Northam railway station is located in Northam on the Eastern Railway route in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. It is the second and more recent railway station in Northam.

Original station

The line to Northam opened on 13 October 1886 at the end of a 15 kilometre branch line from

Spencers Brook Spencer's may refer to: * Spencer's (department store), a defunct department store chain in British Columbia, Canada * Spencer's Gifts, a North American retail chain * Spencer Plaza in Chennai, India * Spencer's Retail Spencer's Retail is an In ...

on the Eastern Railway. When the Eastern Railway was extended to

Southern Cross Crux () is a constellation of the southern sky that is centred on four bright stars in a cross-shaped asterism commonly known as the Southern Cross. It lies on the southern end of the Milky Way's visible band. The name ''Crux'' is Latin for ...

on 1 July 1894, it was done so via Northam.Welcome to the Old Railway Station Museum
Northam Heritage Forum Northam became an important

junction station ''Junction station'' usually refers to a railway station situated on or close to a junction where lines to several destinations diverge. The usual minimum is three incoming lines. At a station with platforms running from left to right, the minimum ...

with a large yard, signalbox and locomotive depot to serve lines radiating out to Goomalling, Mullewa, Mukinbudin and Wyalkatchem."Northam - a Westrail hotspot" ''

Railway Digest ''Railway Digest'' is a monthly magazine, published in Sydney, covering contemporary railways of Australia. Overview The magazine's publisher is the Australian Railway Historical Society (ARHS), NSW Division. The first issue was published in M ...

'' September 2000 pages 28-29 In 1900, a new station opened on the south-west side of the town.

New station

As part of the construction of a new

dual gauge In railway engineering, "gauge" is the transverse distance between the inner surfaces of the heads of two rails, which for the vast majority of railway lines is the number of rails in place. However, it is sometimes necessary for track to c ...

Eastern Railway from Midland via the Avon Valley, a new station was opened on the eastern side of the town on 7 October 1966 by the Minister for Railways

Charles Court Sir Charles Walter Michael Court, (29 September 1911 – 22 December 2007) was a Western Australian politician, and the 21st Premier of Western Australia from 1974 to 1982. He was a member of the Liberal Party. Early life Court's family e ...

.Part of the original line along Fitzgerald Street was retained to allow access to the steam locomotive depot and oil and flour mill sidings. It was later removed. Today, the dual gauge Eastern Railway terminates at Northam and becomes the standard gauge

Eastern Goldfields Railway The Eastern Goldfields Railway was built in the 1890s by the Western Australian Government Railways to connect Perth with the Eastern Goldfields at Coolgardie, Western Australia, Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie. History The Eastern Railway, Wester ...

. Narrow gauge lines branch off east of the town north to Goomalling and south to

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

and Albany via the Great Southern Railway. Between the western side of the town and Toodyay lies Avon Yard.

Old station

The original station closed on 12 February 1966 and has been converted to a museum.Municipal Heritage Inventory
Shire of Northam 21 September 2012 page 47

Passenger services

Transwa Transwa is Western Australia's regional public transport provider, linking 240 destinations, from Kalbarri in the north to Augusta in the south west to Esperance in the south east. The Transwa system provides transport to the major regional ...

's ''

AvonLink The ''AvonLink'' is a rural passenger train service in Western Australia operated by Transwa between Midland and Northam. History The consideration of revitalising passenger services in 1993 saw the ''Avonlink Ministerial Committee'' formed ...

MerredinLink The ''MerredinLink'' is a rural passenger train service in Western Australia operated by Transwa between Perth and Merredin. History The ''MerredinLink'' was introduced in June 2004 when the ''AvonLink'' from Perth was extended from Northam ...

'' and ''

Prospector Prospector may refer to: Space exploration * Prospector (spacecraft), a planned lunar probe, canceled in 1962 * '' Lunar Prospector'', a NASA spacecraft Trains * Prospector (train), a passenger train operated by the Denver & Rio Grande Western ...

''services stop at Northam, at least one service each day. The ''

Indian Pacific The ''Indian Pacific'' is a weekly experiential tourism passenger train service that runs in Australia's east–west rail corridor between Sydney, on the shore of the Pacific Ocean, and Perth, on the shore of the Indian Ocean – thus, l ...

'' also passes here, running once or twice a week (depending on the time of year) between

East Perth East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sunrise, Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from ...

and Sydney Central, but does not stop at the station.

References

External links

*
Northam Station
History of Western Australian Railways & Stations gallery {{Public Transport Authority of Western Australia railway stations, AvonLink=y, MerredinLink=y, Prospector=y, state=collapsed Eastern Railway (Western Australia) Northam, Western Australia Railway stations in Western Australia Railway stations in Australia opened in 1900 Railway stations closed in 1966 Railway stations in Australia opened in 1966