Tailem Bend railway station


Tailem Bend railway station is located on the Adelaide-Wolseley line in Tailem Bend, South Australia. It is also the junction point for the Loxton and Pinnaroo lines.

History

Tailem Bend station opened on 7 October 1913 as a station on the Adelaide-Wolseley line. It became a junction station with the Pinnaroo line constructed in 1906 and the Brown's Well line in 1913. The Brown's Well line was eventually extended to Barmera in 1928, and had several branches with trains that operated back to Tailem Bend. Trains on the Peebinga, Loxton, Moorook and Waikerie lines all passed through Tailem Bend. All were built as broad gauge lines. On 27 June 1926, locomotive servicing facilities were opened including a roundhouse.
In 1995, as part of the One Nation program the Adelaide-Wolseley line was converted to standard gauge, and Tailem Bend became a break of gauge station. In 1996 the station closed, and on 22 May 2005, it was reopened as a museum. In 1998, the remaining branch lines to Pinnaroo and Loxton were converted to standard gauge. These two lines closed in 2015, after grain train operations ceased.