Port Pirie railway station (Mary Elie Street)

Port Pirie railway station (Mary Elie Street)
(1967–1989)
Budd railcar CB2 and a luggage van waiting on the Commonwealth Railways (standard gauge) side of the Mary Elie Street platform, about half-way along its 700-metre (770-yard) length, about 1969. Broad-gauge South Australian Railways trains arrive on the other side.
General information
LocationEntrance 3 Mary Elie Street, Port Pirie, South Australia; parallel to Wandearah Road
Coordinates33°11′03″S 138°00′43″E / 33.1843°S 138.0119°E / -33.1843; 138.0119
Owned bySouth Australian Railways and Commonwealth Railways 1967–1975
Australian National Railways Commission 1975–1989
Line(s)Adelaide to Port Pirie
GaugeStandard – 1435 mm (4 ft 81⁄2 in)
Broad – 1600 mm (5 ft 3 in)
StructureTwo concrete brick buildings: booking office and refreshment room
Platform configurationOne raised island platform: broad gauge on western side (South Australian Railways), standard gauge on eastern side (Commonwealth Railways)
Platform length
700 metres (770 yards)
StoppingAll through passenger trains on standard-gauge Sydney–Perth rail corridor
Passenger trains on broad-gauge line to Adelaide
Opened12 November 1967
Closed1989
Immediate predecessor stationsEllen Street, 1885–1967
Solomontown, 1911–1970
Port Pirie Junction, 1937–1967
Successor
station		Coonamia provisional stopping place, 1989–2010s

Port Pirie railway station (Mary Elie Street) was the fifth of six railway stations for passengers that operated at various times from 1876 to serve the small maritime town (later city) of Port Pirie, 216 kilometres (134 miles) by rail north of Adelaide, South Australia. As with several of Port Pirie's other stations before it, the station was built to accommodate a change of track gauge on railway lines leading into the town.

Layout of the station and sidings
Links to the articles about stations in Port Pirie
  Station Duration Gauge
1 Port Pirie (at what became known as Port Pirie South) 1876 to after 1911 ng  
2 Ellen Street 1902–1967 ng bg*
3 Solomontown 1911–1967 ng
4 Port Pirie Junction – also signposted as, and known colloquially as, Solomontown 1937–1967 ng bg sg
5 Mary Elie Street (this article) 1967–1989 bg sg
6 Coonamia stopping place 1st, 1929 to after 1937
2nd, 1989–2010s		 sg
* In 1937, one of the two narrow-gauge tracks along Ellen Street was made dual-gauge by the addition of broad-gauge rails.

Gauges are shown in these colours: narrow, broad and standard.

Port Pirie's six stations and the "multi‑gauge muddle"
At various times during a period of close to 140 years, Port Pirie had six railway stations. During the 45-year period 1937–1982, the city became well known as one of the few locations in the world having three railway gauges.[note 1] This situation was a result of South Australia's slow transition from lightly constructed narrow gauge to heavy-rail broad gauge (which predominated in the state at the time), then to standard gauge when lines between the mainland state capitals were at last unified. As a consequence, all Port Pirie stations that succeeded the inaugural station of 1876 were either built to accommodate a change of gauge or were affected by one. The timeline, reasons for change, and gauges involved are shown in the following graphic.

Timeline of Port Pirie's six railway stations
Mary Elie Street's passenger facilities were dwarfed by the sidings (standard gauge blue, broad gauge brown) installed in readiness for the conversion of the South Australian sector of the Sydney–Perth rail corridor to 1435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge. (Click to enlarge.)


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