Mount Gambier railway station was the

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 ...

for the Naracoorte– Millicent and Mount Gambier-Heywood lines in the

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

n city of

Mount Gambier Mount Gambier is the second most populated city in South Australia, with an estimated urban population of 33,233 . The city is located on the slopes of Mount Gambier, a volcano in the south east of the state, about south-east of the capital Ad ...

. It was last used in 2006, and has since been transformed into a public community space.

History

In 1879, a narrow gauge line opened from

Beachport Beachport is a small coastal town in the Australian state of South Australia about south-east of the state capital of Adelaide and about north-west of the municipal seat in Millicent, located at the northern end of Rivoli Bay. Beachport has a ...

(

Rivoli Bay Rivoli Bay, (french: Baie de Rivoli) is a bay located on the south-east coast of the Australian state of South Australia about south-southeast of the state capital of Adelaide and about northwest by west of the regional centre of Mount Gambie ...

North) through Millicent to

. In 1887, the

Mount Gambier railway line The Mount Gambier railway line was a railway line on the South Australian Railways network. Opened in stages from 1881, it was built to narrow gauge and joined Mount Gambier railway station, which was at that time the eastern terminus of a line ...

was constructed to Naracoorte (connecting to the Kingston-Naracoorte railway line) and Wolseley, where it joined the Adelaide-Wolseley line. On 28 November 1917, a broad gauge line opened from Mount Gambier to Heywood near

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

. In the 1950s, the narrow gauge lines were converted to broad gauge. Mount Gambier had an extensive goods yard and a locomotive depot with a roundhouse. Following the gauge conversion of the Adelaide-Wolseley and

lines to standard gauge in 1995, the lines closed. There are regular calls for the line to be reopened. In the late 1990s to mid 2000s, the

Limestone Coast Railway The Limestone Coast Railway was a tourist railway in the Australian state of South Australia which, from 1998 to 2006, operated a tourist service from Mount Gambier to stations on local gauge railway lines which had been closed in April 1995. ...

, operated tourist services on the abandoned lines from Mount Gambier to Penola, Coonawarra, Tantanoola, Millicent and Rennick with Redhen railcars. However, due to increased insurance costs, the service ceased 1 July 2006, with the last service being a train to Tantanoola on 28 June 2006. In 2013, the old yard was lifted and covered with grass. The station building was then operated by radio station Lime FM. In 2015, after over a year of work, the Railway Lands was completely transformed into a public community space. 20,000 square metres of turn covered the entire former-industrial site. The grand opening in November saw thousands of residents come together to utilise the area. A "back to nature" playground, wheelchair-accessible barbecues, a pond with a creek, native plants, a labyrinth, plus many more features for the community to use. Mount Gambier City Council plan to use the area for a number of annual events, but encourage local community groups to also activate the area. This, in turn, permanently disconnects the Heywood line from the Millicent and Naracoorte lines except for a two track easement through to give right of way for any future standardisation. In 2018, the roundhouse was demolished after being damaged by fire in 2014. Timber from the roundhouse was reused at a different roundhouse in

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

during its restoration from 2021 to 2022. In 2020, the station building was restored to original condition by the City of Mount Gambier Council.

Services

Mount Gambier station was served from

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

by an overnight

mixed train A mixed train or mixed consist is a train that contains both passenger and freight cars or wagons. Although common in the early days of railways, by the 20th century they were largely confined to branch lines with little traffic. Typically, service ...

until October 1985 and then by a service using Bluebird railcars until December 1990. Today, Mount Gambier is connected to the Victorian rail service via a

V/Line V/Line is a statutory authority that operates regional passenger train and coach services in Victoria, Australia. It provides passenger train services on five commuter lines and eight long-distance routes from its major hub at Southern Cros ...

coach service to and from

Warrnambool Warrnambool ( Maar: ''Peetoop'' or ''Wheringkernitch'' or ''Warrnambool'') is a city on the south-western coast of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Warrnambool had a population of 35,743. Situated on the Princes Highway, Warrnambool (A ...

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

Mount Gambier marshalling yards
Johnny's Pages Disused railway stations in South Australia Railway stations closed in 1995 Parks in South Australia Limestone Coast Mount Gambier, South Australia

History

Services

See also

References

External links