Broken Hill railway line

The Broken Hill railway line is now part of the transcontinental railway from Sydney to Perth.

Broken Hill line
Broken Hill line at Parkes railway station
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Old gauge	3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm)
Route map Main West Line at Orange Orange East Fork Platform Canobolas Nashdale Borenore Molong (1200m) Molong-Dubbo line to Dubbo (inactive) Pinecliffe Gregra Manildra (630m) Bumberry (931m) Mandagery Cookamidgera Mugincoble Parkes Racecourse Parkes branch line to Stockinbingal Goobang Junction (1870m) branch line to Narromine Brolgan Gunningbland (398m) Bogan Gate (553m) Tottenham line to Tottenham Yarrabandai (1850m) Derriwong (310m) Condobolin (964m) Micabil Kiacatoo (1850m) Gunebang Euabalong West (920m) Matakana (1850m) Roto (block post) line to Temora (closed) Wee Elwah Trida (1850m) Conoble Ivanhoe (1850m) Beilpajah Darnick (900m) Sayers Lake Gum Lake Kaleentha (1833m) Menindee (1145m) Box Tank Horse Lake Kinalung (1850m) The Gorge Mount Gipps Broken Hill (1169m+890m) South Australia border Crystal Brook-Broken Hill railway line

New South Wales's first line opened from Sydney to Parramatta Junction (near Granville Station) in 1855 and was extended as the Main Western line in stages to Orange in 1877. The Broken Hill line branched off the Main Western line at Orange and was opened to Molong in 1885. It was extended to Parkes and Forbes in 1893. This line was extended from Parkes to Bogan Gate and Condobolin in 1898 and Roto and Trida in 1919.

An isolated section of 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in) standard gauge line was also opened from Menindee to the town of Broken Hill in 1919, which met the 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge Silverton Tramway at a break-of-gauge. At Cockburn, the Silverton Tramway connected with the South Australian Railways system to Port Pirie and via a break of gauge at Terowie to Adelaide. 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.[1] In 1970, the standardised Broken Hill – Port Pirie line was opened, completing the Sydney–Perth standard gauge link.[2] Today, the line is utilised by the Outback Xplorer from Sydney Central to Broken Hill, as well as the transcontinental Indian Pacific from Sydney to Perth.