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Yinkanie railway line

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Yinkanie railway line
Chute for loading bulk grain into trains at Wunkar (the only station on the line to have bulk storage and loading facilities) in 2015
Overview
StatusClosed and removed
Termini
Continues fromBarmera line
Service
SystemSouth Australian Railways
History
Opened4 September 1925 (1925-09-04)
Closed1 May 1971 (1971-05-01)
Technical
Line length49.6 km (30.8 mi)
Track gauge1600 mm (5 ft 3 in)
Route map

Red was broad gauge from 1925 to 1971.
Blue was broad gauge from 1913 to 1996
then standard gauge from 1996 to 2012.
Yinkanie
Wappilka
Myrla
Wunkar
Koowa
Tuscan
Bayah
Caliph
Gluyas
Wanbi

The Yinkanie railway line was a 50.6 kilometres (31.4 mi) railway line on the South Australian Railways network. Named the Wanbi to Moorook Railway in its enabling Act, it never reached its intended destination on the River Murray.[1] The railway ran from a junction with the Barmera line at Wanbi northwards to Yinkanie, opening on 7 September 1925 and closing on 1 May 1971.[2]

The six railway lines of the Murraylands[3][4]
Order
built
Line Year
opened
Year
closed
Length
(km)
Length
(mi)
1 Tailem Bend–Pinnaroo 1906 2015[note a] 86.6 139.4
2 Tailem Bend–Barmera 1913 /
1928[note b]
1996[note c] 159.5 256.6
3 Karoonda–Peebinga 1914 1990 66.0 106.2
4 Karoonda–Waikerie 1914 1994[note d] 73.8 118.7
5 Alawoona–Loxton 1914 2015[note e] 22.0 35.5
6 Wanbi–Yinkanie 1925 1971 31.5 50.6
Total 439.4 707.0
Notes
  1. Previously a broad-gauge through line into Victoria, the line was closed at the border in 1996 before being converted to standard gauge in 1998.
  2. Construction of the Barmera line was paused at Paringa in 1913 pending funding of a bridge over the River Murray. The line was completed to Barmera in 1928.
    A branch line was built to support construction of the proposed Chowilla Dam in 1966–67. Some 27.3 kilometres (17.0 miles) long, it branched from the Barmera line 8 kilometres (5 miles) south of Paringa and proceeded to Murtho on the south bank of the River Murray. Construction of the dam was deferred in 1967 and subsequently cancelled; later the line was removed without being used.
  3. Paringa–Barmera closed in 1984; Alawoona–Paringa closed in 1990; Tailem Bend–Alawoona closed in 1996.
  4. Galga–Waikerie closed in 1990.
  5. Converted to standard gauge in 1996.

Route

[edit]

The route of the line was designed to cover the gap between the Waikerie and Loxton lines at the lowest cost.[1] The names of the new stations were Gluyas, Caliph, Bayah, Tuscan, Koowa, Wunkar, Myrla, Wappilka and Yinkanie.

References

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  1. ^ a b "The Moorook Railway". The Chronicle. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 12 September 1925. p. 52. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  2. ^ Quinlan, Howard; Newland, John (2000). Australian Railway Routes 1854 - 2000. Redfern: Australian Railway Historical Society. p. 54. ISBN 0 909650 49 7.
  3. ^ Quinlan, Howard; Newland, John R. (2000). Australian railway routes 1854–2000. Redfern, New South Wales: Australian Railway Historical Society, New South Wales Division. pp. 53–54. ISBN 0909650497.
  4. ^ Map showing lines of railways in South Australia and through mileages (Map). Adelaide: South Australian Railways. 1958 – via National Railway Museum, Port Adelaide.
[edit]

Media related to Moorook railway line at Wikimedia Commons