The Broken Hill railway line, extending from

Orange, New South Wales Orange is a city in the Central Tablelands region of New South Wales, Australia. It is west of the state capital, Sydney on a great circle at an altitude of . Orange had an urban population of 41,920 at the 2021 Australia Census, 2021 Cens ...

Broken Hill Broken Hill is a city in the Far West (New South Wales), far west region of outback New South Wales, Australia. An inland mining city, it is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Hi ...

, is now part of the transcontinental rail corridor from

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. The first railway line in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

opened from Sydney to Parramatta Junction (near Granville station) in 1855 and was extended as the Main Western line in stages to

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower ** Orange juice *Orange (colour), the color of an orange fruit, occurs between red and yellow in the vi ...

in 1877. The Broken Hill line branched off the Main Western line at Orange and was opened to

Molong Molong is a small town in the Central West (New South Wales), Central West region of New South Wales, Australia, in Cabonne Shire Council, Cabonne Shire. History The name Molong comes from the indigenous Australians, Aboriginal word for 'all ro ...

in 1885. It was extended to

Parkes Parkes may refer to: * Sir Henry Parkes (1815–1896), Australian politician, one of the earliest and most prominent advocates for Australian federation Named for Henry Parkes * Parkes, New South Wales, a regional town * Parkes Observatory, a radi ...

and

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

in 1893, and extended from Parkes to

Bogan Gate Bogan Gate () is a small village in Parkes Shire of the Central West, New South Wales, Central West of New South Wales, Australia. At the , Bogan Gate and the surrounding area had a population of 307. Bogan Gate is derived from the local Indig ...

and

Condobolin Condobolin is a town in the west of the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia, on the Lachlan River. At the , Condobolin had a population of 3,185. History Prior to European settlement, the area was inhabited by the Wiradjuri pe ...

in 1898.

Roto ''Roto'', f. ''rota'', (literally "torn" or "broken") is a term used to refer to Chilean people and in particular to the common Chilean. In Chile, from the start of the 20th century, it was applied with a negative classist connotation to poor ...

and Trida were reached in 1919. A gap remained between Trida and Menindee after an isolated standard-gauge line was opened from

Menindee Menindee (derived from Minandichi, the original Indigenous name for Lake Menindee, and frequently but erroneously spelled "Menindie") is a small town in the far west of New South Wales, Australia, in Central Darling Shire, on the banks of the Da ...

to the town of

in 1919. At Broken Hill, the railway met the narrow-gauge

Silverton Tramway The Silverton Tramway was a 58-kilometre-long railway line running from Cockburn on the South Australian state border to Broken Hill in New South Wales. Operating between 1888 and 1970, it served the mines in Broken Hill, and formed the lin ...

at 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 canno ...

. At Cockburn, the Silverton Tramway connected with the

South Australian Railways South Australian Railways (SAR) was the organisation through which the Government of South Australia built and operated railways in South Australia from 1854 until March 1978, when its non-urban railways were incorporated into Australian Natio ...

system to

Port Pirie Port Pirie is a small city on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf in South Australia, north of the state capital, Adelaide. Port Pirie is the largest city and the main retail centre of the Mid North region of South Australia. The city has an ex ...

and via a break of gauge at Terowie to

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

. The final missing link between Trida and Menindee was completed in 1927. The ''Broken Hill Express'', running from Sydney to Broken Hill, was introduced from November 1927. Included in its composition was Dining Car AB90, making it the first regularly scheduled Dining Car in that state.''On-train Catering in New South Wales'' Banger, Chris

Australian Railway History ''Australian Railway History'' is a monthly magazine covering railway history in Australia, published by the New South Wales Division of the Australian Railway Historical Society on behalf of its state and territory Divisions. History and prof ...

, March, 2004 pp102-103 In 1970, the

standardised Standardization (American English) or standardisation (British English) is the process of implementing and developing technical standards based on the consensus of different parties that include firms, users, interest groups, standards organiza ...

Broken Hill – Port Pirie line was opened, completing the Sydney–Perth standard gauge link. Today, the line is utilised by the

Outback Xplorer The ''Outback Xplorer'' is an Australian passenger train service operated by NSW TrainLink between Central railway station, Sydney, Sydney and Broken Hill railway station, Broken Hill via the Main Western railway line, Main Western line. Commenc ...

from Sydney Central to

, as well as the transcontinental

Indian Pacific The ''Indian Pacific'' is a weekly experiential tourism-oriented 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 – ...

from Sydney to Perth.

Branch line

A branch line was opened from Molong to Dubbo as an alternative route with better grades in 1925. It closed in 1987. Another branch line was opened from Bogan Gate to Trundle in 1907,

Tullamore Tullamore (; ) is the county town of County Offaly in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is on the Grand Canal (Ireland), Grand Canal, in the middle of the county, and is the fourth most populous town in the Midland Region, Ireland, Midlands Reg ...

in 1908 and

Tottenham Tottenham (, , , ) is a district in north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, ...

in 1916.

Crossing loops

The maximum length of trains on this line is , but only some of the

crossing loop A passing loop (UK usage) or passing siding (North America) (also called a crossing loop, crossing place, refuge loop or, colloquially, a hole) is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at or near a station, where trains o ...

s are of this length.

Notes

References

* McCarthy K. ''Steaming down Argent Street.'' Sydney Tramway Museum, Sutherland. 1983. Regional railway lines in New South Wales Standard-gauge railways in Australia Far West (New South Wales) Transport in Broken Hill, New South Wales {{NewSouthWales-rail-transport-stub

Branch line

Crossing loops

See also

Notes

References