Built : c 1925
Original Name : Esperance
Station History : The towns folk of Esperance had been asking for a railway linking the goldfields to Esperance for 30 years before, a line was
finally initiated. The Residents in Esperance, believed, back in the 1890's that is was more logical, for all freight and passenger traffic to be directed
through the port of Esperance, rather then Fremantle or Albany, because Esperance was the closest port to the Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie Goildfields.

However the Government of Western Australia at the time, decided to build the Eastern Goldfields line from Northam to Kalgoorlie and this put
Esperance on the bottom of the pile for many years, in reguards to being linked by a railway line to the greater population of Western Australia.



Around 1914, the Government, had the intention of finally connecting Esperance to Coolgardie, but by this time, World War 1, had begun and now
there was a shortage of workers in the state and the funds weren't really there any way. So it wasn't until 1925, that Esperance eventually had a
railway linking it, however, it didn't link Esperance to the goldfields, it merely only went as far north as Salmon Gums. Norseman, by now had been linked
by a line from Coolgardie, so there was a missing link in the line from the Goldfields to the Port, so for the people of Esperance this was very Frustrating,
as they had been getting a raw deal from the Government for over 3 decades when it came to the railway link topic and so this was like a final insult.


By 1927, the missing link had been completed, the line from Esperance to the Goldfields was finally opened, how ever it was 30 year late for the Gold rush of
the 1890's.

Today, Esperance's original Station building is used as the towns TRANSWA bus stop, (in 2001 I visited Esperance for the first time, I travelled down by
bus and when we arrived at night, the first thing I thought of, when I stepped off the bus, was, hey this looks like a Station. So I found out later that it was
the original Station), the current Station, is situated, on the northern end of the town, along the newer standard gauge line which runs all the way to the port.



The original station and town jetty's were all serviced by narrow gauge lines and so when the standard gauge track came to town, the old lines which
ran through the centre of the town were pulled up.

Besides the original Station, the towns railway goods sheds have survived as well and are now used to house the towns museum, where you can see the
largest collection or sky lab remnants which crashed to the earth in the surrounding districts, as well as a steam loco and some old passenger coaches.