Bute railway station was located on the Kadina-Brinkworth railway line. It served the town of Bute, South Australia.
Bute | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General information | |||||||||||
| Location | Railway Terrace, Bute, South Australia | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 33°51′57″S 138°00′29″E / 33.86573603204749°S 138.00792532827327°E | ||||||||||
| Operated by | South Australian Railways | ||||||||||
| Line(s) | Kadina-Brinkworth line | ||||||||||
| Distance | 143 kilometres from Adelaide | ||||||||||
| Platforms | 1 | ||||||||||
| Tracks | 2 | ||||||||||
| Construction | |||||||||||
| Structure type | Ground | ||||||||||
| Other information | |||||||||||
| Status | Closed | ||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
| Opened | 1883 | ||||||||||
| Closed | 1968 (passengers) May 1979 (freight) 2009 (tourist) | ||||||||||
| Services | |||||||||||
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History
editConstruction and opening
editBute railway station opened in 1883, originally established as a railway siding on the Kadina to Snowtown railway line which opened on 1 October 1879.[1] It was originally called the '18 mile siding' (the distance from Kadina). As there was no local water to meet with the needs of steam engines coming over the hills from Snowtown and up the rise to the siding, an overhead storage tank was constructed and was filled with water which was transported by rail from Balaklava. The railway line's purposes were to transport supplies to new settlements which were further east and to take wood for the furnaces and steam driven pumps at the copper mines at Moonta and the smelters and mines at Wallaroo.[2]
Gauge conversion and upgrades
editA new railway station was built at Bute in the early 1900s consisting of a station building and an unloading platform.[3][4] On 1 August 1927, the line was gauge converted to broad gauge.[5]
Closure to regular traffic
editThe station closed to regular passenger use in 1968.[6] Ownership of the station and the railway line was transferred to Australian National in 1978. With construction of better roads and increasing road transport, the station closed to remaining freight traffic in May 1979.[7] The line from Wallaroo to Snowtown was converted to dual gauge on 2 December 1982 with an extra 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) rail laid following the conversion of the Adelaide-Port Augusta railway line. Some quarry trains to a small quarry near Bute used the line until the early 1990s with the it closing entirely on 3 March 1993.[8][9]
Lions Club of Yorke Peninsula Rail
editThe Yorke Peninsula Rail Preservation Society was formed in 1992 to preserve and run a tourist railway on the line between Kadina and Wallaroo. On 12 April 1994, the YP Rail Preservation Society ran its first train between Wallaroo and Kadina. From 27 December 2000, they extended operations further 38 kilometres to the town of Bute and built a new platform there because the only platform that remained there was the goods platform.[10] The railway ceased operations in 2009 due to high track repair costs.[11]
Present day
editThe rail yards and most of the station infrastructure still remain but are now disused.[12] In April 2022, a silo art was painted at the grain silos which are now served by road.[13][14]
References
edit- ^ "THE KADINA AND BARUNGA RAILWAY". The Express and Telegraph. Vol. XV, no. 4, 301. South Australia. 23 May 1878. p. 2 (SECOND EDITION). Retrieved 24 September 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Information board about the Bute railway station
- ^ Historical Buildings in Bute
- ^ Bute Home Page
- ^ Callaghan, WH (2002). "Horse and Steam, Wheat and Copper". Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin (January, February, 2002): 9–27, 46–63.
- ^ Railways and Colonisation in South Australia
- ^ Information board about the Bute railway station.
- ^ Bute line ballast
- ^ Quinlan, Howard; Newland, John (2000). Australian Railway Routes 1854 - 2000. Redfern: Australian Railway Historical Society. pp. 56–58. ISBN 0-909650-49-7.
- ^ End of the line for local tourist railway
- ^ Repair costs derail tourist train operation 19 March 2009
- ^ silos at former railway station, Bute, South Australia
- ^ South Australian Silo Art
- ^ Bute Silo Art - South Australia