Balhannah Railway Station

This weekend I took a trip to the abandoned Balhannah Railway Station in the Adelaide Hills, in the town of Balhannah.

As the station is completely fenced off with clear signs to keep out, I took ALL photos here from behind the fence of the station. I made sure to remain behind the fence at all times. Click any photos to enlarge.

The Great Southern Rail Overland train to Melbourne (Twice weekly) and regular freight trains still use the standard gauge railway lines through this station.

Originally Balhannah Railway Station was on the former broad gauge line that was shortened to Belair Railway Station for Adelaide Metro broad gauge line services. The broad gauge line itself from Belair onwards was replaced back in 1995 to a dual standard gauge line to Melbourne.

Update 10/5/2015: Balhannah Station used to also be a junction station, which a branch line diverged from here towards Oakbank, Woodside, Charleston, Mount Torrens, Birdwood and on to Mount Pleasant. This branch line was opened in 1918 and closed in 1953, but still had some rail traffic to Oakbank Race Carnival yearly until the early 1960's. The branch line rails have long been removed and the stations too, but the former alignment can be seen by following a gravel road near the station through a cutting and following the Onkaparinga Valley Road. This can be seen well on Google Maps.

A section of this former branch line between Oakbank and Mount Torrens is now converted to a bike trail called the "Amy Gillet bikeway". It is planned to extend the bikeway along the former rail alignment to Mount Pleasant in the future. Thanks to Pressman (SouthOzRail forum) for most of this extra info.

  

The station itself is in very poor condition, covered in Graffiti and eaten out by termites too. I assume it will be demolished at some stage.

Zoomed in photo of the former goods siding (from behind the fence) with the crane also in situ:

View towards Balhannah Station on the platform (positioned behind the fence) - you can also see the signal box building structure still in situ:

View of the Entrance to the Balhannah Railway Station from behind the fence:

I thought it might be interesting to show Railway fans what Balhannah Railway Station looks like in April 2015, as I suspect it may not be around for much longer.

North Adelaide Railway Station

Yesterday I was in Bowden to attend the Fork on the Road food event nearby, and decided to have a closer look at the North Adelaide Railway Station.

From the vantage point below at the pedestrian crossing, you can see the freight line on the right heading towards Adelaide (also used by the Ghan and Indian Pacific). The other lines are the Adelaide Metro Broad gauge lines servicing the Gawler line, and also providing access to the Dry Creek Depot where Adelaide Metro trains are stored and serviced when not in use:

This station is active and is the first stop on the Gawler line. It is not used a great deal though, and often trains pass through the station without stopping.

Here is the view on the Adelaide Metro Platform which is heading towards Gawler, looking at the bus shelter style stop on this platform and the North Adelaide Station building on the opposite side:

Here is a closer view of the North Adelaide Railway Station building, which is not in use and is sealed up on the platform side - does provide shelter when it is raining though, like today:

North Adelaide Station signage on the platform:

Further along the platform I can see the Park Terrace bridge in the distance, freight line on the left and two broad gauge Adelaide Metro lines on the right:

When the electrification works to Dry Creek and beyond take place, this view will change a lot from how it is today!

Here is a another shot of the North Adelaide Railway Station building:

As I was taking photos, a regular service Gawler line train passed through North Adelaide station without stopping, on it's way to Adelaide Railway Station:

Here is the train as it passes through the station - 3 carriages on this 2000 series Diesel train service:

After the train passes through the station:

Here is the bus stop style Train Stop information board at North Adelaide Railway Station, Platform 1:

Given that trains infrequently stop at this station is it important to check the schedule to make sure you can catch the train from this station. Bowden Railway Station (on the Outer harbour and Grange lines) is walking distance from this station, as is the Entertainment Centre Tram stop - so it is not a great surprise that it sees little use.

When the Adelaide Railway Station was closed in January 2014 for electrification works for the Seaford line, North Adelaide Railway Station was the start/terminating Railway Station for the Gawler line, where people transferred here to buses to go to Adelaide Railway Station. For that month it was very busy at this station!