Kalgoorlie railway station is the most eastern attended station 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 ...

, located at the eastern terminus of the

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 ...

. It serves the city of

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...

. Beyond Kalgoorlie, the line continues east as the

Trans-Australian Railway The Trans-Australian Railway, opened in 1917, runs from Port Augusta in South Australia to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, crossing the Nullarbor Plain in the process. As the only rail freight corridor between Western Australia and the easter ...

Establishment

Construction of the railway station and yard was begun in the late 1890s, as part of the extension of the

from Coolgardie in January 1897. The station was formally opened by the

Governor of Western Australia The governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of the monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. As with the other governors of the Australian states, the governor of Western Australia performs constitutional ...

, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Gerard Smith KCMG, at a ceremony held on the station platform on 8 September 1896. In the early stages of the development of railways in the Eastern Goldfields, it was the junction for the following railways: *Kalgoorlie to

Boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In c ...

, opened 8 November 1897 *Kalgoorlie to Kanowna, opened 6 December 1897 *Kalgoorlie to

Menzies Menzies is a Scottish surname, with Gaelic forms being Méinnearach and Méinn, and other variant forms being Menigees, Mennes, Mengzes, Menzeys, Mengies, and Minges. Derivation and history The name and its Gaelic form are probably derived f ...

, opened 24 March 1898 In 1917, Kalgoorlie became 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 ...

station when the

Commonwealth Railways The Commonwealth Railways were established in 1917 by the Government of Australia with the Commonwealth Railways Act to administer the Trans-Australia and Port Augusta to Darwin railways. It was absorbed into Australian National in 1975. O ...

' standard gauge

from

Port Augusta Port Augusta is a small city in South Australia. Formerly a port, seaport, it is now a road traffic and Junction (rail), railway junction city mainly located on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf immediately south of the gulf's head and about ...

opened. This ceased on 3 August 1968, when the Eastern Goldfields Railway was

gauge converted Gauge conversion is the changing of one railway track gauge (the distance between the running rails) to another. Sleepers If tracks are converted to a narrower gauge, the existing sleepers (ties) may be used. However, replacement is required if ...

Loop line

Surveyed in 1899, the line went from Kalgoorlie station. Due to costs and passenger decline, in 1920, some of the stations listed below were reduced in status by ceasing to be booking stations: Hannan Street, Golden Gate, Brown Hill and Trafagar. In 1921, fares increased. In 1930, the passenger service was closed. * Maritana Street Bridge * Victoria Street * Hanbury Street – the junction Western side: * Robert Street * Coombe Street * Halfway * Kallaroo Inner western side * Hainault * Fimiston * Horseshoe Boulder Loop * Golden Gate – junction * Dunlop Crossing * Clancy Street * Boulder railway station * Forrest Street * Ivanhoe Crossing * Kamballie – junction Eastern side * Trafalgar * Hillend * Brown Hill * Croesus * Williamstown

Platform

The platform was the longest in Western Australia, 527 m, but was eclipsed by the new East Perth Terminal platform, built for the 1969-70 extension of standard gauge into Perth. At each end of the main platform are bay platforms; the three to the east (adjacent to the former water tank and signal box) were where Boulder loop line passenger services arrived, and the western one is where the current ''

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 terminate. The eastern bays were converted to standard gauge for Trans-Australia Railway, prior to the extension of the standard gauge line to Perth.

Location and commemorations

Due to it being the western terminus of the

, the station has been the location of a number of commemorations and ceremonies from the opening of that railway in 1917 and since.

Services

Kalgoorlie is served by the Transwa ''Prospector'' rural train service and 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 ...

''. It was also previously served by the ''Kalgoorlie Express'', ''

The Westland ''The Westland'' was the name given in 1938 to the overnight train operated by the Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) with sitting and sleeping cars between Perth and Kalgoorlie, where it connected with the '' Trans-Australian'' se ...

'' and '' Trans Australian''. The ''Prospector'' service runs to and from

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 ...

once or twice each day.

''Indian Pacific''

The

also stops here. It runs once a week each way between

and Sydney Central.

References

External links

* {{Journey Beyond railway stations, Indian Pacific=y, state=collapsed City of Kalgoorlie–Boulder Railway stations in Western Australia Railway stations in Australia opened in 1896 State Register of Heritage Places in the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder