Barry Beach in
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 ...
was a railway branch line that opened on 2 April 1969 to service the oil fields in
Bass Strait
Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The strait provides the most direct waterwa ...
.
During the existence of the branch line, twice or occasionally thrice weekly diesel fuel supplies were delivered to the Barry Beach Marine Terminal in order to serve the large ocean vessels that serviced the Bass Strait oil rigs south of Corner Inlet.
["Operations, South East - Welshpool". Newsrail (Australian Railway Historical Society (Victorian Division)): page 161. May 1992.] The oil train was not the only main source of freight transported beyond Leongatha as the once or at times twice weekly superphosphate goods freight trains serving nearby farming communities and townships would usually combine in a mixed goods train configuration. The Esso-Mobil Barry Beach oil rail freight service operated until the closure of the
South Gippsland line beyond Leongatha on 30 June 1992 and the branch line itself was eventually dismantled in 1994. The oil fields in Bass Strait are still active with ocean ships still transporting the oil drilled from the still active Exxon-Mobil Marine Terminal at Barry Beach situated in Corner Inlet.
The terminus was the southernmost mainland section of Australia's linked railway tracks. The branch line to
Lavers Hill
Lavers Hill is a town in Victoria, Australia, located inland from Port Campbell and from Apollo Bay. The township is located approximately south-west of the state capital, Melbourne. At the 2016 census, Lavers Hill had a population of 78.
...
and Crowes, at the Melba Gully Road, went slightly further south, but did not link to the mainline Victorian network as it was a narrower gauge.
References
Closed regional railway lines in Victoria (state)
Transport in Gippsland (region)
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