Mount Barker railway station

Mount Barker railway station is a preserved railway station in South Australia on the Victor Harbor line, formerly operated by South Australian Railways and its successor, Australian National. With only broad gauge track running through the station, it has been disconnected from the Adelaide metropolitan network since the standardisation of the Adelaide-Wolseley line in 1995. It is still used by SteamRanger, a heritage train operator between Mount Barker and Victor Harbor.

Mount Barker
LocationDruids Avenue
Mount Barker
Coordinates35°03′56″S 138°51′46″E[1]
Line(s)Victor Harbor line
Bus routesT840, 835, 835A, 837, 838, 838H, 839, 839R, 840X, 852, 853, 860F, 864, 864F, 864H, 882, 886, 887, 890
Construction
ParkingNo
Bicycle facilitiesNo
History
Opened1883
Closed1984
Services
Preceding station   TransAdelaide   Following station
Littlehampton
Closed
Victor Harbor line
Strathalbyn
Closed
toward Littlehampton

History

The first railway link between two colonial capital cities, Adelaide and Melbourne, was completed in 1886. Three years earlier construction on a branch line from Mount Barker Junction to Victor Harbor, with stations at Mount Barker, Strathalbyn and Goolwa, was begun, and completed in 1884. The Mount Barker railway station was built out of Aldgate freestone, and housed a stationmaster's quarters and a ticketing office. It was opened on 27 November 1883.

Regular services operated until passenger numbers declined in the late 20th century with the dominance of the motor car, and were terminated in April 1984. Community support saw the establishment of the non-for-profit organisation SteamRanger in 1989, which ran heritage trains from Adelaide to Victor Harbor through the station. As part of the One Nation programme in 1995, the main line between Adelaide and Melbourne was converted to standard gauge, leaving Steamranger's depot in metropolitan Adelaide isolated and defunct. Mount Barker station became its new base, and all its locomotives and facilities were transferred there. As part of the move, the railway station itself, at the time derelict, was renovated by the District Council of Mount Barker. There has been calls to extend the passenger service beyond Belair to Mount Barker isolated by gauge with the city’s rapid growth.

References
  1. "Search results for 'Mount Barker Railway Station' with the following datasets selected - 'Suburbs and localities' and 'Gazetteer'". Location SA Map Viewer. South Australian Government. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
The train station is used by the SteamRanger
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