Peterborough is unique in that we are
only one of two places in the southern hemisphere (Gladstone being the other)
where you can still see broad (5'3"), standard (4'8½") and narrow
gauge (3'6") railway tracks together.
It all officially came to being on the 12th January 1970 when the first broad
gauge train from Adelaide and the first standard gauge trains from Port Pirie
and Broken Hill arrived in Peterborough. Narrow gauge had been in the town since
1881.
To mark the occasion a South Australian Politician was supposed to drive a diesel
locomotive a short distance through a ribbon and then unveil a plaque at the platform
by the Railway Station. However the Federated Engineman’s Union took umbrage
to the fact that an untrained and non union member would be given the task of
so they placed a black ban on the event. The matter could not be resolved in time
for the unveiling so there was a plaque unveiled at the back of the Federal Hotel
by the railway crossing by the townspeople to mark the occasion.
The tower at the crossing was erected in 1927 to provide lighting in the railway
yards at night. It is 90 feet high.
The two railway crossings linking the southern and northern parts of the town
still have the three railway gauges in place.
