v t e Belmont line
Legend
Eastern Railway ← toPerth/Fremantle│toMidland/Northam→ Bayswater Whatley Swan River Belmont

TheBelmont Railway Line was a branchrailway inWestern Australia that extended from theEastern Railway atBayswater to cross theSwan River toBelmont near theAscot Racecourse. The line closed in 1956.

The line was also known as theBelmont Spur line,^[1]Belmont Branch, andPerth Racecourse Railway.^[2][3]

In November 1885 a 65 chains (1.3 km) branch line was constructed from the Eastern Railway atBayswater across the Swan River to thePerth Race Course, improving access to the Race Course.^[4] Initially a ferry service across the Swan River was provided for racegoers travelling to and from the Race Course by train,^[5] which was replaced by a narrow footbridge by 1891.^[6]

The branch line's construction immediately spawned proposals to construct a railway linking the Eastern Railway at Bayswater (via the branch line) to areas south of Perth, includingCanning,Kelmscott,Woongong,Pinjarra,Bunbury, andBusselton.^[7] The various proposals were abandoned following the announcement of the construction of theSouth Western Railway in 1891 which provided a more direct route bridging the Swan River further to the south.^[8]

ThePerth Racecourse Railway Act 1896, anact by theParliament of Western Australiaassented to on 27 October 1896, authorised the construction of the railway line from Bayswater.^[9]

In 1897 the line was extended across the Swan River, and a new station built on the southern side of the Race Course.^[10][11] The new station was opened on 21 October 1897.^[12] The railway service to Belmont was suspended in 1926 following floods.^[13]

Consideration of closing the railway had been publicly discussed as early as 1930. There was a proposal to convert the rail bridge over the Swan River to a road bridge, however this never happened. Instead, theGarratt Road Bridge opened nearby in 1935.^[14][15]

In the mid-1930s, the Bayswater Road Board asked the Main Roads Department to construct asubway atGuildford Road to replace the existing level crossing. The Bayswater Road Board considered the level crossing, named Whatley Crossing to be one of the most dangerous level crossings in the area. The subway was never constructed.^[16][17][18]

The Belmont branch line was closed in 1956 following a fire on the bridge crossing theSwan River, and the bridge, line and stations were removed in 1957.^[19][20] TheBelmont Branch Railway Discontinuance and Land Revestment Act 1956, assented to on 7 December 1956, authorised the closure of the line.^[21]

• Old photos
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• Bayswater, Western Australia
• Belmont, Western Australia
• Railway lines closed in 1956
• Former Western Australian Government Railways railway lines
• 1885 establishments in Australia

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from May 2015
• Use Australian English from May 2015
• All Wikipedia articles written in Australian English