Holdfast Bay railway line
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Status | Closed and removed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Termini |
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Operator(s) |
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History | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Opened | 24 May 1880 Single initially, duplicated by 1914 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Track gauge | 1600 mm (5 ft 3 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Holdfast Bay railway line was a railway in western Adelaide, built in 1880 to compete with the Adelaide, Glenelg & Suburban Railway Company. The line started at the Adelaide railway station, on the northern edge of the central business district, and proceeded to the northern edge of Mile End, South Australia immediately to the west of the city. From there the line headed south-west to the seaside suburb of Glenelg.
Today, much of the corridor in which the line ran remains as a
History
The line was constructed to compete with the existing Glenelg railway line (now the Glenelg tram line), which ran from Victoria Square, the geographic centre of the City of Adelaide, to the Glenelg seafront at Moseley Square. Passenger satisfaction on that line had declined to the extent that a group of promoters decided to set up a competitor company.[6]
After the Holdfast Bay Railway Company Limited was incorporated, it commenced construction on 20 August 1879. The line opened on 24 May 1880. The company ran services from the existing Adelaide railway station, paying a fee to use the portion of track owned by the
Initial motive power consisted of three
The company initially operated 13 trains each way on weekdays, 14 on Saturdays and 7 on Sundays. Most ran express between Adelaide and St Leonards; some stopped at Plympton and Camden. The line, known as the "North Terrace line", proved very popular with rail travellers, mainly because it terminated in the city only 400 metres (440 yards) from the main business centre in Rundle Street, whereas its competitor's terminus in Victoria Square was twice that distance. Moreover, the running time of 20 minutes was five minutes shorter.[6]
In 1880, even though the population of Glenelg was only 2500, the two companies carried 800,000 passengers – about 2200 daily. The next year, patronage rose to 1,215,000 or 3300 per day. On Proclamation Day 1882 the two companies carried 35,000 between them. Nevertheless, a considerable impediment for the Holdfast Bay Railway Company was the SAR's access fees: an annual payment of £1,000 for running rights between Adelaide Station and Mile End, plus two shillings and sixpence per additional train.[6]
Less than a year after the line opened, it had become evident that there was insufficient business for two companies;[8] the profit of the Victoria Square railway had slumped by more than 50 per cent. The companies agreed to carry on business in co-partnership as from 24 December 1880.[6] On 12 November 1881,[note 1] the two merged to form the Glenelg Railway Company Limited. Both lines continued to run services. Business assets such as maintenance facilities were shared to reduce costs, and the South Terrace depot was consequently closed.[9][10] Rolling stock was transferred between the two lines via a new connecting line along Brighton Road.[6]
The Glenelg Railway Company was acquired by the SAR and steam services continued, with the Holdfast Bay line duplicated from Mile End to St Leonards by 1914 and raised platforms being provided at most stations. A branch line running across Bay Road (now
In 1924,
The Holdfast Bay line was originally intended to become electrified with the Glenelg line, and small scale works on its conversion had begun, including drilling holes for
Notes
- ^ An alternative reported date was 11 May 1882.
References
- ^ The South Australian Advertiser. Adelaide. 24 May 1880. p. 6. Retrieved 7 March 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Cycling maps Archived 9 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine, www.sa.gov.au and Bike map 8, www.sa.gov.au
- ^ Abandoned Plympton Railway Station, www.railpage.com.au
- ^ Plympton Railway Station Rails Remnants Photo, State Library SA
- ^ Williams, Hugh (1996). "Broad gauge passenger carriages of the South Australian Railways". Proceedings of the 1996 Convention. Modelling the Railways of South Australia. Adelaide. p. 3‑30.
- ^ ISBN 9781743058855.
- ^ History, Nesfield, 353 Marion Road, North Plympton, West Torrens Library Service Archived 6 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- South Australian Weekly Chronicle. Vol. XXIII, no. 1, 189. South Australia. 4 June 1881. p. 12. Retrieved 28 June 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
[...] the terms of the amalgamation of the company with The Adelaide, Glenelg, and Suburban Railway Company had been definitely settled and agreed to by the shareholders of both companies, and at present the two companies were being worked as one [...]
- ^ Trolley Wireissue 147 August 1973 pages 3–7
- ^ "The Glenelg Line: Australia's First LRT" Trolley Wire issue 185 December 1979 pages 3–11
See also
- Wilson, Tom; Racliffe, John; Steele, Christopher (2021). Adelaide's public transport – the first 180 years. Adelaide, South Australia: Wakefield Press. ISBN 9781743058855.
- Railways in Adelaide
- List of Adelaide railway stations
- List of closed Adelaide railway stations