Mount Barker railway station

Mount Barker railway station is a preserved railway station in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia, on the 1600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad gauge Victor Harbor line, formerly operated by South Australian Railways and its successor, Australian National. When the nearby Adelaide-Melbourne railway line was converted to 1435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge in 1995, the line was disconnected. The station has become the headquarters of the Australian Railway Historical Society, a not-for-profit organisation trading as SteamRanger, which runs more than 200 trips per year, of various durations, on the line.

History

In 1884, an 80.6 kilometres (50 miles) branch line was completed between Mount Barker Junction and Victor Harbor. Substantial stations were erected at Mount Barker, Strathalbyn and Goolwa. The Mount Barker station building, opened on 27 November 1883, was built from distinctive Aldgate freestone; it included the stationmaster's quarters and a ticketing office.

Two years later, the first railway link between two colonial capital cities in Australia – Adelaide, South Australia and Melbourne, Victoria – was completed, to which the branch was connected at Mount Barker Junction, 5 route kilometres (3 miles) to the north of Mount Barker station.

Regular services operated until passenger numbers declined in the late 20th century, largely because of the circuitous rail route between Adelaide and Victor Harbor and increasing ownership of motor cars. Services were terminated in 1984.

As a result of rapid growth and traffic congestion on the South Eastern Freeway, sporadic calls have been made since the late 2010s to extend the former passenger rail service beyond Belair to Mount Barker.