At Broken Hill, the railway met the 1067 mm (3 ft 6 in) narrow-gauge Silverton Tramway at a break-of-gauge.

At Cockburn, the Silverton Tramway connected with the South Australian Railways system to Port Pirie and via a break of gauge at Terowie to Adelaide.

[1] In 1970, the standardised Broken Hill – Port Pirie line was opened, completing the Sydney–Perth standard gauge link.

A branch line was opened from Molong to Dubbo as an alternative route with better grades in 1925.

Another branch line was opened from Bogan Gate to Trundle in 1907, Tullamore in 1908 and Tottenham in 1916.