South Australia's first railway was an 11 kilometre horse drawn tramway completed in 1854 from Goolwa, on the River Murray, to the small ocean harbour at Port Elliot. The trams moved freight and passengers between the shallow-draft River Murray Paddle steamers and coastal and ocean-going ships.
The tramway reached its final terminus at Victor Harbor in 1864 - bypassing the need for the treacherous anchorage at Port Elliot. The tramway was extended to Strathalbyn in 1869 via a junction at Middleton, right in the middle of the Goolwa to Port Elliot tramway.
The railway from Mount Barker and Adelaide reached Strathalbyn in 1884 and the Strathalbyn to Middleton section was rerouted to run from Currency Creek directly to Goolwa. The entire line from Mt Barker Junction to Victor Harbor line was officially opened as an upgraded light railway in 1885. The Milang branch line opened at the same time and I covered this an earlier video.
The river port of Goolwa had two stations over the years. The first was opposite the Corio Hotel on the old route to the wharf. In January 1915 a loop line was built directly to the wharf and the lines through the centre of Goolwa were closed.
The line has remained the same alignment since then although the smaller stations in the Mt Lofty Ranges are gone and the Milang branch line closed in 1970.
The Victor Harbor Railway Line, also known as the South Coast Railway Line, has a long history and luckily, around 80 kilometres of it is still in use from the Adelaide Hills town of Mount Barker to the coastal town of Victor Harbor. The part of the line we’re about to travel along from Mount Barker Junction to Victor Harbor opened in 1884 and last saw a revenue train in 1984.
The freight task on the Victor Harbor line was never particularly heavy but like all lines of the day, it moved agricultural produce, such as wheat, barley, and livestock, as well as providing a means of travel to the popular and picturesque holiday spots along the Fleurieu Peninsula.
The Victor Harbor Railway Line became part of the South Australian Railways and, later, Australian National (AN), until it was handed over to SteamRanger to operate heritage tourist trains.
SteamRanger has faced many challenges over the years. It was originally established in Adelaide in 1986 to operate tourist trains on the line. But, in 1989, AN declared the Mount Barker Junction-Strathalbyn section unsafe due to poor track condition and SteamRanger operated services from Adelaide to Strathalbyn were cancelled. That section was eventually renewed with assistance from AN and with funding from the State Government.
Gauge conversion of the Adelaide to Wolseley line in 1995 isolated the broad-gauge Victor Harbor line off from the rest of the network, and volunteers took full responsibility for maintaining the track from Mount Barker Junction to Victor Harbor. It was also then that Steam Ranger’s base was moved to Mount Barker. The Junction Jogger service to Mount Barker Junction section of the line closed in 2007.
SteamRanger runs volunteer operated trains on the line to this day. The Southern Encounter runs all the way from Mount Barker to Victor Harbor in the cooler months. The Cockle Train, between Goolwa and Victor Harbor is popular all year round, particularly in the summer holidays.
REFERENCES:
Railways in the Adelaide Hills - Roger Sallis - 1998 - Open Book Publishers
From the Ranges to the Sea - Peter Michalak - 2023 - Railmac Publications
www.steamranger.org.au
IMAGES:
National Railway Museum nrm.org.au
State Library of South Australia
Weston Langford: westonlangford.com/
MUSIC:
Licensed from Envato
31 июл 2023
