Eastern Goldfields Railway

History

exCONTg\CONTg~~ ~~ Eastern Railway exCONTgq\exABZg+r\STR\ ~~ ~~Great Southern Railway exBHF\STR~~ ~~Northam ~~old exSTR\BHF~~ ~~Northam new exKRWl\eKRWg+r
\ABZgl\CONTfq ~~ Northam-Goomalling railway PSLr hKRZWae ~~ Mortlock River eHST Seabrook BHF Grass Valley PSLl hKRZWae ~~ Mortlock River East BHF Meckering eHST Waeel BHF Cunderdin eHST Wyola eHST Livesey Crossing BHF Tammin BHF Bungulla BHF Kellerberrin eHST Woolundra BHF Doodlakine BHF ~~Hines Hill CONTgq\ABZg+r~~ ~~ Bruce Rock-Merredin railway YRD West Merredin \ABZgl\CONTfq ~~ Merredin-Wyalkatchem railway BHF ~~Merredin CONTgq\ABZgr~~ ~~ Narrogin-Kondinin-Merredin railway BHF Booraan BHF Burracoppin BHF Carrabin BHF Bodallin eHST Nulla Nulla BHF Moorine Rock \eABZg+l\exCONTfq ~~ Southern Cross-Wyalkatchem railway BHF Southern Cross PSLl Lake Julia BHF Koolyanobbing \ABZg+l\WSLrq Koolyanobbing East PSLr eHST Wallaroo PSLr BHF ~~Bonnie Vale CONTgq\ABZgr+r~~ ~~ Esperance branch railway YRD West Kalgoorlie BHF Kalgoorlie \ABZgl\CONTfq ~~ Leonora branch line CONTf ~~ ~~Trans-Australian Railway

The Yilgarn Railway Act 1892, an act by the Parliament of Western Australia assented to on 18 March 1892, authorised the construction of the railway line from Northam to Southern Cross. The Southern Cross-Coolgardie Railway Act 1894, assented to on 23 November 1894, authorised construction of a railway line from Southern Cross to Coolgardie. A third act, the Coolgardie–Kalgoorlie Railway Act 1895, assented to on 2 October 1895, authorised construction of a railway line from Coolgardie to Kalgoorlie.

The Eastern Railway opened in stages from Perth to Northam in the 1890s, and the Eastern Goldfields Railway extended this line through semi-desert to the Eastern Goldfields.

It opened in stages between 1894 and 1897.

• Northam to Southern Cross: 175 mi (opened 1 July 1894).
• Southern Cross to Boorabbin: 60 mi (opened 1 July 1896)
• Boorabbin to Kalgoorlie: 78 mi (opened 1 January 1897). The Goldfields Water Supply Scheme pipeline was later constructed along the railway line. The chief engineer for both the railway and the pipeline was C. Y. O'Connor.

In October 1917, the Commonwealth Railways' standard gauge Trans-Australian Railway from Port Augusta was completed through to Kalgoorlie, making it a break-of-gauge station.

Branches

At Kalgoorlie, lines branch off north to Malcolm and Leonora; and south to Esperance via the Esperance line. The Malcolm–Laverton branch was last used in 1957 and closed in 1960.

Gauge conversion

As part of the Federal Government's program to build a standard gauge line across Australia and the passing of the Railways (Standard Gauge) Construction Act 1961, work commenced on gauge converting the line to dual gauge with a new alignment further north of the existing line built between Southern Cross and Kalgoorlie. From Northam to Southern Cross, the railway was also realigned to reduce the number of road crossings, increase the minimum radius of curvature and lower the ruling gradient to 1:150.

The new alignment, as well as being generally straighter and more favourably graded, provided access to the iron ore deposits at Koolyanobbing, which were shipped by rail to Kwinana, near Perth, to supply Australian Iron and Steel's blast furnace.

The first official standard gauge iron ore train from Koolyanobbing arrived at Kwinana on 10 July 1967. On 3 August 1968, the Koolyanobbing–Kalgoorlie section opened for freight trains and on 4 November 1968, the first through freight train from Port Pirie arrived in Perth.

Upgrades

In November 2005, funding was announced to extend eight crossing loops to accommodate 1800 m trains at Bodallin, Darrine, Wallaroo, Lake Julia, Grass Valley, Bungulla, Booraan and Seabrook, and replace the final 76 km of timber sleepers with concrete sleepers.

Services

Transwa's MerredinLink and Prospector services from Perth to Merredin and Kalgoorlie traverse the line as does Journey Beyond's Indian Pacific to Sydney. Other named trains to previously use the line were The Westland and The Kalgoorlie.

Intrastate and interstate freight services are operated by Aurizon, Mineral Resources, Pacific National and SCT Logistics. CBH Group operate grain trains.

References

References

1. "Souvenir brochure 60th anniversary celebrations of the opening of the railway to Coolgardie 23 March 1896". [Coolgardie].
2. . ["Boulder Railway Station, Subway & Loopline"](https://inherit.dplh.wa.gov.au/public/inventory/details/216e55b3-2207-4700-98d0-b1561fca340b). *Heritage Council of Western Australia*.
3. . (10 October 1912). ["Fremantle–Kalgoorlie (Merredin–Coolgardie Section) Railway Act 1912"](https://www.legislation.wa.gov.au/legislation/statutes.nsf/law_a143351.html). *[[Government of Western Australia]]*.
4. "Eastern Goldfields Railway in the Darling Range near Swan View".
5. "Network Control Boundaries".
6. . (18 March 1892). ["Yilgarn Railway Act 1892"](https://www.legislation.wa.gov.au/legislation/statutes.nsf/law_a3091.html). *[[Government of Western Australia]]*.
7. . (23 November 1894). ["Southern Cross-Coolgardie Railway Act 1894"](https://www.legislation.wa.gov.au/legislation/statutes.nsf/law_a3189.html). *[[Government of Western Australia]]*.
8. . (2 October 1895). ["Coolgardie–Kalgoorlie Railway Act 1895"](https://www.legislation.wa.gov.au/legislation/statutes.nsf/law_a3219.html). *[[Government of Western Australia]]*.
9. "The Eastern and Eastern Goldfields Railways [Series of parts] Part 1: construction and opening". RIM: Western Australian Railways Institute Magazine.
10. "The Eastern and Eastern Goldfields Railways [Series of parts] Part 2. – Constructions of extensions-". RIM: Western Australian Railways Institute Magazine.
11. (2000). "Australian Railway Routes 1854 – 2000". Australian Railway Historical Society.
12. (14 April 1894). "The Northam-Yilgarn Railway.". [[Central Districts Advertiser and Agriculture and Mining Journal]].
13. (1960). "Railways (Cue-Big Bell and Other Railways) Discontinuance". Department of the Premier and Cabinet.
14. (27 February 2016). "Station Master's House (fmr), Laverton". State Heritage Council.
15. [http://www.brookfieldrail.com/assets/br_files/Communications%20Material/2014%20Brookfield%20Rail%20Network%20Map.pdf Brookfield Rail Network Map] Brookfield Rail
16. [http://www.atrf.info/papers/1976/1976_Webb.pdf Webb Report 1976] {{Webarchive. link. (14 February 2015 Australian Transport Research Forum)
17. [http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/rail/trains/history.aspx History of Rail in Australia] Department of Infrastructure & Regional Development
18. (24 November 2005). "BHP Billiton (Termination of Agreements) Agreement Bill 2005". Parliament of Western Australia.
19. (2011). "Standard Gauge Railway Project Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR)". State Library of Western Australia.
20. (June 1971). "A Brief History of Standard Gauge in Australia". Australian Railway Historical Society.
21. [https://web.archive.org/web/20060820081543/http://www.ministers.dotars.gov.au/wtr/releases/2005/November/058WT_2005.htm Western Australia to Receive Additional Australian Government Rail Funding] Federal Minister for Transport 24 November 2005
22. [https://www.transwa.wa.gov.au/Bookings/Timetables Timetables] {{Webarchive. link. (2 September 2016 Transwa)