Willunga railway line

Willunga railway line

Overview
Type goods and passengers
System South Australian Railways
Status closed and removed
Locale South Australia
Termini Adelaide
Willunga
Operation
Opened 20 January 1915 (1915-01-20)
Closed 1969 (1969)
Technical
Track gauge 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm)
Minimum radius 12 chains (790 ft; 240 m)[1]
Highest elevation 437 ft (133 m)
ruling grade: 1 in 45[1]
Route map
to Adelaide
21.4 Hallett Cove
Hallett Cove Junction
Seaford railway line
 Patpa
 26.4 Happy Valley
 28.2 Reynella
 29.6 Pimpala
 30.8 Coorara
 32.2 Morphett Vale
 Yetto
 34.5 Hackham
 Korro
 38.9 Noarlunga
 Moana
 Tuni
 McLaren Vale
 Pikkara
 Taringa
 Willunga

The Willunga railway line ran through the southern Adelaide suburbs[2] from Adelaide railway station to Willunga, over 45-kilometre (28 mi) long (longer than the current Gawler line, 42.2 kilometres (26.2 mi)). The line was opened in Willunga by the Governor of South Australia Sir Henry Galway on 20 January 1915,[3] and initially had 16 stopping places between Adelaide and Willunga.[1] It closed beyond Hallett Cove in 1969 and was dismantled in 1972. The Seaford railway line continues from Hallett Cove along a different alignment.

Map of the line

The original corridor remains as the 34-kilometre (21 mi) long Coast to Vines Rail Trail. There is some evidence of railway track remaining on this trail, notably near the South Road crossing at Hackham, the top of the Seaford Hill and a small section of track in a paddock adjacent to Victor Harbor Road, McLaren Vale. Occasionally, rails surface through the bitumen at Field Street, McLaren Vale.

At the time of its opening, there was a proposal to extend it to Second Valley to connect with coastal steam shipping to Kangaroo Island for holidays, with the route already approved as far as Normanville and Yankalilla.[1] This extension was never built.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "WILLUNGA RAILWAY". The Advertiser. LVII, (17,554). South Australia. 19 January 1915. p. 6. Retrieved 29 March 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ↑ Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, October, 1965 pp181-192
  3. ↑ "Banquet at Willunga". State Library of South Australia. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
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