Avon Yard is a railway yard west of Northam, Western Australia. It lies on the southern side of the Avon River on the Eastern Railway between Toodyay and Northam.
History As part of the project to gauge convert the East-West rail corridor from narrow gauge to standard gauge, a new yard was built on the Eastern Railway to the west of Northam by the Western Australian Government Railways.Avon Valley Tracklaying Forges Ahead: Dual-Gauge Tamper Raises Output Railway Transportation March 1965 page 6WAGR Opens New Avon Valley Route Network February 1966 page 1 It was built as a dual gauge yard to allow freight from the narrow gauge Albany, Mullewa and Wyalkatchem lines to be transferred for forwarding via the standard gauge line.Progress on the Western Australian Standard Gauge Project Railway Gazette 2 September 1966 page 677
Extending for 3.2 kilometres and built on 40 hectares, as built it had 22 roads, both narrow (1,067mm) and standard gauge (1,435mm). It opened on 15 February 1966, initially only for narrow gauge trains.An exceptionally busy weekend The Westland issue 284 2015 page 7 It had a diesel locomotive servicing depot, four 45 metre lighting towers and an eight cell CBH grain silo.The Avon Valley Deviation Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin issue 362 December 1967 page 262New marshalling yard for WAGR near completion International Railway Journal October 1970 page 73
In October 1968, a gantry crane assembled by Vickers Hosking in Bassendean was commissioned to transfer intermodal containers.Gantry Crane - Avon Yard Western Australian Railway Institute Magazine March 1969 page 27WA railways order five gantry cranes Freight & Container Transportation September 1969 page 14 It was last used in July 1981.Here & There Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin issue 528 October 1981 page 85 In 1978 a turntable assembled at Midland Railway Workshops was installed.Events at Midland Westrail News Letter October 1978 page 10
The yard has been modified at various stages, as the different operators dealt with the services required.An example of how it looked in 1992: It has also been considered as redundant grain receival or storage location with some arguments for bypassing the facility and railing direct to Fremantle.
It ceased being used as an operational yard by Aurizon in May 2013, however was still used to store withdrawn rolling stock. Watco Australia used the depot to maintain its CBH class locomotives and rolling stock.Aurizon WA News Motive Power issue 88 July 2013 page 6 As part of its new contract with CBH Group that commenced in September 2021, Aurizon reopened the yard.Aurizon puts CBH rail on a new track Farm Weekly 6 August 2021Grain contracts change hands in Western Australia The Railway Magazine issue 1447 October 2021 page 106The CBH Rail Haulage Contract Railway Digest March 2022 page 44
References
External links
WA Stations gallery of the Yard predominately of photos up to 2004