Mount Pleasant railway line

The Mount Pleasant railway line is an abandoned South Australian line. It was opened between Balhannah and Mount Pleasant in September 1918 and ran until March 1963[1] as a freight and passenger service.[2] Part of its trackbed is now the Amy Gillett Bikeway rail trail near to Adelaide.[3]

Mount Pleasant Line
Overview
Locale	Adelaide, South Australia
Termini	Adelaide Mount Pleasant
Stations	Balhannah Oakbank Woodside Charleston Mount Torrens Birdwood Mount Pleasant
History
Opened	1918
Closed	1963
Technical
Line length	33.8 km (21.0 mi)
Number of tracks	single track
Route map km to Adelaide To Adelaide 45.8 Balhannah Balhanna Junction Adelaide-Wolseley line 48.1 Oakbank Mappinga Riverview 53.4 Woodside Kayannie 57.8 Charleston Muralappie 65.4 Mount Torrens Milkappa Road 71 Birdwood Crane Road Narcoonah 79.8 Mount Pleasant

History

The line[4] opened on 16 September 1918 between Balhannah, 10 kilometres east of Mount Lofty, and Mount Pleasant. The line had six stations and a number of halts, typically the halts were located near level crossings. The six stations were Oakbank, Woodside, Charleston, Mount Torrens, Birdwood, and Mount Pleasant. The seven halts were Mappinga, Riverview, Kayannie, Muralappie, Milkappa Road, Crane Road, and Narcoonah.

The line was closed on 4 March 1963, and the way between Balhannah and Oakbank has mostly returned to private landowners.[3]

Rail trail

This former railway is in the jurisdiction of the Adelaide Hills Council, which in 2003 commissioned a feasibility study into the best use of the land. The report recommended it be converted to a rail trail, which the council agreed with but considered it beyond their means to do so. However, since that time, the development of a rail trail lead to the opening of the Amy Gillett Rail Trail in 2010, named in honour of the late Amy Gillett, a South Australian born Olympic Cyclist who had died in 2005.[3] As of 2015, the conversion had reached from Balhannah to Mount Torrens.

Line guide

Station	Image	Opened	Additional information
Mount Pleasant		1918	Terminus; closed 1963
Birdwood		1918	Closed 1963
Mount Torrent		1918	Closed 1963
Charleston		1918	Closed 1963
Woodside		1918	Closed 1963
Oakbank		1918	Closed 1963
Balhannah		1883	Former branch station; formerly part of the Adelaide-Wolseley line. Closed 1963

References

1. "Balhannah to Mount Pleasant Railway | Mount Pleasant Community". mountpleasant.sa.au. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
2. Adelaide Hills Rail Trail - History Archived 23 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
3. Rail Trails news article Archived 23 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
4. The Mount Pleasant Line Callaghan, W.H. Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, October, 1994 pp274-281