Lost Tracks:
>> Main Image – 621 & 520 engines at the Nuriootpa Station 1976
barossa history
Lost Tracks:
The Barossa Railway
words by
luke rothe
The idea of constructing a railway from Gawler to Angaston via Lyndoch and Tanunda was first recommended by a commission in 1875. Fast forward 150 years… and the railway has come — and gone!
The initial proposal failed, but that didn’t stop other attempts and alternative routes from being considered, including a line from Freeling to Angaston via Daveyston, Greenock, and Nuriootpa. Approval required an act of parliament, and after five unsuccessful attempts between 1897 and 1903, a bill finally passed in 1907.
A construction contract was signed in September 1909, with completion set for March 3, 1911. The line officially opened on September 8, 1911 with great fanfare. Towns decorated their stations with flags, foliage, and bunting.
To commemorate the occasion, Barossa News Ltd published a 120-page souvenir book, ‘The Barossa District,’ priced at one shilling. Original copies are rare today, but in 1983, The Barossa & Light Herald newspaper organised a reprint. The book remains a valuable record of Barossa’s town developments, businesses, and history from 1911, featuring 250 photos.
The rail service revolutionised transport, allowing produce like wine and fruit to reach the city more efficiently than by wagon and horse. Nuriootpa developed an industrial area opposite its station, home to businesses like Appelt’s cool drink factory, Angas Park preserving company, GC Kaesler Wheelwright & Coachbuilder (later Kaesler’s garage), and Barossa Creamery, which opened in 1919.
Incoming mail, parcels, and freight arrived by train and were distributed to post offices and stores. The railway also brought in furniture from Adelaide cabinetmakers, featuring the latest designs. This influx of cheaper furniture pressured local cabinetmakers, who had to compete. A 1914 sales receipt from Tanunda cabinetmaker B. Freytag reflects this shift, listing both options: ‘1 kitchen safe from Adelaide, 1 safe made here.’
Construction of the Nuriootpa to Truro line began in 1916, opening in September 1917. This extension passed through Light Pass and Stockwell, expanding rail access.
Passenger services let Barossa locals visit Adelaide for shopping and outings, while city dwellers could easily visit the Barossa. However, regular passenger services ended in 1968.
In the 1970s, special steam train days, organised by the Australian Railway Historical Society, revived interest. The Nuriootpa to Truro route was popular, featuring a turntable at Truro to spin the engine 180 degrees for its return trip.
The Barossa Wine Train, a tourist venture, briefly rekindled railway enthusiasm from 1998 to 2003.
A siding on Stockwell Road, Light Pass, known as Plush’s Corner, became the starting point for a spur line built to the Penrice ‘ICI’ quarry in 1950. High-grade limestone was hauled to the Osbourne plant near Port Adelaide, with up to 24 railway trucks carrying 50 tonnes each. This operation continued until Osbourne closed in June 2014, marking the end of trains crossing the valley floor.
Since then, Barossa’s rail tracks have been removed or left to decay — a reminder of a bygone railway era.
