The isolation of this line and productive area of the state in SA was a major oversight in the 1993 SG programme under the Federal ALP Government.  Keating had a good idea to have one gauge between the state capitals but he badly let down the Heywood to Mount Gambier line with similar output to Swan Hill.

Moving on we have seen much freight on the road between SA and the Port of Portland via Heywood.  It has been a real shame in my view.

I really hope the Sa and Vic Governments with ARTC can commit to getting this line up and running once again.


Rail revival for South East a possibility?

Rail revival for South East [SOUTH AUSTRALIA] a possibility?

Is it really that hard?

Putting K&S in to run the rail at Mt Gambier was a crazy idea.

Rail revival for South East [SOUTH AUSTRALIA] a possibility?

Is it really that hard?

It should not be but seems it always is in Australia.   Remember Kimberly Clark at Milicent upgraded their sidings to SG for the conversion which never happened.

The plan also includes an intermodal terminal in Mount Gambier.

Extra loading into and out of Mount Gambier would benefit the intermodal terminal at Portland North which is being built allowing trains to be split at Heywood?

The isolation of this line and productive area of the state in SA was a major oversight in the 1993 SG programme under the Federal ALP Government.  Keating had a good idea to have one gauge between the state capitals but he badly let down the Heywood to Mount Gambier line with similar output to Swan Hill.

Moving on we have seen much freight on the road between SA and the Port of Portland via Heywood.  It has been a real shame in my view.

I really hope the Sa and Vic Governments with ARTC can commit to getting this line up and running once again.


Rail revival for South East a possibility?

1995.

The Keating government made the decision re which 'branch' lines in SA to standardise based on advice from the SA Liberal government at the time.

The Keating government provided $10m to the SA government in 1995 to assist with standardising the Mt Gambier line.

The Libs were in power for another 7 years, yet did nothing towards re-opening the line other than call for expressions of interest - which ended up being a pretty dodgy exercise.

The isolation of this line and productive area of the state in SA was a major oversight in the 1993 SG programme under the Federal ALP Government.  Keating had a good idea to have one gauge between the state capitals but he badly let down the Heywood to Mount Gambier line with similar output to Swan Hill.

Moving on we have seen much freight on the road between SA and the Port of Portland via Heywood.  It has been a real shame in my view.

I really hope the Sa and Vic Governments with ARTC can commit to getting this line up and running once again.


Rail revival for South East a possibility?

Swan Hill?

In terms of the freight task it would be comparible to Swan Hill or Mildura at certain times with the export produce and product.

Swan Hill, Mildura and Mount Gambier. ????????

AIUI, the Federal Government helped with the conversion of the SA South East rail from NG to BG on the clear understanding that when SA in general converted from BG to SG, the SA Govmint would complete the conversion of the SA SE from BG to SG.

Where steel sleepers were installed, they were designed to be suitable for all three gauges, NG, BG and SG.

QED.

So what happened on the Victoria side as there was a single Up and Down goods from Melbourne (or was it Ararat) prior to the SG conversion.

"Regional Development Australia - Limestone Coast will be undertaking an economic benefit study on re-establishing rail in the region."

Smart start. See if the economics add up first. There are no real grounds for further discussion until the study is completed.

So what happened on the Victoria side as there was a single Up and Down goods from Melbourne (or was it Ararat) prior to the SG conversion.

There was a ~ daily (M - F not sure about weekend) Victorian service to Mount Gambier (9143)/9122) IIRC.
9122B (Monday) was frequently a heavy train. 9122 was often more than a single T class load.
AN also ran #745/#744 more or less daily.
Rail had battled operationally for many years with the Mount Gambier paper traffic to NSW and Queensland due to bogie exchange but just walked away at the very time the traffic would have been routine on SG throughout.
From the jaws of success failure was achieved.

Bit like the First World War:
'It was easier to have a war than not to have a war'.

Though this was a duplicated South Gippsland thread however I digress.
Highly unlikely that it's going to be reopened. Talk, talk talk Nothing more just to make voters feel like there being looked after by the ruling party.

So what happened on the Victoria side as there was a single Up and Down goods from Melbourne (or was it Ararat) prior to the SG conversion.

There was a ~ daily (M - F not sure about weekend) Victorian service to Mount Gambier (9143)/9122) IIRC.
9122B (Monday) was frequently a heavy train. 9122 was often more than a single T class load.
AN also ran #745/#744 more or less daily.
Rail had battled operationally for many years with the Mount Gambier paper traffic to NSW and Queensland due to bogie exchange but just walked away at the very time the traffic would have been routine on SG throughout.
From the jaws of success failure was achieved.

Bit like the First World War:
'It was easier to have a war than not to have a war'.

Shades of Blackadder Goes Forth there YM?

I would have thought that Mt Gambier > Heywood makes far more sense than Mt Gambier > Wolesley. The first gets product to Portland, Geelong or Melboune, the second really only to Adelaide.

Mt Gambier to Wolesley was almost 185km and from there it is a trifling 313km on to Addle Daddles making an eye watering 500km give or take to Port Adelaide. Mt Gambier > Heywood is only 90km to rebuild too so about half the distance.

So rebuild 185km to give access to 1 port or rebuild 90km to give access to 3 the farthest of which (Melbourne) is shorter by rail than Adelaide.

BG

I really hope the SA and Vic Governments with ARTC can commit to getting this line up and running once again.

Why do you keep bringing up ARTC? ARTC isn't interested in operating small branch lines that aren't profitable without subsidy, particularly if it involves incurring the amount of brain damage that reopening Wolseley-Heywood would. They've got enough of a headache on their hands with Inland Rail without being forced to take on this sort of thing.

Frankly this line is the sort of operation where something along the lines of a Build-Own-Operate-Transfer franchising deal would make sense, given the level of traffic involved. The line resembles a US Class III shortline more than anything, so not making it open-access would be the way to go given the total dominance of trucking in the region.

In terms of the freight task it would be comparible to Swan Hill or Mildura at certain times with the export produce and product.

Perhaps you could let us know what freight, apart from the occasional Grain train, originates from the Piangil (beyond Swan Hill) Line.

So what happened on the Victoria side as there was a single Up and Down goods from Melbourne (or was it Ararat) prior to the SG conversion.

There was a ~ daily (M - F not sure about weekend) Victorian service to Mount Gambier (9143)/9122) IIRC.
9122B (Monday) was frequently a heavy train. 9122 was often more than a single T class load.
AN also ran #745/#744 more or less daily.
Rail had battled operationally for many years with the Mount Gambier paper traffic to NSW and Queensland due to bogie exchange but just walked away at the very time the traffic would have been routine on SG throughout.
From the jaws of success failure was achieved.

Bit like the First World War:
'It was easier to have a war than not to have a war'.

The trains were 9192 and 9193. From my Master Train Plan from 1993:-

9192 (Mon-Fri)

Conveys paper and paper pulp in 45t and 50t vans from Mt Gambier (ex-Snuggery) to Tottenham Yard (for Liverpool NSW, & Acacia Ridge Qld) and Dandenong. Conveys empty vans to Maryvale on train #9473. Conveyed from Tottenham to Dandenong on train #9537. Conveyed to Wodonga from Tott. Yard on train #9350.

Conveys Fast Track loading from Portland and Hamilton to MFT (Tott. Yard to MFT using 9220 or 9580).

Conveys container loading from Portland to Dynon. Conveys empty briquette bogie opens from Hamilton, Stawell and Dooen to Tottenham. Conveyed from Stawell and Dooen to Maroona on train 9154. Conveyed to Morwell Briquette Sidings on train #9473.

Conveys empty cement wagons from Mt Gambier to Nth Geelong. Conveys loaded cement wagons from My Gambier to Arden Street. (conveyed from Tott. To Arden Street on train #9272).

Conveys fertilizer in super bogie hoppers from Portland to Nth Geelong Yard for Wodonga then to Uralla NSW. Conveyed from Nth Geelong Yard to Wodonga on train #9350.

Conveys various grain loading between Mt Gambier and Portland.  Conveys empty oil tanker, empty 40t vans for reloading (beer) and wool from Horsham to Nth Geelong yard. (conveyed from Horsham to Maroona on train #9154).

Conveys wool from Portland to MFT (No 2 Shed). Conveyed from Tott. Yard to MFT on train #9580.

MARSHALLING

Ex-Mt Gambier:- Loco, Melb loading, Geelong loading

Ex-Portland:- Loco, Fast Track, Melb loading, Geelong loading

Ex-Hamilton:- All Fast Track wagons to be together on the front

Ex-Maroona:- Loco, Geelong loading, Melbourne loading, Fast Track loading for MFT’

Profile:- Tue & Thur Av. Length 850m. Av tonnage 1,800t. M, W & F Av. Length 450m, Av. Tonnage 1,400t

Thanks PH.
I thought that my train numbers might be a bit dodgy.
Your WTT is without doubt a better reference than my memory although by 1993 I was past worrying about vans for the Mount and SG bogies for Dynon and Wodonga and whether to send the NSW?Queensland paper via Victoria or AN.

One thing of interest is the reference to 45 t vans. Vans in interstate traffic were always referred to as 40 t (VLCX/ALGX etc), 50 t (VLEX/WBAX/NLJX etc) and high cube (ABFX).
Thanks for your detailed response.

There’s no longer a connection between Naracoorte and Heywood at Mount Gambier. The station area has been built over. Would require a bypass line on the outskirts to connect the two, something similar to Wodonga. Weren’t Scott’s a factor here?

There’s no longer a connection between Naracoorte and Heywood at Mount Gambier. The station area has been built over. Would require a bypass line on the outskirts to connect the two, something similar to Wodonga. Weren’t Scott’s a factor here?

There's three options:

1. Bulldoze the bike path that the City built and return rail to the city centre
2. Piggyback onto the occasionally-proposed highway bypass that goes to the north of the 'Mount
3. Build a large intermodal facility to the east of Mount Gambier and somehow get all that forestry product loading onto rail (hostile takeover of K&S Group? )

All of them are unpalatable in different ways. 1 is going to annoy locals, 2 might take too long and be rather expensive and 3 has a lot of commercial risk as Mount Gambier - Portland is quite a short distance for intermodal traffic despite the high traffic volumes available so competition will be hard.

There’s no longer a connection between Naracoorte and Heywood at Mount Gambier. The station area has been built over. Would require a bypass line on the outskirts to connect the two, something similar to Wodonga. Weren’t Scott’s a factor here?

It hasn't actually been built over - though there are bike paths and parks etc. I believe that the requirement was to 'preserve the corridor' in case it needs to be used again.

Either way, there were a dozen or so Level Crossings which would be difficult to re-open.

So, yes, a Bypass would be needed, which would involve some terrain as the north side is hilly and the south side would mean going south of the Mount itself. If only a connection to Heywood is needed, they could maybe have the terminus out Glenburnie way where there would be plenty of room.

EDIT - LD beat me to it.

Rail revival for South East [SOUTH AUSTRALIA] a possibility?

Is it really that hard?

I take it you are referring to the thread title rather than the task at hand. When you click the "Discuss this Article" button at the bottom of a news article the resulting thread is automatically assigned the title of the news article. There is no way for the poster to change this, so yes, it is that hard, in fact it is impossible.

Rail revival for South East [SOUTH AUSTRALIA] a possibility?

Is it really that hard?

I take it you are referring to the thread title rather than the task at hand. When you click the "Discuss this Article" button at the bottom of a news article the resulting thread is automatically assigned the title of the news article. There is no way for the poster to change this, so yes, it is that hard, in fact it is impossible.

Proper job!

If you consider today the story about the Botany upgrade for rail then shareholders for Portland should be keen to look seriously at container handling at the port.  What would really be stopping them?

If you consider today the story about the Botany upgrade for rail then shareholders for Portland should be keen to look seriously at container handling at the port.  What would really be stopping them?

When I was at FCL in the pre-Linfox days, we sent/received boxes from Portland but not to/from the port. I think Kalari Transport were the local agents.