I attended the excellent Modelling the Railways of South Australia convention in September 2000 with my good friend, and co-builder of the Dutton Bay, Peter Knife.
After the convention near Adelaide we went our separate ways. Peter headed to the State Library to continue research for his Minnipa layout. I took my family on a two week tour of South Australia.
My trip took us to Kangaroo Island, an island off the south coast of South Australia. Whilst there I was browsing in a bookstore, looking for some information about the 2' gauge tramway which hauled salt to wharf near American River. The tramway was closed and dismantled in the mid-1950s in order to extract gypsum from the bed of the salt lake, and there is not too much left to see.
My attention though was drawn to a chapter describing the attempts of the local railway development committee to have a government railway built on the island. There were numerous reports of meetings, endless discussions, but a report of a meeting with the Eyre Peninsula railway committee really hit the eye. The Kangaroo Island committee were considering as an option a light railway, and met with their Eyre Peninsula equivalent because they (the West Coast) had already met with representatives from Queensland and Victoria. Queensland had much 2' gauge, while Victoria had 2'6" branches in use.
I was naturally quite excited by this, and upon my return home called Peter to let him know there must have been a proposal to build a light railway (2' or 2'6" gauge) on the Eyre Peninsula.
Peter was equally excited. In an amazing coincidence he had found reports detailing the proposals of a Royal Commission - to build various railway lines in the Eyre Peninsula, including feeder lines to 2' or 2'6" gauge.
What is even more amazing was the evaluation of the Royal Committee of a feeder light railway gauge to Dutton Bay. Our narrow gauge line to Dutton Bay has suddenly become a "proposed line", or at least a line on a map which was evaluated by a Royal Commission.
You can read Peter's report by following a link from his Minnipa page, or by going directly to his Dutton Bay Connection page.
Last Modified November 1, 2000