Mount Barker Junction railway station is a railway station in South Australia located on the Melbourne-Adelaide railway, 50km (31mi 25ch) by rail from Adelaide Railway Station. It is west of the junction of the Victor Harbor railway line. The station consists of an abandoned station building and a 120 metre-long platform.
The station opened in 1883, and consisted of a main platform with a timber station building identical to the one at Balhannah, with a tall signal box next to the building. An 'island' platform was built as well. The timber building and signal box were replaced with a brick building in 1943 (which still stand today). The island platform was demolished around the time the station closed to passengers by 1984 when the passenger service to Victor harbor ceased. Until 2005, Steamranger ran a 'Junction Jogger' service from Mount Barker railway station, South Australia|Mount Barker]] station to this location, but ceased probably due to a worn-out track along this section.
Until 1995, the station stood beside the broad gauge line, and as the station's name suggests, to the east of the station there was a junction: the eastern fork continued on to Melbourne; the southern fork went to Victor Harbor.
In 1995, the Adelaide-Melbourne line was converted to standard gauge, thus disconnecting the broad gauge fork to Victor Harbor from the rest of the South Australian rail network. Accordingly, SteamRanger relocated from Dry Creek to Mount Barker, and runs broad gauge services south from Mount Barker station.
There are some closed stations beyond Mount Barker Junction:
(Along the Adelaide-Melbourne line - broad gauge until 1995, converted to standard gauge in 1995)
(Along the Victor Harbor line - broad gauge)
| Preceding station | TransAdelaide | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
towards Carripook
|
Melbourne–Adelaide |
towards Tailem Bend
|
||
|
towards Victor Harbor
|
Victor Harbor |
Littlehampton
Terminus
|