Belair Railway Station

HISTORIC BELAIR RAILWAY STATION
Sheoak Rd, Belair, South Australia

I have been planning a blip of our 120 year old heritage listed local railway station for some time, and today was the day. The Belair Railway Station is in the Adelaide southern foothills, 22km by train from Adelaide, and on the main interstate railway line between Adelaide and Melbourne.

We live in a scenic location on the edge of the Belair National Park and the station has a number of historic preserved buildings. The large 1890s vintage wooden shelter on the main platform, as shown in my photo, was built for the crowds of passengers visiting the park.

Sadly in May 2003, parts of the heritage station were destroyed by an arsonist who targeted the historic signal box, seen restored on the left of the photo. See better in LARGE.

The steam engine I blipped a few days ago, see HERE, used to pass by our house and through this station prior to 1995 when broad gauge was replaced.

On November 8, 2003, Paladian and I were part of a campaign group that formed to raise funds for the estimated $50,000 needed to restore the station's Signal Cabin which was severely damaged by fire. The blaze also caused major damage to adjacent station buildings.

The Friends of Belair Railway Station have spent almost a decade restoring the Signal Cabin to its former glory. This historic side of the station shown above is no longer used, and the other side's platforms are now used for passenger traffic to and from the city. All hills suburban trains now terminate at Belair.