Esperance Branch Railway

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Esperance Branch Railway
Overview
Termini	Coolgardie (NG) and Kalgoorlie (SG) Esperance
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Old gauge	Narrow gauge
Route map Legend 0km Kalgoorlie Eastern Goldfields Railway (0km) Coolgardie Original rail alignment (closed 1960s) (11) Burbanks (16) Londonderry 19 Hampton Siding 22 Hampton 60 Kambalda 68 Redmine spur 89 Roysalts spur (57) Logans Find 93 Lefroy Siding (75) Widgiemooltha (NG) 101 Widgiemooltha (SG) 131 Higginsville 134 Higginsville Siding 163 Pioneer 189 Norseman 193 Cowan 193 Cowan Minerals 201 Lake Kirk 212 Goodia 223 Bromus 238 Daniell 252 Beete 262 Kumarl 274 Dowak 285 Salmon Gums 288 Salmon Gums grain loop 296 Circle Loop 305 Red Lake 314 Grass Patch 326 Truslove 338 Scaddan 347 Speddingup 354 Flemming 362 Gibson 372 Gibson siding 374 Caitup 378 Shark Lake 386 Collier Esperance... 389 Goods Yard 390 Grain depot 390 Fuel depot 391 Fuel jetty 392 Esperance Station 393 km Esperance Port

The Esperance Branch Railway is a railway from Kalgoorlie to the port of Esperance in Western Australia.

It was lobbied for by Esperance residents to be linked into the WAGR railway network to provide land transport to their region.^[1][2][3]

In the strictest terms it was an extension of the Eastern Goldfields Railway.^[4] ,^[5] but following the Standard Gauge project in the 1960s it ran from Kalgoorlie to Esperance, as Coolgardie was no longer connected by rail.

Sub-divisions/Sections[edit]

• Coolgardie – Widgiemooltha – 51 miles 38 chains (82.8 km), completed in 1908.
• Widgiemooltha – Norseman – 56 miles 59 chains (91.3 km), completed in 1909
• Norseman – Salmon Gums – 58 miles 46 chains (94.3 km), completed in 1927
• Salmon Gums – Esperance – 65 miles 56 chains (105.7 km), completed in 1925.^[6]

Steam era water supplies[edit]

During the time the narrow gauge railway was in operation, due to the distances through dry country, dams and tanks were of importance to supply the steam engines in operation. Between Coolgardie and Esperance, water supply sources were from Water Supply Department (Coolgardie), Mines Department Dam (Widgiemooltha),and WAGR dams – WAGR annual reports took into consideration: Catchment area, Capacity, Pumped or gravitation collection of water, estimated loss by evaporation and absorption, and total amount of water stored.

Esperance Flyer[edit]

This passenger train started in 1932. It was 5 hours faster than the mixed goods train,^[7] though averaging only about 35 km/h (22 mph).^[8] Trains were sped up by a further 1½ hours when diesels took over in 1954.^[9] By 1967 a bus had replaced the train.^[10]

Gauge and route[edit]

It was originally built as narrow gauge, but with gauge standardisation of the main interstate railway in the late 1960s, it was converted to standard gauge to, so as not to become a gauge orphan. The route was also changed somewhat with standardisation, with a junction at Kalgoorlie replacing the junction at Coolgardie.

Selected stopping locations[edit]

• Grass Patch
• Scaddan
• Gibson – 1800m crossing loop built 2009.^[11]
• Esperance

Notes[edit]

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

Old photos – Esperance station, Esperance Flyer