Silverton Tramway

The Silverton Tramway was conceived as a way to transport silver-lead-zinc ore from the newly discovered ore deposits at Silverton, to the smelters at Port Pirie, with the line later extended to Broken Hill with the discovery of that field.^[4] The need for a private line was in part due to the New South Wales Government refusing to allow the South Australian Railways to extend its line from Port Pirie across the border.^[5] The Silverton Tramway Act 1886 was passed by the New South Wales parliament, permitting the narrow gauge line to be built by the STC.^[6] The Act also permitted the New South Wales Government to buy out the company and assets after 21 years, upon payment of an amount equal to 21 times the average divisible profits over the preceding seven years, and that the company could be obliged to alter the track gauge at any time at its expense.^[6] The line was built in twelve months at a cost of £125,000.^[7] The contract to build the line was awarded to C&E Millar, who were building the Peterborough to Cockburn line at the same time. The first train reached Broken Hill on 6 September 1887, with the line officially opened on 12 January 1888 by the Duke of Manchester.^[8][9]

Services were initially operated by South Australian Railways Y class locomotives until the STC acquired its own locomotives. In late 1888, a deal was reached for the South Australian Railways to assume responsibility for the main line workings with the STC operating services to the various mines and sidings in Broken Hill. This ceased on 30 June 1893, with the STC once again operating all services.^[9]

Major traffic on the line included passengers, livestock, bullion, ore and concentrates.^[4] In 1913, 844,477 tons of ore and concentrates were carried on the tramway and another 843,307 tons of other goods including coke, coal, timber, crude oil and livestock,^[7] and by 1933 twenty steam locomotives were owned by the company, along with 660 goods wagons.

The company serviced travellers on long trips heading interstate to Semaphore (Adelaide) to the Largs Bay Holiday Camp and excursions for local community groups often conveying passengers to Silverton and McCulloch Park (at Stephens Creek) for the day and returning to Broken Hill in the afternoon. When traveling to South Australia the train would travel from Broken Hill, through Silverton and then to Burns which is on the New South Wales side of the border of Cockburn (a town divided by the NSW/SA border).^[1]

A four-road engine shed, 15.24-metre (50.0-foot) turntable and small workshop were built just outside Broken Hill at Railway Town.

The line had six stations: Cockburn, Burns, Thackaringa, Silverton, Railway Town and Sulphide Street.^[10][11] When the New South Wales line opened in 1919, it terminated at a separate station 200 metres to the east.

In 1927 the New South Wales government completed the railway from Sydney to Broken Hill, thus joining the Silverton Tramway and completing the link from Sydney to Adelaide.^[1]

After the completion of the Trans-Australian Railway in 1937, the Silverton Tramway and the South Australian line to Port Pirie was a missing link in an unbroken Sydney to Perth rail journey (Perth to Kalgoorlie was the other). Moves towards conversion of the line to standard gauge were made with the passing of the Railway Standardisation Agreement Act of 1944, in which the New South Wales Government would acquire the Silverton Tramway Company, then pass it to the South Australian Railways.^[6] This agreement lapsed, with a new one made in 1949, in which the Commonwealth Government would be responsible for the acquisition.

El Gobierno de Nueva Gales del Sur no deseaba que la compañía siguiera siendo operadora de la línea principal, ni comprarla ellos mismos; mientras que las tripulaciones de trenes de Australia Meridional no estaban contentas de trabajar trenes a través de la frontera estatal debido a la pérdida de condiciones industriales favorables. ^{[ 6 ]} Cuando la compañía compró sus locomotoras diésel, varias estructuras, incluidos puentes, fueron modificadas ( gálibo de carga y carga por eje ) para soportar el ancho de vía estándar, ya que la compañía encargó los bogies más anchos necesarios para operar en ancho de vía estándar. ^{[ 2 ]} En 1967, la Compañía de Tranvías de Silverton había ofrecido construir una línea de ancho de vía estándar por una suma fija y transferir la línea a Nueva Gales del Sur poco después. Esta línea habría ido desde Cockburn hasta Broken Hill en un trazado que tenía cierta interacción con la estación existente de Crystal Street , pero el Gobierno de la Commonwealth la rechazó ya que deseaba que la línea se construyera en un nuevo trazado. ^{[ 6 ]}

El tranvía de Silverton desempeñó un papel estratégico en la red transaustraliana hasta 1970, cuando fue superado por la nueva línea de ancho estándar . ^{[ 1 ]} El tranvía de Silverton cerró el 9 de enero de 1970. La línea de ancho estándar se inauguró en un nuevo trazado que conducía directamente a la estación Crystal Street , operada por Nueva Gales del Sur, tardando un año y más de 2  millones de dólares adicionales en comparación con la propuesta de Silverton. ^{[ 6 ]} El negocio de la Silverton Tramway Company pasó a manos de los Ferrocarriles de Australia Meridional , ^{[ 2 ]} y la compañía cerró su negocio de líneas cortas de ancho estrecho, devolviendo la vía permanente a la Corona. ^{[ 12 ]}

La STC se reinventó entonces como operador ferroviario de corta distancia, prestando servicio a la industria minera en Broken Hill y sus alrededores con dos de las locomotoras diésel de 1961. Desde 1886, la compañía había transportado unos 90 millones de toneladas de carga a granel y general, y 2,8 millones de pasajeros. ^{[ 12 ]}

La estación de Sulphide Street, ubicada en Broken Hill, aún se conserva y en sus instalaciones se encuentra el actual Museo Ferroviario e Histórico. Allí se preservan piezas históricas del tranvía de Silverton, incluyendo material rodante y objetos de interés. Entre las locomotoras que se encuentran en las instalaciones figuran la W24 de la serie W del tranvía de Silverton , la Y1 de la serie Y del tranvía de Silverton y la T181 de la serie T de los Ferrocarriles de Australia Meridional , así como material rodante de los Ferrocarriles del Gobierno de Nueva Gales del Sur .