By Glynn Jones
The Heritage Rail Trail follows the route that many behemoth trains once used to transport our countries mining spoils.
The narrow gauge rail line helped transform Australia from an agricultural outpost to an industrial giant – and nowadays it’s providing a ‘second’ economic boost to the Central Region of South Australia.
Pat Kent created the Heritage Rail Trail.
“It’s a 395 kilometre self-drive tourism route…it takes the visitor on a tourism experience from the outback to the ocean and gives travellers a wonderful excuse to stop, stay and spend in the 12 towns and communities along the trail,” he says.
“It’s a still a work in progress, but it’s already helping to grow our local economy and is being enjoyed by people from all over Australia and the world”.
Steamtown Heritage Rail Centre in Peterborough
If you’ve ever driven down the Barrier Highway or through Port Pirie, Broken Hill or Peterborough, you will have seen the red dusty embankment that follows you as you drive. It’s been stripped of many of the sleepers and track, and travellers make the journey today seemingly unaware of the importance this historic rail line holds.
In 1885, inland South Australia was a very different place. Mining was booming, but the founders of BHP had a problem; they needed a way to ship silver, lead and zinc to their customers. The closest port was Port Pirie, but in 1885 this was a long and arduous trek by horse and carriage.
To solve their transport woes, BHP built the Silverton Tramline linking their mines in NSW to South Australia’s state rail lines and onto Port Pirie.
The rail line was an engineering triumph, the builders had to overcome fierce sand storms, steep gradients, raging floods and locust plagues of biblical proportions. Despite all these challenges, the line had quickly become one of the most profitable in the world.
Sound and Light Show at Steamtown Heritage Rail Centre in Peterborough
Now, just as it did in 1885, the old rail route continues to serve as a valuable income source for the local economy.
Peterborough has welcomed a twenty per cent increase in tourism and the world renowned Steamtown Heritage Rail Centre is revelling in a thirty per cent increase in visitor numbers.
More information on the Heritage Rail Trail can be found at Daytrippa.
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