I spotted something interesting in a Hunters & Collectors music video the other week – St Kilda railway station.
The clip is for their 1982 single ‘Talking to a Stranger’.
The video starts with a man walking down the tracks.
He clambers up onto the platform.
Strolls down the train shed.
Then takes a seat, blowing the dust off his briefcase.
Which then leads into the music video itself.
Despite the empty look of station featured in the music video, in 1982 St Kilda still had an active train service – conversion of the line to the route 96 tram didn’t take place until 1987.
Maybe the filming was completed during one of the frequent rail strikes that delayed commuters throughout the early 1980s?
Footnote
Visible in the second screencap is the text STK902 – the identification marker for the signal controlling citybound trains departing the platform. You can see the same signal in this diagram from 1981.
Wasn’t the St Kilda line running only six days a week at that time?
Also, my first thought was that you had watched the clip for The Avalanches’ “Stalking To A Stranger” right after watching “Frankie Sinatra” (which is how I recognised the image).
“Stalking To A Stranger” was where I originally came across the footage, but I stumbled upon that video a few days ago, back when the talk of a new The Avalanches started.