Esperance Branch Railway

The Esperance Branch Railway is a railway from Kalgoorlie to the port of Esperance in Western Australia.

It was lobbied for by Esperance residents to be linked into the WAGR railway network to provide land transport to their region.

In the strictest terms it was an extension of the Eastern Goldfields Railway. , but following the Standard Gauge project in the 1960s it has run from Kalgoorlie to Esperance since the mid-1970s, as Coolgardie is no longer connected by rail.

Sub-divisions/Sections

 * Coolgardie – Widgiemooltha – 51 mi, completed in 1908.
 * Widgiemooltha – Norseman –  56 mi, completed in 1909.


 * Norseman – Salmon Gums – 58 mi, completed in 1927.
 * Salmon Gums – Esperance – 65 mi, completed in 1925.

Steam era water supplies
During the time the narrow gauge railway was in operation, due to the distances through dry country, dams and tanks were of importance to supply the steam engines in operation.

Between Coolgardie and Esperance, water supply sources were from Water Supply Department (Coolgardie), Mines Department Dam (Widgiemooltha), and WAGR dams. Early WAGR annual reports took into consideration: Catchment area, Capacity, Pumped or gravitation collection of water, estimated loss by evaporation and absorption, and total amount of water stored.

Esperance Flyer
This passenger train started in 1932. It was 5 hours faster than the mixed goods train, though averaging only about 35 kph. Trains were sped up by a further 1½ hours when diesels took over in 1954. By 1967 a bus had replaced the train.

Gauge and route
The line was originally built as narrow gauge, but with gauge standardisation of the main interstate railway in the late 1960s, it was converted to standard gauge, so as not to become a gauge orphan. The route was also changed somewhat with standardisation, with a junction at Kalgoorlie replacing the junction at Coolgardie. Gauge conversion of the line was completed in the mid-1970s.

Selected stopping locations

 * Grass Patch
 * Scaddan
 * Gibson – 1800m crossing loop built 2009.
 * Esperance