Steamtown Heritage Rail Centre

The Steamtown Heritage Rail Centre ("Centre") is a static railway museum based in the former railway workshops located in Peterborough, South Australia.

Peterborough was the administrative and service centre for the Peterborough Division of the South Australian Railways, employing up to 1,500 people in the workshops during its heyday. The railway workshops covered an extensive area mainly to the west of the township, and it is in these original buildings that the exhibits are displayed.

The turntable and roundhouse are the main features of the exhibit.

The turntable is unusual in that it accommodates three rail gauges: Narrow gauge (1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)), standard gauge
(1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in)) and broad gauge (1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)). In Australia there were only two similar turntables (located at Port Pirie and Gladstone); all three were on the same line, with the one at Peterborough the only one remaining. This unique situation arose from the standardisation project of the late 1960s. At this time the broad gauge line was extended from Terowie to Peterborough and the Port Pirie to Broken Hill section (passing through Peterborough) was replaced by standard gauge line. The Peterborough to Quorn section remained narrow gauge.

Prior to the cessation of railway operations by Steamtown Peterborough Railway Preservation Society in June 2002, a steering committee, made up of the Federation of North East Councils, the Northern Regional Development Board, and the Flinders Ranges Area Consultative Committee, as well as Society representatives, was established. This led to a project to formalise development of the workshops precinct, which in turn led to the development of the Steamtown Heritage Rail Centre.

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