Barnawartha railway station

Barnawartha is a closed station located in the town of Barnawartha, on the North East railway, in Victoria, Australia. The station building and platform are on the eastern side of the standard gauge line, with a goods shed located opposite.

The station opened with the line in 1873, with a temporary passenger shelter and a large brick goods shed. In 1885, a signal cabin was provided, as well as platform extensions, and construction of a siding to a nearby flour mill. In 1889, the brick station building was erected, and in 1925, the signal frame was made part of the station building. At the same time, all tracks in the yard were lengthened for longer trains.[1] Closed sometime in the 1980s, the buildings remain largely intact, but sidings has been removed and the track realigned from the platform.[2]

Barnawartha was the site of a collision between a Melbourne bound goods train and the Melbourne bound Spirit of Progress on 17 June 1982. The collision, which happened north of the station, and in heavy fog, occurred after the crew of the goods train ran past a red signal, which was protecting the broken down Spirit of Progress, caused by a loss of power to the engine. The goods train ran into the back of the SoP at a speed of 46 km/h, killing the crew on board the goods train, and injuring 9 other people. Train controllers in Melbourne could not warn the crew of the danger ahead due to a lack of two-way radio systems on board locomotives at the time.[3][4]

A number of alterations took place at Barnawartha in 1987,[5] including the abolition of four signal posts, a number of points, the former platform road (No. 1 track), and the dead end extension of No. 3 road.[5]