Railway stations

Bridgewater Bridge Railway Station

The first railway stations were constructed on both sides of the river in 1874 with the establishment of the rail bridge.

A modern Railway Station was constructed on the northern side of the bridge in 1946, with a wooden footbridge connected to the station, with the main road and a rail loop to the north providing connection between the main line and branch lines. A stock platform was situated on the Derwent Valley line.

A station masters house and another residence were constructed shortly after the railway station were located opposite the station.

In 1951 the station was completely destroyed by a fire in the early hours of a Saturday morning, which also ruined the signalling equipment for the lift span of the bridge.

Extract from the Examiner, Sat 3 Feb 1951, Page 3.

“An eyewitness, living in a house adjacent to the station, said he was awakened by a terrific roaring and when he looked out of a window the station was a mass of flames. Flames were leaping about 200 feet in the air, and sparks were flying in all directions. The intensity of the heat caused a concrete footpath to crumble to dust.”

In 1952 a new brick building was constructed, and in 1967 fire also impacted the station junction. The station was demolished in 1997.

References:

• Examiner. 1951. Bridgewater Railway Station Gutted, Early Morning Blaze. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/ article/52804060. Accessed on 17 September 2024.
• Department of State Growth. 2020. Major Project Proposal, New Bridgewater Bridge. https://bridgewaterbridge.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/306184/Major_Projects_Proposal.pdf. Accessed on 21 Oct. 2024.
  The Mercury. 1885. The Derwent Valley railway. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/9100348. Accessed on 17 September 2024.

Granton Railway Station

The former Granton Railway Station is located roughly 700 metres south-east of the Bridgewater Causeway and was constructed c. 1874 to serve the new railway line.

The railway line ran from Hobart through Granton and across the Bridgewater Bridge to Launceston in the north.

This station and the suburb surrounding it was originally named ‘South Bridgewater’, and in 1914 was renamed in honour of Charles Grant, the General Manager of the Tasmanian Government Railways, who had overseen the construction of the Tasmanian Main Line Railway that ran from Hobart to Launceston (completed in 1876).

References:

• ‘Charles Henry Grant (1831-1901)’ Australian Dictionary of Biography. Accessed from: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/grant-charles-henry-6452