The Tocumwal railway line is a closed railway line in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia. The line branched from the still open Junee – Hay line at Narrandera station and then headed south west to Tocumwal station where there was a

break-of-gauge With railways, a break of gauge occurs where a line of one track gauge (the distance between the rails, or between the wheels of trains designed to run on those rails) meets a line of a different gauge. Trains and rolling stock generally cannot ...

with the

Victorian Railways The Victorian Railways (VR), trading from 1974 as VicRail, was the state-owned operator of most rail transport in the Australian state of Victoria from 1859 to 1983. The first railways in Victoria were private companies, but when these companie ...

Goulburn Valley line from Shepparton. The line was opened to Jerilderie station in 1884, extended to Berrigan in 1896, Finley in 1898 and

Tocumwal Tocumwal ( ) is a town in the southern Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia, in the Berrigan Shire local government area, near the Victorian border. The town is situated on the banks of the Murray River, north of the city of Melbourne ...

in 1914. The Victorian line had reached Tocumwal in July 1908. Two of the stations on the Tocumwal railway line were

Widgiewa Widgiewa is a small community in the central part of the Riverina in New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type ...

and

Morundah Morundah is a small town in the Murray region of New South Wales, Australia. The town is located on the Newell Highway and in the Federation Council, New South Wales, Federation Council Local government in Australia, local government area. The ...

. The last goods train left Tocumwal for Narrandera in 1985, and traffic ceased over the line south of Jerilderie in September 1986 and the entire line was closed in December 1988. The Victorian line to Tocumwal remains open for freight traffic. Tocumwal was the site in 1915 of early tests with third-rail devices to enable

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 ...

and

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 ...

trains to share the same tracks. In later years passenger services on the line were operated by railcars, connecting with an overnight train at Narrandera. From 1973 the service operated three days per week, until their withdrawal on Saturday 26 November 1983. The final passenger service was a special excursion train operated with a

Silver City Comet The Silver City Comet was a train service that operated from September 1937 until November 1989 between Parkes and Broken Hill in western New South Wales. It was the first air-conditioned train in Australia. Design The original engines were b ...

railcar set on 20 September 1986. A 2018 report addresses the feasibility of re-opening the line, given that the still-operating line south from Tocumwal could be converted to standard gauge. The report finds that re-opening would not be financially justified although it might be justified on economic or environmental grounds.

References

External links

NSWrail.net Tocumwal line
Closed regional railway lines in New South Wales Standard gauge railways in Australia Railway lines opened in 1914 Railway lines closed in 1986 {{NewSouthWales-rail-transport-stub