Marble Bar railway line

The Marble Bar railway line was a railway in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, running into the hinterland from the north-west coast.

History

The , an act by the Parliament of Western Australia granted assent on 19 September 1907, authorised the construction of the railway line from Port Hedland to Marble Bar.

The line was a Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) gauge branch line which was isolated from the rest of the WAGR system. Construction was commenced in 1909, undertaken by the firm of Henry Teesdale Smith, and the line was opened in July 1911.Woodland, Edwin W. (1975) The Port Hedland – Marble Bar Railway Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, January, 1975 pp1-6

The line had been proposed for some years before the date of opening.

The closest railhead of the main WAGR rail system was over to the south at Meekatharra, so most rolling stock and materials were shipped in and out Port Hedland.

Due to heavy losses on the line, the Western Australian government asked the 1922 Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Railway Department to make a specific inquiry into the running of the Port Hedland railway. The commissioner found that "the railway cannot be run effectively so long as it is administered by the Railways Department" and recommended, among other things, that the running of the line be handed over to the Commissioner of the North-West. notably part 5, page 38 – 51 Report of the Royal Commissioner on the Port Hedland-Marble Bar Railway and Copy of Evidence taken. The response by the Commissioner of Railways, H.Pope, comprises section 6 – pages 52–53. That was not done.

The reputation of the line for its slow running speed lived on long after the railway had closed, with Patsy Adam Smith's 1969 book about early railways noting the use of the ironic name the Spinifex Flyer.

The was granted royal assent on 18 December 1950, and the last train to run out of Port Hedland operated on 25 October 1951. The railway closed on 31 October 1951.

Iron ore railways that have subsequently been constructed in the Pilbara region are standard gauge railways.

Marble Bar railway line

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