Another instalment in my photos from ten years ago series – this time it is November 2010.
Like most months we start down at Geelong, where I paid a visit to Marshall station. There I found a locomotive hauled train running around the carriage set, ready to form a new service back to Melbourne.
And a few kilometres away I captured a V/Line service from Warrnambool headed through the paddocks outside Waurn Ponds.
The scene at both stations is now completely different – the empty paddocks are now covered with houses, Waurn Ponds station having opened on the site in 2014, and VLocity railcars now run the bulk of services on the Geelong line.
On the other side of Geelong, track duplication work was underway on the main line west to Adelaide.
The second track was completed in 2012, and allows grain trains to access the Port of Geelong without conflicting with through services.
On the drive up to Melbourne, I spotted a Qantas jet taking off from Avalon Airport, the pilot in training performing touch-and-go landings.
Today it’s more likely to be bound for long term storage.
I also found some American visitors on the apron at Melbourne Airport – Boeing E-4B 747-200B #31677 and Boeing C-32 757-200 #90004, bringing United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Australia on an official visit.
I can’t see any state visits by foreign officials happening any time soon.
Ding ding! Outside Flemington Racecourse on Melbourne Cup day I found six trams sitting in the siding on Union Road, waiting to take patrons home after the big race.
This year – empty stands.
Back in 2010 Metcard was still the ticket to use to travel by train.
They were eventually replaced by Myki in 2012.
A more random visit was the Bradmill factory beside the West Gate Freeway in Yarraville.
Back then it was just another factory, but in the decade since it has became an urbex hotspot.
With another changed industrial scene being the Melbourne Steel Terminal, located in the shadows of Melbourne Docklands.
Once used to ship steel products down to Hastings, the terminal closed in 2015 to make room for the ‘E’ Gate development, but was instead taken over by the West Gate ‘Tunnel’ project for a tangle of freeway ramps.
Finally, I made my way out to Melbourne Airport by bus, where the route 901 ‘Smartbus’ stopped out in the middle of nowhere.
It’s a little easier to find these days – the Terminal 4 transport interchange.
But my destination was elsewhere.
Hong Kong.
During my two and a bit week long trip I had a monkey around with my Myki on the Octopus card readers.
And I took thousands of photos, of which 2,391 of them eventually made it online.
Footnote
Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.
Leave a Reply