It was opened between Balhannah and Mount Pleasant in September 1918 and ran until March 1963[1] as a freight and passenger service.

[2] Part of its trackbed is now the Amy Gillett Bikeway rail trail near to Adelaide.

The line was closed on 4 March 1963, and the way between Balhannah and Oakbank has mostly returned to private landowners.

[3] This former railway is in the jurisdiction of the Adelaide Hills Council, which in 2003 commissioned a feasibility study into the best use of the land.

The report recommended it be converted to a rail trail, with which the council agreed but considered beyond their means to implement.