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North Terrace-Glenelg railway line

North Terrace to Glenelg railway line
Overview
Termini Adelaide railway station
Operation
Opened 24 May 1880 (1880-05-24)
Closed December 1929 (1929-12)
Operator(s)
  • Holdfast Bay Railway Company (1880–1882)
  • Glenelg Railway Company Limited (1882–1924)
  • South Australian Railways (1924–1929)
Technical
Line length 6.75 mi (10.86 km)
Number of tracks single track
Track gauge 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm)
Route map
Adelaide
Gawler, Grange and Outer Harbor lines
Belair and Seaford lines
Hilton
Richmond
Kurralta Park
Plympton Coursing Ground
Plympton
Morphettville Junction
Camden
Novar Gardens
Macdonalds
Golf Links
St Leonards
Glenelg

The North Terrace to Glenelg railway line was a railway in western Adelaide.

The line started in the city from the Adelaide railway station, and then headed west. From approximately where Henley Beach Road currently is, the railway then followed an almost direct route to the seaside suburb of Glenelg.

Today, much of the corridor in which the line ran remains as a rail trail for cyclists, which is known as the West Side cycleway. Part of the north section of the corridor has been built over as James Congdon Drive. A railway platform remains on the site of Plympton station near Marion Road in the suburb of Plympton. The line was closed in 1929, after which remnants remained for some time including rails across Marion Road in the 1950s.

The line was constructed to compete with the existing Glenelg railway line, (now the Glenelg Tramline), which ran from Victoria Square. Customer satisfaction on the existing line was becoming low. In response a group which had been attempting to improve conditions on the existing service decided to establish a company and construct a new railway in competition with the existing one.

The Holdfast Bay Railway Company was established and the new line was opened on 24 May 1880. The line proved to be popular due to the convenience of using the existing Adelaide railway station, and trips taking only 20 minutes to Glenelg, which was 5 minutes shorter than the existing line. There were two trains that ran in the morning from Glenelg to Adelaide, and two from Adelaide to Glenelg in the afternoon.

Two years after the line opened, it was realised there was not enough business to support both companies. On 11 May 1882, the two merged to form the Glenelg Railway Company Limited. Both lines continued to run and business assets such as maintenance facilities were shared to reduce costs.


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Wikipedia

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