Hamley Bridge is a South Australian town where the railway had a big impact. In 1869 the line from Roseworthy to Forresters was built and opened. In 1880 the current station was established a few hundred meters north of the original station. Hamley Bridge station was built originally for the Broad Gauge Peterborough line. In that same year, a line from Hamley Bridge to Balaklava was opened and that line later extended to Gladstone. That line was built as a narrow gauge line and Hamley bridge was a break of gauge station until 1927 when the Gladstone line was converted to broad gauge.
A new railway station was established a few hundred metres north of the original in 1880 and was at first known as Alma Railway Station. The station consisted of a main building and four platforms. The stone building (above), which is today a private residence, represents the fine architecture of the era and is heritage listed along with the signal box and water tanks, and two of the bridges over the River Light. Each station platform was an island platform and a signal box was also contructed. Cranes, silos and a goods shed were added. There were many tracks and sidings at the rail yards with the junction to the north and sidings for storing wagons to the south.
Photo: State Library of South Australia
The town of Hamley bridge was named after the railway bridge over the Light River on the south side of the station for the Peterborough line. The line was built from a new junction at Roseworthy (north of Gawler on what was then the Morgan railway line) to Tarlee during 1868. A bridge was required over the River Light. The bridge was 91 metres long and 24 mewtres high, in two spans on stone abutments and a cast iron cylindrical pier 1.8 metres in diameter.
The foundation stone of the bridge was laid by Lady Edith Hamley, wife of that times Governor of South Australia, on the 25th of July in 1868. In 1925 the original stone bridge was demolished and a new bridge was erected in conjunction with the works to convert the narrow gauge line to broad gauge, despite this bridge already being broad gauge. The alignment and remains of the original bridge remain today. The current bridge is 91 metres long and 24 metres high. The bridge offers a great view of the light river in the valley, however there is nothing to walk on but old sleepers.
The earliest part of the narrow gauge Hamley Bridge-Gladstone line opened from Balaklava to Blyth on 14 March 1876 as part of the Port Wakefield line. On 15 January 1880, the line opened from Hamley Bridge to Balaklava. It was extended north from Blyth to Gladstone on 2 July 1894 where it joined the Port Pirie-Cockburn and Wilmington lines. The line was gauge converted to 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) on 1 August 1927. The line from Gulnare to Gladstone closed on 11 May 1988, followed by the Balaklava to Gulnare section on 29 March 1989. The section track between Balaklava and Gladstone was removed in late 1989, and the 10 km section between Halbury and Balaklava has now been converted into the Shamus Liptrot Cycling Trail.
As Balaklava railway station was originally on the Port Wakefield to Blyth line, before the railway from Hamley Bridge was built, and the new line entered the town from the south-east, trains using the route between Gladstone and Adelaide needed to change direction at Balaklava, as both the north and south lines entered the station from the east, with Port Wakefield being to the west.
The "Western System" included the railway from Hamley Bridge to Gladstone, along with the lines from Balaklava through Port Wakefield, Kadina and Wallaroo, and the line from Kadina through Snowtown to Brinkworth. All of these lines were prepared for conversion from narrow to broad gauge in the mid-1920s, with the switch made on 1 August 1927.
By the early 1980s line was in decline. In December 1986, Australian National Rail ran the last passenger service on the Peterborough line. By 1988 that line had been cut back to Hallet and to Burra in 1990. The line past Burra has been since pilled up. In 1992 the last passenger train ran on the line, it being a special steam train hauled to Burra.
The Gladstone line past Balaklava was closed in the late 1980s but still saw freight trains until 5th May, 2005 when the last train ran. Freight trains still used the Burra line for freight to Saddleworth but they ceased in 2006. Since then nothing has used the tracks through Hamley Bridge. The main station building was sold off along with one of the island platforms and signal box. The tracks for those platforms are long gone, nut quite a lot still remains of the old railway with the tracks, platforms and many other things still intact.
Different gauges at Hamley Bridge: on the left a broad gauge S class locomotive and on the right a narrow gauge Y class locomotive
The original railway through the town was 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm). In 1880, a junction at Balaklava on the narrow gauge Port Wakefield railway line created the Balaklava railway line through Owen to meet the broad gauge line at Hamley Bridge. This was built to 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm), so Hamley Bridge was a break of gauge station rather than a junction.
This break of gauge soon became a sore point, leading lobbying over decades to extend the narrow gauge all the way to the capital and that port. The break of gauge at Hamley Bridge was very cramped and poorly sited due to rivers, bridges, gradients and curves, which were difficult to improve upon. There were also shunting delays and a shortage of trucks. Furthermore, trains reaching Hamley Bridge may have travelled 965 km from Oodnadatta, however Hamley Bridge is only 64.4 km from the capital and major port, so a better soution had to be found. A counter proposal to ease congestion at the inadequate facilities at the Hamley Bridge break of gauge was to shift the break of gauge northwards to Balaklava, was strongly opposed. Alternately, it was suggested the break of gauge could be moved northwards to Owen.
The problem was solved in 1927 when narrow gauge lines as far north as Gladstone were converted to broad gauge, and Gladstone become a break of gauge station in lieu.
Gladstone break of gauge railyard
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