Port Pirie railway station (Ellen Street) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Port Pirie (Ellen Street) railway station
The Ellen Street station building is now a museum. It's looked after by the National Trust of South Australia.
Location	73–77 Ellen Street, Port Pirie, South Australia
Coordinates	33°10′33″S 138°00′37″E / 33.1759°S 138.0104°E / -33.1759; 138.0104
Owned by	South Australian Railways until 1967; now National Trust of South Australia
Line(s)	Narrow gauge: – Port Pirie to Gladstone, built 1875–1878 – to Petersburg 1881 – to New South Wales border 1888 Broad gauge: – to Redhill 1937
Gauge Narrow (1067 mm / 3 ft 6 in); also dual after broad gauge (1600 mm / 5 ft 3 in) was added in 1937 Structure One-story building with a special "Gingerbread / Victorian Pavilion" style. Made of stone and brick, with a metal front. Platform None; people got on and off at ground level. Stopping All passenger trains stopped here (it was the end of the line for Port Pirie). Opened 1902 Closed 1967 (now a National Trust museum)

Ellen Street railway station was a train station in Port Pirie, South Australia. It was the second of six stations that served the town from 1876 to the early 2010s. Port Pirie is about 216 kilometers (134 miles) north of Adelaide.

The station opened in 1902. It was built closer to the town center than the first station. It was unusual because the railway tracks ran right down Ellen Street, the main road. The building had a unique "Victorian Pavilion" style. This special look helped it become a museum for the National Trust of South Australia after it closed.

Other stations that were open at the same time as Ellen Street station (between 1902 and 1967) included:

• Port Pirie's first station (until the early 1910s)
• Solomontown (first version) from 1911–1937
• Port Pirie Junction (also called Solomontown) from 1937–1967

The next station to open after Ellen Street closed was Mary Elie Street.

Smelter workers walking down Ellen Street around 1904. You can see two train tracks in the middle of the street.

Where Was Ellen Street Station?

In 1875, the South Australian Railways started building a narrow-gauge railway line from Port Pirie. This line was 1067 millimeters (3 feet 6 inches) wide. Later, the tracks were extended about 900 meters (985 yards) from the town's wharves.

Two-thirds of these new tracks were laid right in Ellen Street, Port Pirie's main road. The street was wide enough (30.5 meters or 100 feet) to fit two tracks down the middle.

At first, the railway moved farm products from inland areas to the wharves for export. After 1888, it also carried huge amounts of silver-lead-zinc ore to Port Pirie. This ore came from near Broken Hill in New South Wales, about 351 kilometers (218 miles) away.

Since the metal smelters were built near the wharves, Ellen Street was very busy. It handled most of the incoming ore and outgoing sulfuric acid (a product sold to a fertilizer factory).

Because of all this activity, the railway decided to build a passenger station on Ellen Street. It was placed about 400 meters (440 yards) before the smelter gates. The station opened on November 4, 1902, and cost £3760 to build.

How the Station Was Built

The Ellen Street station was a single-story building. It had a long veranda that stretched over the footpath. There was also a smaller building behind it.

Unlike most stations, it didn't have a big railway yard. There were just the two train tracks running past it. The building's design was a special "Victorian Pavilion" style, which was unique for South Australian Railways buildings. It was built with stone and some brick. The front of the building was covered with pressed steel panels. The roof was made of corrugated iron, and three domes had large zinc shingles. Stairs in the central dome allowed the clocktower to be used as a lookout point.

How Trains Operated at Ellen Street

The evening train from Adelaide on the dual-gauge track in Ellen Street, August 22, 1963.

Ellen Street station was the end of the line for passenger trains, but the tracks continued to the smelters. This meant trains couldn't easily turn around.

When only narrow-gauge trains used the station, the two tracks allowed locomotives to move around the train. This way, they could re-attach to the other end and pull the train back.

In 1937, one of the two narrow-gauge tracks in Ellen Street was changed to a dual gauge track. This meant it could carry both narrow-gauge and broad-gauge trains. Broad-gauge trains connected to Adelaide on a new, more direct route.

Since there wasn't another broad-gauge track for the locomotive to turn around, the engine had to push the train backwards. It would slowly push the train for about 920 meters (1,000 yards) down the public street. A train guard would guide it.

Why the Station Closed

Map showing Ellen Street railway station and how Port Pirie's three railway gauges changed over time.

As more cars and trucks used the roads, trains in Ellen Street became a problem. They slowed down traffic. In 1943, the Port Pirie Council asked the railway to build a new passenger station on Mary Elie Street. They wanted all trains removed from Ellen Street. This idea didn't happen right away, but it was kept in mind for the future.

The council also asked the railway to make the area north of the station safer. Passengers from the front of the train had to get off far from the station building onto a poorly lit surface. The council wanted the area between the rails paved and lights installed.

Like four of Port Pirie's six railway stations, Ellen Street station closed because new, wider gauges were built into the city.

From 1970, a standard-gauge line from Sydney (via Broken Hill) was planned. This new line would need a very long platform (213 meters or 700 feet) for passengers to switch between broad-gauge and standard-gauge trains. Unlike 1937, when a third rail was added, this time a completely new station was needed.

In November 1967, a new station opened on Mary Elie Street. Ellen Street station closed, 24 years after the Port Pirie Council first asked for it.

After the standard gauge arrived and narrow-gauge trains stopped running, all the tracks in Ellen Street were removed. However, the smelters still needed ore from Broken Hill. So, new standard-gauge tracks were laid next to the street, in the narrow space between the station building and the wharves.

Ellen Street Station as a Museum

The Ellen Street station building looks almost exactly as it did when it was built in 1902. It is now a museum run by the National Trust of South Australia. It has been a museum for 58 years since it closed as a station.

The building was added to the National Trust of South Australia's Register of Historic Places in 1977. It was also listed on the now-closed Register of the National Estate in 1978 and the South Australian Heritage Register in 1981.

Previous station: Inaugural Port Pirie station, located at Port Pirie South.

Concurrent stations: Solomontown and Port Pirie Junction.

Subsequent station: Mary Elie Street.

Images for kids

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  Around 1900, there was plenty of space in Ellen Street for small, short narrow-gauge trains to share the road with people and horse-drawn carts.

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  Around 1904, passengers getting off the train after a long journey from Adelaide were greeted outside the new station.

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  Around 1920, cars and other motor vehicles (like the two open buses in front) started to become more common.

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  Around 1930, seven years before the broad gauge arrived, trains were pulled by small locomotives like the Yx class.

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  In 1940, a 620 class locomotive and passenger cars were typical for the broad-gauge years (1937–1967). Their size and length caused some problems.

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  Fast 520 class locomotives, introduced in 1943, were great for the easy route to Port Pirie (photo from the early 1950s).

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  The brake van on passenger trains had to be placed outside the station building. This was to quickly move parcels and boxes into the building or onto trucks (1947 photo).

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  Trains often moved around on the narrow-gauge tracks in front of Ellen Street station. Here's a T class steam locomotive near the Alexander Street intersection in 1963.

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  In the 1960s, smooth and air-conditioned Bluebird railcars kept the Adelaide–Port Pirie service popular (1962 photo).