Henley Beach railway line explained

Henley Beach railway line
Status:closed and removed
Locale:Adelaide, South Australia
Start:Adelaide
End:Henley Beach
Open:1894
Event1label:Re-sleepered (concrete)
Event2label:Electrified
Close:1957
Linelength Km:15.3
Tracks:Double track to Woodville
Single track to Grange
Closed from Grange (formerly single track to Henley Beach)
Map State:collapsed

The Henley Beach railway line is a defunct railway in western Adelaide, which operated from 1894 to 1957 as the final section of the Grange railway line.

History

The line opened on 5 February 1894 as an extension of the Grange line and originally serviced five stations.[1] The line was originally taken over and extended partly to allow for military manoeuvres[2] as part of "the Russian Scare" and as a reaction to the Jervois-Scratchley reports, which also saw the building of Fort Glanville and Fort Largs to protect South Australian shipping around the same time.

The line appears to have had five stations at some early time: Grange, Kirkaldy, Marlborough Street, "Henley Beach Jetty Road", and Henley Beach. Sometime prior to 1940 (perhaps as early as 31 October 1913[3]), the terminus station Henley Beach station was closed, with the "Jetty Road" station becoming the terminus and being renamed Henley Beach, resulting in 4 stations on the line.[4]

The line closed on 31 August 1957 due to the track being close to public roads with no fencing between. The line was cut back to the now defunct original Grange station, which was cut even further back to the current Grange station in the 1986 by removal of tracks across Military Road and infrastructure from the original platform. The unused platform still remains on the side of the road.

Line guide

StationImageOpenedAdditional information
Henley Beach1894Terminus of Grange line from 1894; closed 31 August 1957
Marlborough Street1894Closed 31 August 1957
Kirkcaldy1894Closed 31 August 1957
Grange1882-09Terminus of Grange line from 1882 to 1894 and since 1 September 1957; moved 1986

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Grange to Henley Beach Railway. 2011-02-18. 2017-09-21. bot: unknown. https://web.archive.org/web/20110218064828/http://jc.people.vee.net/rail/henley/. 18 February 2011.
  2. News: HENLEY BEACH RAILWAY.. 1910-03-30. Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1931). 2017-09-21. 11.
  3. News: THE RAILWAYS.. 1913-10-31. Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1931). 2017-09-29. 18.
  4. Web site: Fuller's streetmap (1940). 2017-09-30. 1 April 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160401090608/http://mapshop.net.au/fullers/images/full1940/map11.gif. dead.