The Broken Hill to Port Pirie Rail Line
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THE BROKEN HILL TO PORT PIRIE RAIL LINE The railway line from Port Pirie to Peterborough and then on to Cockburn was one of the South Australian Railways most significant achievements when the line was completed to Cockburn in 1886. The purpose of the line was primarily to transport the ore from the newly founded mining company Broken Hill Proprietary Limited’s mine to their smelter in Port Pirie and secondly to open up the vast areas in the North East of the state to settlement. The project quickly proved successful in its early years due to the large quantities of both ore and agricultural produce such as livestock and other associated products moved by rail as well as general supplies to the fast growing town of Broken Hill. To give an idea of the tonnage carried in the early years of the new line, during the financial year 1888-89 44,535 tons of ore was railed west from Cockburn. This was over three times the amount forwarded from Kadina’s Wallaroo mine and twice that from the Moonta mines to the smelter at Wallaroo. Due to political issues of the time the South Australian Government were not permitted to extend their railway over the border into New South Wales and hence the Silverton Tramway Company was formed and a Tramway was built to the specifications of the newly built SAR railway line to complete the connection to Broken Hill. Between, and including both Cockburn and Peterborough, there were 21 sidings/stations strategically placed for the purposes of watering the steam locomotives, crossing of other trains and servicing the local settlers. When was the line built? The line that would eventually connect Port Pirie with Broken Hill was started from Port Pirie in 1875. It was designed to tap the agricultural and pastoral produce of Port Pirie’s hinterland. The first train steamed into Crystal Brook on 29 April 1876. The line continued eastwards, Gladstone seeing its first train on 9 November 1876. Jamestown saw its first train on 26 June 1878 and Peterborough was eventually reached in December 1880. There had been much debate about where exactly the line from Port Pirie would meet the south/north line pushing up from Adelaide and planned to link with a line coming southwards from Quorn. Terowie, Peterborough, and a small settlement to the east of Peterborough called Lancelot, were all considered at one time or another. Ultimately Peterborough became the junction, Terowie became the necessary break-of- gauge (the line from the south was broad gauge, the line from the north was narrow gauge), and Lancelot as a town died. Today the site is marked by a solitary historical marker. In the 1870s there was a lot of prospecting activity east of Peterborough and Parliament expressed interest in constructing a railway to this potentially rich region. The discovery of silver ore deposits at Umberumberka in the Barrier Ranges focussed the government’s mind on providing a railway to the SA/NSW border. The choice of a western terminus caused much rivalry between Terowie and Peterborough. Support swung between both towns, but the issue was settled in favour of Peterborough and the Petersburg and Border Railway Act No.328 of 1884 received Royal Assent on 14 November. The line was financed by loans negotiated by the South Australian Government, with English capitalists – who were the source of much of the funding that was used to open up and develop country SA. Indeed in the early days of railway operation, a line was deemed profitable if it covered the interest due on the loan, and train working expenses. The line itself to the border was originally estimated to cost £540,000 or £3,486 per mile. The eventual cost was £465,239 or approximately £3,200 per mile. Contrast this with the cost of building the first section of the line over the Mt Lofty Ranges in the early 1880s of £20,500 per mile! The line was built on an absolute shoestring. The line consisting of 41 lb to the yard steel rails, was laid directly on the surface of the earth, with a minimum of ballast underneath the sleepers – 123,000 of which were jarrah from Western Australia, with a further 200,000 from the Wirrabara Government Forest, north of Laura. Most watercourses were forded – it being considered cheaper to repair fords than built expensive iron bridges. The construction contract was let to C and E Millar in May 1885. The speed of trains was to be limited to 8 miles per hour for goods trains, and 15mph for passenger and mixed trains. Further mineral discoveries in the Barrier Ranges prompted the SA government to upgrade the standard of the line. The rails eventually reached Cockburn on 2 January 1887, and the line was officially opened for public traffic on 14 June 1887. Early on it became clear that an extension would be required in NSW to connect the SAR portion of track with the Broken Hill mineral deposits in the Barrier Ranges – discovered by Charles Rasp in 1883. Intercolonial rivalries were running high. In terms of proximity to a coast outlet, Port Pirie 253 miles to the west was infinitely closer to Broken Hill than Sydney 699 miles to the east. Whilst the NSW colonial government would not permit the SA authorities to extend their line beyond the border, they would not build a line themselves! The solution to this dilemma came in the form of the creation of a private company – the Silverton Tramway Company – incorporated in NSW in October 1886. It was no coincidence that the majority of directors of the STC were also directors of BHP. How long did it take to get built? The line itself was built comparatively quickly. The project started in early 1885 and the border was reached in January 1887. The link between Cockburn and Broken Hill was completed in late 1887, the line being officially opened by the Duke of Manchester early in January 1888. It is interesting to note that Broken Hill did not make a rail connection with Sydney until October 1927. How many trains did it carry each day? This figure was subject to wide variation over the life of the narrow gauge railway (1887- 1970) between Broken Hill and Port Pirie. Carriage of ore from Broken Hill to the smelters at Port Pirie was the major contributor to rail traffic through Peterborough, with 70 trains per day being reported in October 1898. The line was recognised as the busiest single track railway in the world between 1911 and 1914. In 1923 it was recorded that 102 trains passed in and out of the Peterborough station during a 24-hour period. How long was it? Broken Hill to the SA/NT border (Burns on the NSW side and Cockburn on the SA side 35 miles - (56 km’s) Cockburn to Peterborough 145 miles - (233 km’s) Peterborough to Port Pirie 73 miles – (117 km’s) Total 253 miles – (407 km’s) The townships and sidings en route: There was an amazing number of sidings between Broken Hill and Port Pirie. This was a direct consequence of the number of trains that traversed the line in each direction daily. Between Peterborough and Cockburn there were 20 sections – an average of 7.3 miles between sidings. Between Peterborough and Port Pirie there were 10 sections – and average of 7.3 miles between sidings. Some sidings were supported by small towns – Yunta, Olary, Mannahill come to mind. Others like Methuen, Mootooroo, Wawirra, Peecharra were no more than crossing points on the line. There is evidence that in the early days all sidings were manned by signalmen who expedited the passage of trains through their station to the next along the line. Even though there is little left of many of these sidings we have included information on them in this section along with the towns and communities that are highlighted on our live maps for the Heritage Rail Trail. BURNS Right on the border on the New South Wales side was the Silverton Tramway 8 track marshalling yard known as Burns, with a turning triangle branching northward around the station masters office. COCKBURN Immediately over the border continuing on from and co-joined by 3 tracks was the South Australian Railways border terminal of Cockburn. All SAR trains terminated and originated from this depot. It housed a 5 track marshalling yard with a separate 4 track locomotive depot with associated sheds and 50 foot turntable with an additional 3 track oil and service yard. In addition to this there was a 4 track livestock yard located at the western end of the main station yard precinct, catering for both sheep and cattle. Cockburn was located at the end of a stock route from south- western Queensland and Sydney Kidman used these facilities on a regular basis for many years transporting cattle from his pastoral empire to the north. Remnants of the narrow gauge rail yards are visible in the form the overhead water tank and several buildings such as the old running crew barracks and a few of the stone cottages. If time permits, a walk around the area may reveal traces of other infrastructure. Cockburn was the limit of SAR working. There were loco crews based here, together with shunters, porters, station staff. Coal, fuel oil, water were also available. An SAR reservoir served both the town as well as providing water for locomotive purposes. Cockburn was also used to be a major shipping point for livestock bound for southern markets.