Bowmans railway station

Bowmans railway station was located at the junction of the Balaklava-Moonta railway line and the Adelaide-Port Augusta railway line in the town of Bowmans, South Australia.

An isolated horse-drawn and gravity operated tramway was built to deliver grain from the plains east of Port Wakefield in the areas of Balaklava, Halbury and Hoyle's Plains (now Hoyleton) to that port.^[1][2] The line was converted into a steam railway and extended to Kadina and Wallaroo in 1878. Bowmans railway station was opened in 1870. It was named after E. and C. Bowman who were well known pastoralists and led the estate along which the railway passed.^[3][4] It became a junction with the opening of a new railway line from Salisbury to Snowtown and Redhill. That line was later extended from there to Port Pirie in 1936.^{[citation needed]}

The Port Pirie line was constructed as 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) broad gauge and the Moonta line was constructed as 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) narrow gauge. This problem was solved when the Moonta line was converted to broad gauge on 1 August 1927.^[5][6]

The station closed to regular passenger use in 1968.^[7] In 1978, the station and all associated infrastructure was included in the transfer of South Australian Railways to Australian National. The Port Pirie line was converted from 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) broad gauge to standard gauge in 1982.^[8] The broad gauge line through Bowmans closed on 4 April 1984 with the refreshment rooms, most of the station infrastructure and railway line being removed not long after. ^[9]

Only the disused railway platform remains as any evidence of a passenger rail service.^[10] The alignment of the southern entrance to the station was converted into a spur to service the Bowmans Rail intermodal terminal.^[11]