Northfield railway line
The Northfield railway line was a railway in northern Adelaide between running Dry Creek and Northfield. The line branched east from the Gawler railway line just north of Dry Creek station. In earlier years, it saw mixed freight including livestock in and meat out of the Gepps Cross abattoirs and sale yards. In its later years, it was operated as part of the metropolitan passenger rail network and served three stations: Cavan, Pooraka, and Northfield.
History
The Stockade line was opened on 1 June 1857 at the same time as the Adelaide-Smithfield section of what is now the Gawler line, making it one of South Australia's oldest rail lines. It was built to carry stone from the quarries behind Yatala Labour Prison. In the 19th century the line became mixed use, as the track was originally designed for cargo. When the Metropolitan and Export Abattoirs Board was formed in 1933, it transferred more slaughter work to Gepps Cross, and a new siding named Export Siding was built in 1937 to deliver sheep and lambs direct to the abattoirs.Closure
The State Transport Authority decided that passenger services on the line was uneconomic and patron numbers were low. In 1961, the former terminus station, Stockade station was closed, the line cut back to Northfield station and the land redeveloped. The last passenger trains to Northfield ran on 29 May 1987. The line continued as a freight-only rail line, with cattle delivered by rail to the Gepps Cross Abattoirs and Livestock Markets sale-yards until 1995. The branch stations were subsequently demolished and the track lifted. An 18-metre section of the double headed rail, used on the far eastern end of the Northfield Line, remains preserved in the main display pavilion at the National Railway Museum, Port Adelaide.The triangle junction where the track joined to the Gawler line remained in place until late 2009 and was used as a storage area for rails, sleepers and Maintenance of Way equipment by TransAdelaide. With the decision to replace the Adelaide Railcar depot, the triangle was removed and the site prepared for the new Dry Creek railcar depot. This project also took over the site of the former Australian Railway Historical Society depot which was vacated in 1995.
The dual gauge track from the triangle junction north to Dry Creek North Yard, which ran through former sheep loading facilities, was leased by TransAdelaide to Genesee & Wyoming Australia for storage of some standard gauge rolling stock before construction of the new railcar depot. The former siding and sheep loading facilities are also part of the new depot complex. After the line was closed, services which previously operated from Adelaide to Northfield were cut back to terminate at Dry Creek, known by local railway enthusiasts as "Dry Creek squirts". These continued to operate until April 2008.
In 2019, overgrown remains of Cavan railway station, Pooraka railway station, and the rail corridor between Cavan and Pooraka are all that remain of the Northfield line. The line between Dry Creek and Cavan has been built over, but some pill boxes still exist on the side of Churchill Road North.
Line guide
| Station | Image | Opened | Coordinates | Additional information |
| Stockade | 1 June 1857 | Terminus 1857–1961; closed in July 1961 | ||
| Northfield | 1857 | Terminus 1961–1987; moved west of Briens Road in 1961; closed 29 May 1987 | ||
| Pooraka | 12 July 1913 | Originally named Abattoirs station; closed 29 May 1987; sidings used until 1995 | ||
| Cavan | 1914 | Closed 29 May 1987; sidings used until 1995 | ||
| Dry Creek | 1856 | Former branch station; still in use as part of the Gawler line. |