Roseworthy-Peterborough railway line | ||||||||
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Bridge over the Light River at Hamley Bridge (2010)
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Overview | ||||||||
System | South Australian Railways | |||||||
Status | Dormant | |||||||
Termini |
Roseworthy Peterborough |
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Continues from | Morgan line | |||||||
Continues as | Peterborough-Quorn line | |||||||
Operation | ||||||||
Opened |
Roseworthy-Forresters: 3 July 1869 Forresters-Manoora: 21 February 1870 Manoora-Burra: 29 August 1870 Burra-Hallett: 10 March 1878 Hallett-Terowie: 14 December 1880 Terowie-Peterborough: 11 May 1881 |
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Closed | Hallett-Peterborough: 26 July 1988 Burra-Hallet: 14 November 1990 |
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Operator(s) |
South Australian Railways Australian National Australian Southern Railroad |
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Technical | ||||||||
Line length | 199.1 km (123.7 mi) | |||||||
Track gauge | 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) | |||||||
Old gauge | 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) north of Terowie until 1970 | |||||||
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The Roseworthy-Peterborough railway line was a railway line on the South Australian Railways network. It extended from a junction at Roseworthy on the Morgan railway line through Hamley Bridge, Riverton, initially to Tarlee, then extended in stages to Peterborough.
The Burra Burra railway was initially proposed as early as 1850, before any other railways north from Port Adelaide. Before anything was done about this, the Gawler railway line was built in 1857, and extended to Kapunda in 1860 (and eventually to Morgan in 1878, see Morgan railway line). The first stage of the broad gauge Burra line from a junction at Roseworthy to Forresters (now Tarlee) opened on 3 July 1869. It extended to Manoora on 21 February 1870, Burra on 29 August 1870,Hallett on 10 March 1878 and Terowie on 14 December 1880.
Terowie was a break of gauge station with the line continuing north to Peterborough as a narrow gauge line, opening on 11 May 1881. On 12 January 1970, this 22.9 kilometre section was converted to broad gauge, thus making Peterborough the break of gauge point with the narrow gauge Peterborough to Quorn and standard gauge Port Pirie to Broken Hill lines. Regular Australian National passenger services ceased in December 1986, with the line north of Hallett closed on 26 July 1988, followed by the Burra to Hallet section on 14 November 1990. The line north of Burra was removed in 1992/93.