News & Discussion: Adelaide Metro Trains

[claybro]

Great find Haso. Interesting the line linking Port Dock and Dry Creek. I wonder if anyone has any info on if this was a regular service-or just to service end of shift etc? Interesting that all these years later when the population of these areas is increasing that there is no move to re-introduce this link-I have alway thought linking Mawson lakes and Port adelaide would be great for people working in those centers but living in other suburbs. Guess it just goes to show how these once great industrial areas have become void of workers, and how much those that are left now rely on just their own cars.

[claybro]

Great find Haso. Interesting the line linking Port Dock and Dry Creek. I wonder if anyone has any info on if this was a regular service-or just to service end of shift etc? Interesting that all these years later when the population of these areas is increasing that there is no move to re-introduce this link-I have alway thought linking Mawson lakes and Port adelaide would be great for people working in those centers but living in other suburbs. Guess it just goes to show how these once great industrial areas have become void of workers, and how much those that are left now rely on just their own cars.

[ginzahikari]

I found this by chance – State Transport Authority, Rail Map, 1980. It’s interesting to see how it was 40 years ago.

http://www.railmaps.com.au/historic_rai ... e_1980.htm

What do they mean by ticket office? Most of the stations labelled with one aren't staffed and doesn't have any sort of ticket vending.

[SRW]

What do they mean by ticket office? Most of the stations labelled with one aren't staffed and doesn't have any sort of ticket vending.

This map is from 40 years ago. Many stations once had, or were adjacent to, little kiosks.

[ChillyPhilly]

I found this by chance – State Transport Authority, Rail Map, 1980. It’s interesting to see how it was 40 years ago.

http://www.railmaps.com.au/historic_rai ... e_1980.htm

What do they mean by ticket office? Most of the stations labelled with one aren't staffed and doesn't have any sort of ticket vending.

This map is from 1980. There were ticket offices at these stations.

[PeFe]

For what I can remember of 1980, there would have been ticket offices at Bowden, Woodville and Glanville on the Outer Harbour line for example.....the rest of the stations would have been unstaffed. This was typical of the Adelaide train network at the time.

That 1980 map makes the train network much more sophisticated than it really was...

[OlympusAnt]

The 1980 map looks the same as today with a few appendages

[NTRabbit]

I didn't realise the Noarlunga station had been open that long, I thought I remembered it being brand new when I was a wee lad in the late 80s

[Patrick_27]

I've always been curious about the idea of reopening the Northfield Line and extending it to Golden Grove/Athelstone instead of extending the O'Bahn, obviously far more expensive but it would keep a lot of buses off the roads and do a lot in the way of moving large volumes of people.

[SBD]

I didn't realise the Noarlunga station had been open that long, I thought I remembered it being brand new when I was a wee lad in the late 80s

I wonder if this map was published when Noarlunga Centre opened. I think I remember a steam train special around most or the metro network to commemorate the opening, and I would have been about the right age in the late 1970s or 1980 I think.

[SBD]

The 1980 map looks the same as today with a few appendages

All four branches from the Gawler line have closed and North Gawler renamed. Mawson Lakes is new, too. I thought there were several Penfield stations then, with the imaginative names of Penfield 1, Penfield 2 and Penfield 3, with a balloon loop at the end.

Bridgewater line is shorter now, and Noarlunga Centre is longer.

I agree with whoever said that putting services back on the dry creek to port Adelaide line looks good, but I doubt it can happen now on an ARTC line.

[Spotto]

On the topic of a restored Port Adelaide to Dry Creek service. If/when the Northern Connector rail component (green line) is built the Dry Creek to Port Adelaide line will effectively be made redundant (unless access is maintained for the Bluescope Steel sidings). I'd like to see one of two uses for the line:

1) The line is handed to DPTI and converted to BG for a diesel service between Glanville (has a bay platform) and Mawson Lakes (better/convenient integration with train and bus, Dry Creek is too isolated). Stopping Glanville, Ethelton, Port Adelaide, Rosewater (Eric Sutton Reserve) or Grand Junction Road, Eastern Parade, Dry Creek, Mawson Lakes.

2) The line is handed to the Railway Museum and converted to BG (state funding assist) for heritage rides between Jacketts Siding and Dry Creek. A connection between heritage and metro trains would be invaluable to make it easy for people to come for a visit and a ride. Its proximity to the city and suburbs is also an advantage. Dry Creek Platform 1 helps keep it isolated from the metro network.

[Joelmark]

For what I can remember of 1980, there would have been ticket offices at Bowden, Woodville and Glanville on the Outer Harbour line for example.....the rest of the stations would have been unstaffed. This was typical of the Adelaide train network at the time.

That 1980 map makes the train network much more sophisticated than it really was...

Many of the stations had ticket offices / kiosks incorporated into their concrete central shelters. From the Gawler line in the mid 1980s I can remember Broadmeadows, Womma, Elizabeth and Elizabeth South all had these.
In about 1987-88, the STA embarked upon a "station improvement programme" which saw many of the shelters replaced with the larger olive green bus stop style ones you see at Nurlutta for example. Some like Salisbury had their historic ones demolished and replaced with the current interchange type ones. Others like Womma simply had the staffed ticket office either demolished or sealed off, with the original 1960s style concrete structure remnant.
My former "local" Smithfield once had a beautiful building similar to the one at North Adelaide that was replaced around 1987 - surprisingly late in terms of heritage consciousness. I'm sure others on here can recount similar stories from other lines.

[EBG]

if you really want to see something rare check out this Adelaide rail map from 1974 .it still shows the line through Woodville north to North Arm Rd . Although this was a freight route, it did have a limited peak hour service operated by single carriage red hens.

[SouthAussie94]

if you really want to see something rare check out this Adelaide rail map from 1974 .it still shows the line through Woodville north to North Arm Rd . Although this was a freight route, it did have a limited peak hour service operated by single carriage red hens.

Am I reading it correctly that you couldn't catch a train directly from Adelaide to Outer Harbor, rather you would need to go via Dry Creek and Gillman?