Kapunda's Railway: Part 2: "The Line Opens"

Kapunda's Railways: Part 2 “The Line Opens” 

Before we go much further with the history of the Kapunda Railway, we need to first look at its roots.

The Kapunda line opened officially on Monday the 13th of August 1860, it was opened by the then Governor of South Australia, Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell.

Workers building the line North of Kapunda

There was great fanfare at the grand opening ceremony of the Kapunda Line, with a celebratory train to ride the entire length of the line.
 The train left Adelaide station at precisely 10:30am, under instruction from the "Manager of Railways", C.S. Hare.

One engine was used as far as Gawler, The No.9, the largest engine in the fleet at the time.
 The train numbered 13 carriages, which were loaded full of guests for the event.
Guests included His Excellency, The Governor and his wife. Ministers of both houses of Parliament, The Mayor and members of the town corporation, plus many notable members of the Adelaide citizenry.

Every station on the line from Adelaide to Kapunda was adorned with evergreen shrubbery and flags, well-wishers and onlookers. The opening of the Kapunda line was an event celebrated across the State.

Governor of South Australia,
 Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell. 

The train reached Salisbury at 11am, and Gawler at 11:26 am. In Gawler, more passengers boarded and a second engine was attached to the train. The train then travelled to Freeling, arriving at 12:23pm, where it stopped for a brief time and the passengers were allowed to refresh themselves.

The train left Freeling at 12:35pm and stopped at 12:50pm at the bridge over the Light River at the request of His Excellency, The Governor, who wanted to inspect the bridge, which was considered a masterpiece of engineering at the time.

The Light Railway Bridge was built using stone cut from along the railway lines route. The timbers of the structure were supported by transverse latticed beams, with a laminated arch either side. The “points of juncture” on the bridge were plated with heavy steel to withstand the weight of the heaviest trains in the South Australian Railways at the time.

This particular journey was a testing of the Light Bridge, with the two heaviest engines in the State fleet being positioned on it at once. The builders must have had great faith in their structure considering the importance of the passengers on the train!

The train reached Kapunda Station at 1:17pm to much fanfare. The train was greeted by The Reverend Oldham, Captain Warburton, The Angaston Rifles, Captain Connor, Captain Brown and the Kapunda Rifle Corps.

The Kapunda Rifle Corps. presented themselves 50 strong, and accompanied by their band, presented a guard of honour to the dignitaries and officials.

Under the guidance of the Station Master, and Master of the Goods Shed, Mr Baggett, The Governor was given a tour of the Kapunda Railway Station complex, before a brief speech was made by The Reverend Oldham.

Reverend Oldham presented the following speech:

"To His Excellency Sir Richard G. MacDonnell,
K.C.B., Governor-in-Chief of Her Majesty's Province of South Australia, May it please your Excellency, We the inhabitants of Kapunda and the surrounding districts, most cordially welcome your Excellency and Lady MacDonnell amongst us upon this most auspicious and interesting occasion, and would desire to 'record through you as Her Majesty's representative in this colony, the expression of our unabated loyalty and arm attachment to Her person and Crown.
 It is now nearly four years since this neighbourhood as honoured by a former visit from your Excellency and Lady MacDonnell ; since that time three commodious places of worship have been erected in the township,also, a Court-House and Police-Station, a Telegraph and Post-0ffice, and a large number of stores and other buildings, and rapid communication with the capital and other parts of the colony, and also with the adjacent colonies has been established by means of the electric telegraph ; and we feel happy in being now enabled to congratulate your Excellency on the most successful completion of the important undertaking, in reference to which, in great measure, your Excellency's former visit was paid; and also, in feeling assured of the happiness it will afford you in seeing at least in some degree the fulfilment of your Excellency's then expressed anticipation as to the increasing importance of this district."

"We hope and believe that the opening of the Railway to Kapunda, which calls us together this day will prove
but the commencement of many happy and prosperous years from the greatly increased facilities it will afford both for travelling and for the safe and rapid transport of goods, and we earnestly desire that your Excellency
may yet be spared long amongst us to see the fulfilment of these desires for the welfare of the colony which have 'ever characterised your administration.
 We again bid you a cordial and hearty welcome by Railway to Kapunda."

"Signed on behalf of, and at the unanimous request, of the inhabitants of Kapunda and the surrounding districts, in public meeting assembled".

"W. OLDHAM, J.P., Chairman."

Governor MacDonnell replied with a considerably lengthy speech congratulating the townsfolk on the construction and opening of the line. He then proceeded to the crane at the goods-shed and, using the crane, lifted the first bale of wool and first bag of copper, loaded at Kapunda Station into a train, to a roaring cheer from the crowd.

The Governor was then transported into the town via horse buggy to the Sir John Franklin hotel where festivities went well into the night.

Kapunda now had an official link for transportation of goods and passengers via train into the city of Adelaide and to the wharves, a valuable connection that would open the grain belt, and copper mines to further export across the country and state and bring wealth back into the community.

Kapunda eventually became the States largest wheat receiving station. An extension was later built to Burra, veering off at Roseworthy, whilst the Kapunda line was extended to Morgan to try and capture some of the trade from the paddle steamer transportation system.

The Kapunda line was a focal point of the town for many years, opening up industrial and commercial prospects for the people of Kapunda and surrounding districts. It allowed local people to travel far and wide around the State and Country, something people would have previously found much harder to do with the standard transport of the day, horse and cart, bicycle or walking.

The last passenger train to Robertstown passed through Kapunda on May 20th 1989, but the Kapunda line still saw notable traffic up until 1996 when it was sold to Genessee Wyoming Australia under a 50 year (+15 extension option) contract.

Since then the line has fallen into a state of disrepair and only see's line traffic when a light-weight engine, or nowadays an adapted 4 wheel drive, comes down the line once every few months to the Viterra silos as part of the contract to have line traffic, or lose the line back to the State Government,

As the region north of Gawler grows it becomes obvious that passenger train service to at least Roseworthy and Freeling may be needed sometime in the future, it would not be too hard to conceive of Kapunda once again having a train return to the town, however, would a new train station have to be built as the old one now houses a “Bed and Breakfast”? - only time will tell

People gather to watch the last train to Robertstown as it enters Kapunda

Written & Researched by

Allen Tiller

Kapunda's Railway - Part 1:" Washed Away At Fords"

Kapunda's Railway 
Part 1"Washed Away At Ford's"

by

Allen Tiller

Kapunda Railway Station circa 1900

Some things get forgotten with the passing of time. It has been many years since Kapunda last saw a train stop at its station, and many more years have passed since a steam train has entered the town!

Photo by Allen Tiller

 The once bustling train station is now a Bed and Breakfast, and the old Goods Shed is a crumbling piece of Kapunda's heritage going to waste.
 The Old Railway Hotel is now a private home. The old water filler, a long forgotten rusty relic, and the train line through the town, a piece of unused land that could be better suited to something more modern like a bike track. But I digress, this blog isn't about the now, it is about the history that surrounds one of the most important train lines and destinations in South Australia's railway history - The Kapunda Railway.

 I am going to start this series with the story of an accident near the settlement at Ford's. A long-forgotten story, but an important part of the history of this town. Also, I see this as a way to honour the men and women who spent their working lives, and some of their deaths, building this great town through their hard work on our railways. - Allen Tiller

In 1914, on Thursday the 13^th of February, after a huge storm blew through the Light region, a goods train coming from Gawler to Kapunda came off the tracks near Ford's (just south of Kapunda).
The storm washed away the railway lines near the 42J miles marker. The engineer driving the train tried to stop the train but was too late.

The accident was witnessed by Mr Clancy and Mr Moore of Fords. The two men were out testing the line after the torrential downpour and had reached the eastern side of where the water had been pouring over the line.
The two men, standing on the line, were pitched into knee-deep water when the railway line gave way under the pressure of the torrent. As the two men recovered their footings and scrambled back onto the tracks, the goods train rounded the corner on the other side of the broken line from where the men were standing. Before either could raise a warning signal, the train plummeted off the line into the nearby creek, landing on its side.
Clancy and Moore watched as the driver Mr W. Critchley and the Fireman Mr A.H. Whaites climbed out of the engine and onto the side of the tipped-over train.
 As the two men made their way over the locomotive, the water gushed and sent Mr Critchley into the seething torrent, where he has washed away with the current.

A message was telegraphed to the Kapunda Station and a rescue party, including Dr Glynn, Station Master Mr A.S. Leach and Inspectors Gordon and Johnson were dispatched to head out to the train wreck.
The site was inspected by the light of the setting moon, but the reality of the disaster could not be fully comprehended until the light of the next day.
The engine was laying on its side in the now naturally flowing creek bed, awash with slime and mud. Behind it lay carriages piled up on top of each other, all fully loaded with cargo, axles twisted and the wheels at right angles.
One wagon measuring at 22 feet long was standing straight in the air, supported by another 16-foot long carriage laying in a similar position. Both wagons being supported by the water-wagon of the locomotive. Only the last 5 wagons and the guard's carriage remained intact upon the line.

 What caused such a massive pile up?
 The location where this accident happened was not considered to be dangerous at the time. The sudden and extremely hard downpour of rain overfilled the small creek culvert on which the train tracks lay.
 The culvert could not take the extreme amounts of water being forced into it and caused a backwash of water to be accumulated, the water level rose until it washed over the lines.
 The track was built on a bank that sat between 6 feet and 8 feet high, with the culvert running underneath, with the water pressure cascading across the line, much of the supporting ballast had been washed away. And as the train hit the weakened structure, it gave away, plunging the train into the cold currents of the creek.

 The guard who was in the last carriage of the train suffered no injuries and began walking back to Freeling to alert them of the accident before the passenger train made its way down the line. His efforts were not needed, as the storm had caused problems with lines in Smithfield and Gawler, as well causing the passenger train to be delayed significantly

Fireman Whaites was interviewed by officials and his story is as follows;

“The train left Freeling soon after 6 o'clock, not far from the station we ran through a body of water safely, when we soon passed the second body of water, we kept a lookout, but did not think it necessary to stop altogether.
Suddenly we felt the engine going and with only the width of the embankment we knew there was little hope, and in seconds we were in the water.
When she rested on her side I climbed out, and my mate followed me. The water was to my waste and when I got my footing I looked around for the driver to see if he was right.
As he got out he seemed to sink on his knees, and before it was possible to do anything the water carried him away.
One good Samaritan gave me a pair of dungarees and another coat, and I feel pretty right now, although it was a bad experience”.

As for the driver, Mr Critchley, a search was carried out to find him. His water bag and tool box were found a quarter of a mile down the creek. Mr Critchley's body was found about seven miles further down the stream, hanging to a tree in the middle of the creek, his body was badly bruised and it was most probable that he died of hypothermia.  


Continued next week...

Some images on this blog are borrowed from the State Library Of South Australia: http://images.slsa.sa.gov.au/prg/327/25/PRG327_25_3A_7.htm

 There is currently no copyright laws attributed to these images

Researched and Written by Allen Tiller © 2012