First steam train to Port Adelaide in 1856 on the first railway line to be run by a government in the British empire
South Australian Railways locomotive No.1 (after its conversion from tender to tank in 1869) and (inset) The Port Dock railway station, the train's destination from Adelaide station in 1856.
Image courtesy National Railway Museum, Port Adelaide
South Australia’s first steam train was introduced in 1856 between Adelaide and Port Adelaide. It was the first government-built and -owned steam railway in the British empire.
The original 12kn broad-gauge line from Adelaide ran directly to Port Dock station, now the site of the National Railway Museum. Lines continued through Port Adelaide’s streets to the wharves and, from 1878, along St Vincent Street to the seaside town of Semaphore.
Congestion at Port Dock station and the delays for trains operating in the Port centre resulted in a viaduct and bridge being built across the Port River in 1916. This diverted trains to Semaphore and Outer Harbor via a new station named Commercial Road on the Outer Harbor line.
The large station at Commercial Road had long platforms, a roof and signal cabin. It quickly took over from Port Dock as the town’s main railway station. As rail traffic dropped in the 1960s-70s, Commercial Road station’s roof was removed, platforms shortened and the street level station buildings rebuilt.
The ticket office closed in 1979 and the station was unstaffed. When Port Dock station closed in 1981, Commercial Road station was renamed Port Adelaide. In 2009, the station and viaduct were refurbished.
The tracks through Port Adelaide station were dual gauge – both broad gauge (5' 3") and standard gauge (4' 81⁄2"). This allowed freight traffic from Dry Creek, via the Rosewater loop, to access industries on Lefevre Peninsula and the container terminal at Pelican Point. In 2008, freight traffic was diverted to operate via the Mary Mackillop Bridge downstream of the Port Adelaide harbour. The disused standard gauge rails were removed but the dual-gauge sleepers remained on the entire Outer Harbor line.
