SteamRanger Heritage Railway


The SteamRanger Heritage Railway is a historic train society in South Australia running trains on the Victor Harbor railway line. It is the only group regularly operating broad gauge steam locomotives in South Australia. It is run by volunteers of the South Australian Division of the Australian Railway Historical Society.

History

Prior to 1995 when the Adelaide to Melbourne line was converted to standard gauge, SteamRanger was based at Dry Creek, an industrial suburb in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, and home to the main road-rail freight depots in Adelaide. The Southern Encounter operated from Adelaide instead of Mount Barker, including six tunnels through the Mount Lofty Ranges. Special services were also operated to other places on the South Australian broad gauge network including Burra, Nuriootpa in the Barossa Valley and shorter services on the metropolitan network.

Operations

The Cockle Train operates year-round between Goolwa and Victor Harbor. It operates with a steam locomotive in school holidays, and historic diesel locomotives or railcars other weekends.
The Southern Encounter runs from Mount Barker to Victor Harbor during winter, utilising most of the remaining broad gauge branch from the main Adelaide to Melbourne line.
Some shorter services along the line are:
Steam locomotives operated by SteamRanger:
Diesel Locomotives:
Railcars:
Owned by SteamRanger but not on premises: