Mangalore

[admin]

Type : Station
Line : Apsley Branch
Distance from Brighton Junction : 007.462km
Opened : 22 April 1891 as Black Brush Road, renamed Mangalore 1901
Closed : 29 September 1947 (formal), Saturday service until circa 1949
Status : Closed
Name meaning : Named after the city of the same name in the Indian state of Karnataka.
Notes : It had a timber platform (100 feet in length) and building on the Down side and also an Up side loop that served a corrugated iron goods shed with a loading ramp – this was built in 1904 following a petition from the local residents.  The station also had a men's urinal situated on the Up side of the station. The station was situated adjacent to the main road.
As late as 1944 the location was still an important one for the loading of produce and in February of that year the local council requested that the Transport Commission provide better loading facilities (this appears to have been ignored however as no improvements are mentioned).
The tender for the construction of the station was let to W H Cheverton on 22/03/189 for a cost of £364 11s 5d.
The original layout consisted of a loop with a short dead end spur, by 1903 this had been converted into a southward extension of the loop which had been lengthened.
The station was (by 1921 at least) listed as a Staff Station and was a location where the Down passenger trains crossed the Up goods trains.
Mangalore had electric lighting installed in early 1934, the local residents were much satisfied as it permitted easier loading of the evening goods train during the busy harvest period.
On the 25th of March 1916 the porter in charge (Charles Blundell) was kicked by a bullock on the left hand whilst he was engaged in shunting operations; the unfortunate man was taken to Hobart hospital where two of his fingers were subsequently amputated.
After closure of the line the station building was proposed to be moved to New Norfolk, however this did not eventuate, instead it was dismantled and reconstructed at Antill Ponds prior to 1953. Mangalore (along with Pontville and Bagdad) was serviced by a Friday only railmotor in the last months of the line

[admin]

Mangalore station (1930-1935 period) (National Archives of Australia)

[admin]

Mangalore - line drawing that the preceding image was likely based on (National Archives of Australia)

[admin]

Aerial view of approximate location Mangalore station 11th January 1946 (Land Tasmania)

[admin]

Diagram of the site

[admin]

Relocated station building at Antill Ponds