhouse.[5]

In 1995, as part of the One Nation program the Adelaide-Wolseley line was converted to standard gauge, and Tailem Bend became a break of gauge station until 1998, when the remaining broad gauge branch lines to Pinnaroo and Loxton were converted to standard gauge.[6][7][8] In May 1999, the station closed when The Overland, then operated by Great Southern Rail began operating on a new timetable that skipped multiple stations including Tailem Bend.[9] On 22 May 2005, it was restored and reopened as a museum.[10] The two remaining branch lines out of Tailem Bend, the Loxton and Pinnaroo lines closed in 2015 after grain train operations on those lines ceased.[11][12] The Viterra owned grain silos and bunkers in Tailem Bend are still served by rail.

References
  1. Mid North & Murray Mallee map Archived 2015-02-02 at the Wayback Machine SA Track & Signal
  2. "OPENING OF THE BORDERTOWN RAILWAY". Kapunda Herald. Vol. XXII, no. 1858. South Australia. 4 May 1886. p. 3. Retrieved 10 November 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. South Australian Railways map Johnny's Pages
  4. Strathearn, Peri (7 October 2013). "Tailem Bend Railway Station celebrates centenary". The Murray Valley Standard. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  5. Callaghan, WH (1992). The Overland Railway. Sydney: Australian Railway Historical Society. p. 124. ISBN 0 909650 29 2.
  6. Non-Metropolitan Railways (Transfer) Act 1997 Government of South Australia
  7. Pinnaroo Line When there were stations
  8. Tailem Bend Archived 2016-02-28 at the Wayback Machine National Railway Museum
  9. "Geelong Standard Gauge Platform Opens, Overland Accelerated but Stations Bypassed", Railway Digest (July 1999 ed.), p. 17
  10. "Tailem Bend Railway Station celebrates centenary" Railway Digest December 2013 page 19
  11. Freight Study & Rail Operations Investigation Archived 2015-03-16 at the Wayback Machine Flywheel Advisory 17 November 2014
  12. "Penrice stoney and SBR iron trains cease, Riverland lines future uncertain" Railway Digest August 2014 page 19
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