The Brewarrina railway line is a closed branch railway line in far-western

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. It joined the Main West Line at Byrock with the town of

Brewarrina Brewarrina (pronounced 'bree-warren-ah'; locally known as "Bre") is a town in north-west New South Wales, Australia on the banks of the Barwon River in Brewarrina Shire. The name Brewarrina is derived from 'burru waranha', a Weilwan name for a s ...

on the

Darling River The Darling River (Paakantyi: ''Baaka'' or ''Barka'') is the third-longest river in Australia, measuring from its source in northern New South Wales to its conflu ence with the Murray River at Wentworth, New South Wales. Including its long ...

. It was 93.67 km long.

Construction

The residents of Brewarrina realised the benefit of a railway connection and presented a petition to the Minister for Public Works in September, 1881, for a railway to be connected to their town from Byrock. At that date, the Western Line had only reached Dubbo and its extension to

Nyngan Nyngan () is a town in the centre of New South Wales, Australia, in the Bogan Shire local government area within the Orana Region of central New South Wales. At the 2016 census, Nyngan had a population of 1,988 people. Nyngan is situated on th ...

was under construction. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works recommended on 22 June 1898 that the proposed Byrock to Brewarrina branch line should be built, subject to a levee being paid by Crown Lands Lessees in the area served by the proposed line. The line opened as far as Tarrion Creek in July, 1900 and was completed to Brewarrina on 2 September 1901.Roundhouse

New South Wales Rail Transport Museum The NSW Rail Museum is the main railway museum in New South Wales, Australia. A division of Transport Heritage NSW, it was previously known as the New South Wales Rail Transport Museum (NSWRTM), Rail Heritage Centre and Trainworks. Transport He ...

July, 1988 p27 A peculiar feature of this line was the method of construction of the associated signal and telegraph lines. To minimise cost, the wiring was fixed to short pegs nailed to the side of the sleepers rather than the standard method of installation of overhead wiring on telegraph poles.

Operations

The line replaced the river trade on the Barwon and Darling rivers, and carried large quantities of wool. For the greater part of its life, the predominant train service was a Mixed train connecting with the Through Mail at Byrock on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and returning to Byrock on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Conditional stock trains ran as required. In the 1960s, the Through Mail was replaced by a self-propelled diesel train and the Brewarrina Mixed train operated only twice each week.

Demise

It was closed after damage by flooding on 18 January 1974 and not re-opened. The last passenger service operated on 12 January 1974. The line was officially decommissioned as at 11 August 1982.Australian Railway Routes 1854-2000 Quinlan, H & Newland, J.R.

Australian Railway Historical Society The Australian Railway Historical Society (ARHS) aims to foster an interest in the railways, and record and preserve many facets of railway operations. It had divisions in every state and the Australian Capital Territory, although the ACT divis ...

N.S.W. Div. 2000

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brewarrina Railway Line, New South Wales Closed regional railway lines in New South Wales Standard gauge railways in Australia Railway lines opened in 1901 Railway lines closed in 1974

Construction

Operations

Demise

See also

References