Barnawartha is a closed station located in the town of

Barnawartha Barnawartha is a small town located on the Hume Highway in regional north-east Victoria, Australia, approximately from Melbourne on the banks of Indigo Creek which runs into the Murray River to the north. Barnawartha commercial centre is locat ...

, on the

North East railway North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

, in Victoria,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The station building and platform lie between the Melbourne - Albury

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

line, opened in 1962, and the former

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...

line, converted to standard gauge in 2010. There is a disused goods shed to the west of the tracks. The station opened with the line in 1873, with a temporary passenger shelter and a large brick goods shed. In 1885, a signal cabin was provided, as well as platform extensions, and construction of a siding to a nearby flour mill. In 1889, the brick station building was erected and, in 1925, the signal frame was made part of the station building. At the same time, all tracks in the yard were lengthened to accommodate longer trains. Closed in the 1985, the buildings remain largely intact, but the sidings have been removed and the west track realigned away from the platform. Barnawartha was the site of a collision between a Melbourne-bound goods train and the Melbourne-bound ''

Spirit of Progress The ''Spirit of Progress'' was the premier express passenger train on the Victorian Railways in Australia, running from Melbourne to the New South Wales border at Albury, and later through to Sydney. Route From its introduction in November 1 ...

'' on 17 June 1982. The collision, which happened north of the station, in heavy fog, occurred after the crew of the goods train ran past a red signal protecting the stationary ''Spirit of Progress'', which had broken down due to a loss of power to the engine. The goods train ran into the back of the ''Spirit'' at a speed of 46 km/h, killing the two-man crew on board the goods train, and injuring nine other people. Train controllers in Melbourne could not warn the goods train crew of the danger due to the lack of two-way radio systems on board locomotives at the time. A number of alterations took place at Barnawartha in 1987, including the abolition of four signal posts, a number of

points Point or points may refer to: Places * Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States * Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland * Point ...

, the former platform road (No. 1 track), and the dead end extension of No. 3 road.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnawartha Railway Station, Victoria Disused railway stations in Victoria (state) Railway stations in Australia opened in 1873