Northfield railway line

The Northfield railway line is a defunct railway in northern Adelaide which was used mainly for industrial purposes and cattle trains. The line branched off the Gawler line just north of Dry Creek station. The line went east from the Gawler line and served three stations: Cavan, Pooraka, and Northfield.

History

The Northfield line was opened in 1857.

The State Transport Authority decided that passenger services on the line was uneconomic and patron numbers were low, and the last passenger train was on 24 July 1987. However cattle trains still used some of the line up to Cavan station until 1995. The stations were mostly demolished and the track ripped up. The triangle junction where the track joined to the Gawler line remained in place until late 2009 and was used as a storage area for rails, sleepers and Maintenance of Way equipment by TransAdelaide. With the decision to replace the Adelaide Railcar depot (located on the southern side of Adelaide station yard), the triangle was removed and the site prepared for the new Dry Creek railcar depot. This project also took over the site of the former ARHS (Australian Railway Historical Society) depot which was vacated in 1995. The dual gauge track from the triangle junction north to Dry Creek North Yard, which ran through former sheep loading facilities, was leased by TransAdelaide to Genesee and Wyoming Australia for storage of some Standard Gauge rolling stock before construction of the new railcar depot. The former siding and sheep loading facilities are also part of the new depot complex.

After the line was closed, services which previously operated to Northfield were cut back to terminate at Dry Creek station, known by local railway enthusiasts as "Dry Creek squirts". These continued to operate until April 2008.

Line guide

References

External links

• Photos of the remains of the line