Balaklava–Moonta railway line

Balaklava–Moonta railway line
Overview
Status	Closed and Removed
Locale	Yorke Peninsula, South Australia
Coordinates	34°02′46.0″S 137°55′55.9″E / 34.046111°S 137.932194°E / -34.046111; 137.932194
Termini	Balaklava Moonta
Continues from	Hamley Bridge-Gladstone line
Service
System	South Australian Railways
Operator(s)	South Australian Railways Australian National
History
Opened	Balaklava-Port Wakefield: 14 March 1876 Port Wakefield-Kadina: 9 October 1878 Kadina-Wallaroo: 15 January 1880 Wallaroo-Moonta: 2 November 1891
Closed	Balaklava-Paskeville: 4 April 1984 Wallaroo-Moonta: 23 July 1984 Paskeville-Kadina:14 March 1990 Kadina-Wallaroo: 3 March 1993
Technical
Line length	109.4 km (68.0 mi)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)
Old gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Route map Gladstone line to Brinkworth and Gladstone Gladstone line to Hamley Bridge and Adelaide Balaklava Saints Adelaide–Port Augusta line to Adelaide Bowmans Adelaide–Port Augusta line to Port Augusta Port Wakefield South Hummocks Melton Paskeville Green's Plains Brinkworth–Kadina line to Snowtown and Brinkworth Kadina Wallaroo Mines Wallaroo Parramatta Cross Roads Yelta Moonta broad gauge standard gauge dual gauge [1] This diagram: view talk edit

The Balaklava–Moonta railway line was a railway line on the South Australian Railways network. It ran across the top of the Yorke Peninsula.

The first part to be built was a horse-drawn tramway between the port at Wallaroo and mines near Kadina in 1862, followed by mines near Moonta in 1866. This was originally constructed as 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) gauge.

A separate isolated horse-drawn tramway^[2] was constructed to deliver grain from the plains east of Port Wakefield in the areas of Balaklava, Halbury and Hoyle's Plains (now Hoyleton) to that port. It opened in 1869.^[3] The section from Hoyleton to Balaklava eventually became part of the Hamley Bridge-Gladstone railway line when that line reached Gladstone in 1894.

The 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge line from Port Wakefield reached a new junction with the Kadina–Brinkworth railway line at Kadina and opened on 9 October 1878. It continued to Wallaroo on a new track adjacent to the older broad gauge track.^[4] The line from Kadina to Barunga Gap had started construction from the Kadina end in 1877^[5]

On 1 August 1927, the line was converted from 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) to 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) broad gauge.^[6] A junction at Kadina connected to the Kadina–Brinkworth railway line. The section from Kadina to Wallaroo was converted to dual gauge broad and standard gauges on 2 December 1982 after the Adelaide–Port Augusta railway line was converted to standard gauge.

The section from Balaklava to Paskeville closed on 4 April 1984, followed by the Wallaroo to Moonta section on 23 July 1984. The broad gauge section from Kadina to Wallaroo also closed on 23 July 1984, but the standard gauge line remained open until 3 March 1993. The Paskeville to Kadina section closed on 14 March 1990.^[7] After the closure of the railways, part of the line was used by the Lions Club of Yorke Peninsula Railway for heritage tourist services, but the operations stopped in 2009.

The line between Wallaroo and Kadina has since been pulled up and replaced with the Copper Coast Rail Trail and retail stores on both ends.^[8]

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