Kempton

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Type : Station
Line : Apsley Branch
Distance from Brighton Junction : 28.223km
Opened : 22 April 1891
Closed : 29 September 1947
Status : Closed
Name meaning : After Anthony Fenn Kemp
Notes : Kempton was the only location on the line that had a claim to being a town (really little more than a village) and the station was located at 17 miles and 43 chains (28.223km) from Brighton. The facilities at Kempton were much larger than anywhere else on the line and fairly extensive and the remains of the yards (on the aptly named Station Street) can still be easily discerned. Kempton also has remnants of the formation that are accessible.
The survey notes this as "Green Ponds station".
The Down side passenger platform had a similar building to both Bagdad and Pontville and the yards contained a carriage shed located on a spur at the southern end. On the Up side there were both crossing and goods loops; the goods loop passed through a 60' x 30' overhead goods shed – unusual (but not unique) on the line. Past the goods shed there was a short spur. To the north of the station on the Down side a facing dead-end siding gave access to a stockyard.
This station was originally a Staff Station and was one of the few locations on the line that was protected by lower quadrant home signals, however, after 1922 the staff was withdrawn and the Kempton – Aspley and the Kempton – Bagdad section were abolished thus making the new (quite long) section Bagdad – Aspley. By 1931 both the crossing loop and signals had been removed from the site and both dead ends had already gone by 1930. By the time of the line closure in 1947 only the goods shed loop remained.
Despite the size and location of the station, it was never as profitable as the much busier Bagdad station.
In 1902 a request was made to the Government to install a road from Colebrook (which had a station of its own) to connect to Kempton station.
Kempton was the scene of a large protest in June 1947 when the line closure was announced, over 100 district farmers attended what The Mercury described as a "lively meeting". The general consensus was that the Railways had permitted the line to be run down deliberately by removing attendants and permitting theft along the line to become rampant as a result.

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1894 map of Kempton, the location of the station is marked on the western side of the town (Libraries Tasmania)

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Kempton in 1910 (HJW Stokes Collection, ARHS)

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Kempton in 1901 (HJW Stokes Collection, W Williamson photo (Tasmanian Mail))

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Ministerial visit to Kempton in September 1900 (ARHS)

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Kempton layout - Apsley (Down) end (National Archives of Australia)

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Kempton layout - Brighton (Up) end (National Archives of Australia)

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Kempton station yards in 2024 (LISTmap)

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Formation leading out of Kempton, remains of timber trestle and a "Shadows of the Past" silhouette showing gangers on a trolley (Google)