Barmera railway line

Barmera railway line
Overview
StatusClosed and removed
LocaleMurray Mallee
Termini
Continues fromAdelaide-Wolseley line
Service
SystemSouth Australian Railways
Operator(s)South Australian Railways: 1913-1978
Australian National: 1978-1990
History
OpenedTailem Bend-Wanbi: 6 January 1913
Wanbi-Paruna: 1 May 1913
Paruna-Meribah: 7 May 1913
Meribah-Paringa: 2 October 1913
Paringa-Renmark: 1927
Renmark-Barmera: 1 August 1928
Closed1990
Technical
Track gauge1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)
Route map

former Tailem Bend-Barmera line
Barmera
Glossop
Karoom
Berri
Spring Cart Gully
Calperum
Renmark
Paringa
to Chowilla
Dam site
(
1967
only
)
Wonuarra
(
formerly
Koora
)
Yamba
197.25 mi
317.44 km
Taldra
195.25 mi
314.22 km
Ingalta
192.5 mi
309.8 km
Noora
188.5 mi
303.4 km
Pungonda
187 mi
301 km
Nangari
183.25 mi
294.91 km
Taplan
Nadda
172 mi
277 km
Meribah
164.75 mi
265.14 km
Paruna
Brown's Well
district
151.75 mi
244.22 km
Alawoona
139.9 mi
225.1 km
Wanbi
215.2 km
Mindarie
128.25 mi
206.4 km
Halidon
115.5 mi
185.9 km
Borrika
111.5 mi
179.4 km
Lowaldie
105.25 mi
169.38 km
Karoonda
95.25 mi
153.29 km
Wynarka
89.5 mi
144 km
Kulde
84.5 mi
136 km
Naturi
75.25 mi
121.1 km
Tailem Bend

The Barmera railway line was the second railway built to develop the Murray Mallee region of South Australia, in 1913. It followed the success of the Pinnaroo railway line in 1906. Both lines branched east from Tailem Bend to the north of the main Melbourne–Adelaide railway. The Brown's Well line was the more northerly, and extended into country which had not been developed much before the railway, partly due to the absence of any viable transport route for produce. The original terminus of the Brown's Well railway was at Meribah, not far from the Victorian border.

Such was the optimism about this region, that three lines from the Brown's Well line to the Murray River, and an additional line between it and the Pinnaroo line, were approved even before it was completed.[1] It was extended further to Renmark and Barmera in the 1920s, along with construction of another spur from Wanbi to near Moorook in 1925.[2]

  1. ^ "RAILWAY EXTENSION". The Register. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 21 December 1912. p. 7. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
  2. ^ "THE MOOROOK RAILWAY". The Chronicle. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 12 September 1925. p. 52. Retrieved 29 June 2014.