Clapham railway station, Adelaide
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Clapham railway station (), is a railway station on the Belair railway line, located in the inner southern Adelaide suburb of Clapham. It is located 10.0km by railway from the Adelaide Railway Station. It was closed in April 1995, and is directly north of the Springbank Road overpass.
On all Adelaide Metro rail network maps (in most carriages), you can see the gap on the Belair line where this, and other disused stations on the Belair line, have been removed.
Clapham had an interesting history. The suburb was presumably named for a suburb of London. The station was originally the terminus of the Clapham branch, which began at Mitcham station, and the original station was to the West of the more recent platform (which was on the main line) and explains the unusual layout of the intersection of the local roads West of the Springbank Road overpass (opened 1924). At that time, Belair Rd, known as Bull's Creek Rd, ran on the West of the railway line from Wattlebury Rd to McPherson St (the main road to Belair was via Blythwood Rd). The Clapham branch, and the old station were abandoned, formally, in 1917. Presumably, the newer station was built a little before that!
The Clapham passenger service, typically a P class locomotive and a couple of passenger cars, was known as the 'Clapham Dodger': this service must have ceased when the branch line was closed.
[edit] References
- Callaghan WH. The overland railway. ARHS NSW, St James. 1992.
- Eardley, G. "The P class locomotives of South Australia." ARHS bulletin 416, June, 1972.
- Jennings R. Line clear: 100 years of train working Adelaide-Serviceton. Mile End Railway Museum, Roseworthy. 1986.
| Railway stations on the Belair line | |
|---|---|
| Adelaide-Mile End-Keswick-Goodwood-Millswood (disused)-Unley Park-Hawthorn (disused)-Mitcham-Torrens Park-Clapham (disused)-Lynton-Eden Hills-Coromandel-Blackwood-Glenalta-Pinera-Belair |
