Regional Rail Link

As with previous months, I was following progress on the Regional Rail Link project which was constructing new tracks from Southern Cross through to Wyndham Vale.

At Footscray station the new V/Line platforms were taking shape.

As well as the new tracks through Middle Footscray, passing through compulsorily acquired houses and a piece of parkland.

At Sunshine the junction between the Ballarat/Geelong and Bendigo lines wasn’t quite finished.

And at Anderson Road on the Sunbury line the level crossing was still in place.

Excavation underway to take the road beneath the new bridge spans.

At Deer Park the junction for the new route through Tarneit and Wyndham Vale to Geelong was in place.

But the track beyond was still to be laid.

However the car park and station buildings were complete at Tarneit.

And track laying was underway from the Geelong end.

Farewell to the Hitachi trains

Steamrail Victoria ran a farewell tour for the ‘Hitachi’ trains in April 2014.

Heading around the City Loop a few times, with the windows down of course!

And to newer parts of the suburban network, such as South Morang.

More trains

Steamrail Victoria also took their then-125 year old steam locomotive Y112 out for the trip around the suburbs.

While V/Line was still using diesel locomotives and carriages from the 1950s in frontline service.

Out at Craigieburn I photographed the oddball ‘flipdot’ LED next train displays.

And atop Southern Cross Station work was underway on the 699 Bourke Street development.

While down below, the lighting for platforms 13 and 14 still worked – it failed in early 2015 and is still yet to be repaired.

Ding ding on the trams

A decade ago the maroon liveried City Circle trams were still looking around the CBD – they’ve since been upgraded to ‘W8’ standard.

Route 86 was stuck with the rickety D2 class ‘Combino’ low floor trams.

And on Swanston Street the 1970s-era ‘Z1’ class with no air conditioning and useless windows were still in service.

April 2014 also saw a number of tram stops on La Trobe Street closed to passengers, as they were too short for the new ‘E’ class trams to stop at them.

But upgrades were underway as well – such as a complete rebuild of the tram junction at Victoria and Nicholson Street in Carlton.

Clueless drivers

What’s worse than one idiot driving through the Bourke Street Mall? A gang of idiots following them.

At least this nuffy got pulled over by the cops.

And government propaganda

The State Government’s “Moving Victoria” propaganda campaign was in full swing ready for the 2014 State Election, promoting ‘Major road upgrades’.

‘New trains, trams and buses’.

And ‘East West Link‘.

The latter project being cancelled after the election, only to float back up like a turd every four years.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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Gerling – ‘Dust Me Selecta’ (2001)

A guy goes running down the stairs at Flagstaff station and boards a Hitachi train, where he finds a set of magical headphones that turn the train into a nightclub.

The Living End – ‘All Torn Down’ (1998)

The band rock out in front of 1990s Melbourne scenes like the wasteland that is Melbourne Dockland, and the railway yards that became Federation Square.

Phrase ft. Mystro – ‘Here Now’ (2005)

Rapping onboard Hitachi carriages 13M and 1938T at the Brooklyn tip before they got turned into scrap metal.

And a bonus one: Shannon Noll – What About Me (2004)

Another music video from the same time period, this time it features an 81 class diesel locomotive leading a grain train in country New South Wales.

Fun fact

The interior shots of Gerling’s ‘Dust Me Selecta’ music video were actually filmed onboard a Harris train at the Newport Railway Museum.

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Building it up, tear it down

We start off in the Melbourne CBD, where the Emporium Melbourne shopping centre was emerging inside the gutted facade of Myer’s Lonsdale Street store.

The complex opened a few years later in April 2014.

Over at Royal Park the old Royal Children’s Hospital was being demolished.

Opening up a view towards the CBD.

The expansion of Royal Park onto the site was completed by December 2014.

And out in Truganina I photographed the trashed gatehouse at the abandoned Truganina Munitions Reserve on Palmers Road.

Abandoned for years, it eventually bulldozed in 2020 so the road could be widened.

Building Regional Rail Link

In October 2012 work on the Regional Rail Link was well underway, with the west side of Sunshine station cleared to make room for two new V/Line platforms.

The car park off Irving Street at Footscray station was also closed for good, to make way for two new suburban platforms.

Work to widen the rail corridor towards Middle Footscray about to begin.

And out in the back blocks of Truganina a number of minor roads were about to be permanently closed, so that work on the new Regional Rail Link route between Deer Park and Werribee could start.

The new platforms at Footscray were first to open in January 2014, followed by the new platforms at Sunshine in April 2014, the new tracks between South Kensington and Sunshine in July 2014, and finally the new route via Tarneit in June 2015.

Myki replaces Metcard

The Metcard magstripe ticketing system was scheduled to be switched off at the end of December 2012, so the switch to Myki message was everywhere, including the soon to be removed ticket machines onboard trams.

At Flagstaff station the Metcard barriers were being replaced by new Myki gates.

Allowing the decommissioning of the 1990s-era ‘Barrier Lane Control’ computer that controlled them.

The Metcard gates were then disassembled.

With the ‘frankenbarrier’ conversion kits removed.

I assume the old ticket gates were sent back to Metcard operator OneLink, while the Myki readers were sent go back to their owner – Kamco.

Scenes that are gone

One morning I was out at Sunshine, where I found two V/Line trains running parallel towards me.

It was a little unusual back then, but it’s impossible now – Regional Rail Link converted the tracks to two single directional tracks, removing flexibility if a broken down train blocks one line.

On a quiet weekend I found dozens of Melbourne Bus Link buses stabled for the weekend at their Footscray depot.

Melbourne Bus Link was replaced by Transdev in 2013, who were then replaced by Kinetic in 2022; and the depot in Footscray closed in 2016, replaced by a new depot at Sunshine West.

At Moonee Ponds Junction I found tram passengers playing frogger while trying to change between route 59 and route 82 trams.

The mess of an interchange was rebuilt in 2016, providing a slightly nicer experience for passengers.

And finally, I spotted one of the seven surviving Hitachi trains in Melbourne running a Belgrave train at Southern Cross.

It took until December 2013 until the last one was finally withdrawn from revenue service.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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Myki

The transition from Metcard to Myki as the ticket to travel on Melbourne public transport was well underway.

But plenty of passengers were resisting the new system.

But Metcard ticket machines were starting to be withdrawn.

Bold red ‘Myki is coming’ stickers placed on the soon to be removed machines.

But the new Myki system wasn’t fast enough to handle the number of passengers using it – resulting in long lines at stations during busy periods, a problem that became even worse as the decommissioned of Metcard continued.

Hitachi trains

The old non-air conditioned Hitachi trains were still running around Melbourne.

I was at Flinders Street Station one evening with some spare time when a Hitachi train turned up.

So I jumped onboard.

And went for a ride out to Williamstown.

And around the stations

Back in 2012 was was well underway to cram more shops into Southern Cross Station.

Management calling it a ‘new retail experience’.

But it was just more shops jammed whether they could, even if they blocked the path towards trains.

Meanwhile over at Flinders Street Station was a different kind of commercial promotion.

A mist cooling system being installed on platforms 2/3 and 4/5 as part of a Lipton Iced Tea promotion.

The system was removed soon after.

New tram stops

Outside Parliament station on Macarthur Street was a new ‘drive over’ platform tram stop.

While on Swanston Street work on the long awaited platform stops was about to start – lengths of brand new rail laid out at Flinders Lane.

Over one weekend the tracks were lowered for the new tram stop.

But the work was nowhere near completed – it took months for the tram stops themselves to be ready for use.

Meanwhile on Plenty Road in Preston, new part time tram lanes had been installed.

LED signs being installed before 12 part time tram lanes between Dundas Street in Preston to Albert Road in Reservoir, directing motorists off the tram tracks during peak times, in an attempt to speed up route 86 services to Bundoora.

But their effectiveness seems doubtful – each of the tram lanes ended before intersections, allowing right turning cars to still block trams.

And forgotten trams

Who remembers tram route 24?

It was a peak-only service from North Balwyn to La Trobe Street via Kew, which was discontinued in July 2014 as part of a simplification of tram routes.

And a decade ago Z1 class trams were still in service.

First delivered in 1975, the bulk of the Z1 class fleet was withdrawn following the introduction of the low floor C and D class trams in 2001/02, but 15 remained in service until 24 April 2016, when the delivery of more E class trams allowed them to be withdrawn. The similar looking high floor Z3 class trams remain in service today.

Demolishing Myer Melbourne

Demolition of the former Myer Melbourne store on Lonsdale Street was kicking along.

The building hollowed out.

With just a façade left.

Haled up with a web of scaffolding.

Cantilevered over the street below.

And 447 Collins Street falling apart

In January 2012 a chunk of 447 Collins Street fell to earth.

The area beneath the building was sealed off, and engineers were sent abseiling down to inspect the remaining facade panels.

Tap tap tap on each, to see if they were loose.

Scaffolding was soon erected to prevent any more panels from falling.

Permanent repairs were later completed, but it was for nothing – demolition of the building was given the go-ahead in 2014, with the 42 storey tall ‘Pantscraper’ (officially Collins Arch) now occupying the site.

And hard rubbish

The early 2010s was a peak time for CRT screen TVs in hard rubbish, but this month I found a different obsolete technology out on the nature strip – photo processing chemicals.

I only started taking photography seriously after I switched to digital, but for many photographers they still enjoy the process of film.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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Christmas in the CBD

Christmas decorations were everywhere.

Crowds aplenty to see the Myer Christmas Windows.

With the massive ‘Merry Christmas’ sign at Flinders Street Station finally finished!

And Yarra Trams even rolled out a Christmas themed variant of their “Beware the Rhino” campaign.

A big hole in the ground

Around the corner at thr former Myer Lonsdale Street store was massive hole in the ground.

Work continuing to clear the site for the new Emporium Melbourne shopping centre.

Which exposed the ‘S’ in the ‘MYERS’ name on the Lonsdale Street façade.

And the ‘secret’ tunnels that connected the Myer store to neighbouring buildings.

Flying into Melbourne

I returned from my trip to Adelaide (which is a story still to come).

Passing over Truganina.

Melbourne Airport’s terminals are still stuck in the 1970s.

But at least the Ansett Australia carpet was only 10 years out of date.

But one thing that has since since 2011 is the wall of yellow taxis.

The requirement for taxis to be painted yellow was dropped in 2013, and taxis themselves have been in decline since the 2012 launch of Uber in Australia.

Down the docks

I went for a squiz at the container ships down at Swanston Dock.

And the Bass Strait ro-ro ships at Webb Dock.

Both locations are no longer accessible to the public – covered by expanded terminals at the Port of Melbourne.

Williams Landing

I seem to keep on coming back to Williams Landing.

In December 2011 the southern end of the former RAAF runway was still there.

But work was underway to clear the site for the new Williams Landing railway station.

Abandoned hospitals

A decade ago Melbourne was full of abandoned hospitals.

The old Royal Women’s Hospital in Carlton was locked up.

Empty inside.

Replaced by the current hospital a short distance away on Grattan Street.

The old Royal Children’s Hospital was also closed.

Replaced by the new Royal Children’s Hospital next door.

And the only signs of life being a table surrounded by random chairs.

Ding ding

I photographed a Z3 tram headed along route 55 on Flemington Road.

Route 55 merged with route 8 to become route 58 in 2017, and low floor E class took over from high floor trams just a few weeks ago.

And finally – trains

At Southern Cross Station new shops were being added wherever they’d fit.

The ‘mX’ newspaper was still being handed out.

V/Line was still running 7-car trains on express services to Geelong.

Signs of the past

I headed past the Newport Workshops, and found a Hitachi train stabled in the sidings.

But when I revisited a few days later, they’d multiplied!

Down at Fyansford the old silos at the cement works were still in place, but the railway had been lifted.

Level crossings removed, and the road resurfaced.

While at North Geelong, I found the ancient ‘Train Staff’ safeworking system still in use by grain trains.

The signaller passing the metal ‘Train Staff’ to the crew of incoming trains, indicating they had permission to enter the single track section.

It took until 2020 for a modern remote controlled signalling system to be installed – but not without causing a level crossing irregularity during the commissioning process.

Progress on Regional Rail Link

At Footscray station the William Cooper Bridge had finally been finished.

Grass and trees cover what was an abandoned wasteland on Irving Street.

But with Regional Rail Link adding two more platforms to the station, it had to go.

But thankfully the Olympic Doughnut caravan survived.

Down the line at West Footscray, the old station was unchanged for now.

But there had been massive changes at Middle Footscray.

The entire row of compulsorily acquired houses had been demolished.

To make way for the future railway tracks.

Changes had also been made at the opposite end of Regional Rail Link, where the standard gauge tracks had been relocated to make room for the junction at West Werribee.

New tracks to South Morang

December 2011 saw a new station opened at Epping.

As part of the extension of the railway to South Morang.

The new station at South Morang was almost ready.

Which would see the end of the route 571 ‘TrainLink‘ bus service between Epping and South Morang.

Level crossing removals

There was no Level Crossing Removal Authority a decade ago, but the Anglesea Road level crossing on the Warrnambool line at Waurn Ponds was being removed.

A new road-over-rail bridge being built as part of the Geelong Ring Road project.

And a new pedestrian underpass was being built on Furner Avenue in North Geelong, replacing a pedestrian crossing as part of an ARTC-led upgrade of the freight railway into the Port of Geelong.

A bright spark

In Melbourne’s west millions were being spent on road duplication projects – like Kororoit Creek Road.

And railway station car park upgrades – such as this one at Newport.

But a new rail freight terminal also opened in December 2011 – the Sadleirs Logistics siding at Spotswood.

And something odd

Down in Geelong the local telco Neighbourhood Cable was bought out by the Canberra based and ACT branded TransACT – a rather odd sight.

But it only lasted a few years – TransACT was then bought out by iiNet.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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Scenes that are gone

The western skyline of the Melbourne CBD was much sparser.

Today apartment towers cover the former Spencer Street Power Station, The Age building, and Australia Post sorting facility.

The Melbourne Star Observation Wheel was still in pieces.

It didn’t reopen until 2013.

And the Lacrosse building hadn’t been built yet.

It was completed in 2012, only to catch fire two years later.

Williams Landing was just an abandoned RAAF airfield.

The station opened in 2013.

West Footscray station was a shadow of what it is now.

As was Sunshine station.

Both were rebuilt in 2012-14 with stairs, lifts and ramps serving massive overhead concourses as part of the Regional Rail Link project.

Old and clunky

Hitachi trains were still running around Melbourne.

Their last revenue service was back in December 2013.

Metcard was also still the ticket to travel across Melbourne.

It was eventually switched off in 2012, replaced by Myki.

Playing catch up

V/Line was having trouble on the Ballarat line, thanks to something called fairy grass.

The grass would be blown across the tracks, then crushed by rail wheels, creating a film on the tracks that reduced adhesion, necessitating a 25km/h speed limit through the area.

Metro Trains was starting to play catchup on maintenance, like this hi-rail truck working on the overhead wires at Altona station.

The tracks at Sunshine station were also being dug up.

The spoil being loaded onto a train for removal from the work site, then transferred onto trucks for disposal.

The Victorian Government was also playing catch up, with the installation of a permanent suicide fence along the West Gate Bridge.

Replacing temporary concrete barriers added a few years earlier.

The barriers were successful, cutting the number of deaths.

Pretty pictures

I went for a wander around Melbourne Central station.

Peering down the City Loop tunnels.

Waited around at Ascot Vale.

And headed to Ballarat to follow a steam train.

And a note on Queensland

During 2010 the Queensland Government was preparing to sell off rail freight operator QR National in a public float, with advertisements appearing all over Melbourne.

Following the sale QR National was rebranded as Aurizon, and withdrawing from intermodal freight operations in 2017, to instead focus on hauling export coal.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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We start over at Flinders Street Station, where Hitachi trains were still in service with then-suburban train operator Connex Melbourne.

Connex was replaced by Metro Trains Melbourne in November 2009, but the Hitachi trains hung on until December 2013.

Nearby signal box Flinders Street ‘A’ was being rebuilt as part of the ‘Signal’ youth arts centre.

But around the corner was the abandoned trackbed of platform 11.

It has since been turned into the ‘Arbory’ bar, opened in 2015

We’ve been watching the construction at North Melbourne station for months now, and in May 2009 the temporary scaffolding was coming down, exposing the new concourse at the city end.

Down near Moonee Ponds Creek I photographed a V/Line train headed out of the station.

Since Regional Rail Link opened in 2014 these tracks are only used by suburban trains, with V/Line now using their own tracks that bypass North Melbourne station entirely.

Once upon a time passenger trains all over Victoria once carried parcels as well as passengers, but in 2009 the ‘Green Star’ parcel service still operated using V/Line trains.

The public parcel service was wound up in 2010, but V/Line still continues transporting blood products for the Australian Red Cross Blood Service as part of a separate agreement.

Another much heavier freight task is the movement of steel products from the BlueScope Steel plant at Hastings, to the Melbourne Steel Terminal next door to Docklands.

A decade on the trains still run, this freight terminal no longer exists – the site was cleared in 2015 to make way for the ‘E’ Gate development, only for Transurban to acquire it in 2016 as part of the West Gate ‘Tunnel’ city access ramps.

Around the corner at the South Dynon depot, I found a 114 tonne diesel locomotive being lifted by a crane.

B64 originally entered service in 1952 and was in service with V/Line for 40 years until retired in 1992. It then went through a succession of owners who intended to restore it to service, but to naught – it’s currently dumped out the back of the railway workshops in Bendigo.

Another similarly aged locomotive is steam engine R761.

It also entered service in 1952, but was withdrawn far earlier in 1974, but retained for use on special trains, such as this run to Ballarat.

The steep climb out of Bacchus Marsh drew quite a crowd.

As did the spin on the turntable on arrival at Ballarat.

Along the way I stopped into the ghost town that was Rockbank station.

The station is currently being upgraded as part of the Regional Rail Revival project, but there is nothing ‘regional’ about Rockbank – the new station is intended to serve sprawling new suburbs of Melbourne.

While I was up in Ballarat, I stumbled upon for the former Joe White Maltings plant in Wendouree.

A complex series of conveyors and elevators once moved grain around the facility.

But by the time I visited the plant had closed, bulk of the site having been demolished in 2006, leaving just the silos.

The site then lay empty, with the silos demolished in late-2010 after plans to convert them into apartments fell through.

We end down in Geelong, where I picked up a “Short Term Ticket”.

They were a cardboard single use smartcard ticket, sold on buses in Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong following the introduction of Myki in 2009.

The rollout of short term tickets was cancelled by the Baillieu government in June 2011, acting on advice contained in a secret report by consultants Deloitte. Supposedly the continued rollout was cancelled because the cards cost $0.40 cents to manufacture – making up almost half of the $0.90 charged for a concession bus fare in Geelong!

Despite the objections of locals, the sale of two hour and daily short-term tickets ended in Geelong on Friday 19 April 2013.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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Road trip!

An extended road trip through Western Victoria was on the agenda, starting down the Princes Highway to Warrnambool.

As I followed the daily freight train down to the container terminal at Warrnambool.

Then return to Melbourne.

I also stopped inspected a long list of abandoned stations along railway west to Adelaide.

Westmere.

Maroona.

Murtoa.

Stawell.

Pura Pura.

Dahlen.

I did see a few freight trains along the way – like this one at Lubeck.

And container wagons in the yard at Horsham.

A few stations had become home to freight wagons stored due to a lack of traffic – grain hoppers at Portland.

And louvred vans at Murtoa.

Out west are also a number of closed railway lines, like the route to Mount Gambier.

Closed in 1995, the level crossings were still in place but the tracks have been paved over.

While at Ararat I found the mothballed Avoca line that ran north to Dunolly.

After a decade lying idle, it was upgraded as part of the Murray Basin Rail Project and reopened to trains in 2018.

Chasing trains

The log train that once ran between Bairnsdale and Geelong is a common theme in my “photos from ten years ago” series, and this month is no different – this time we see the empty train passing through Corio at sunset.

The final log train ran in June 2009.

Back in 2009 V/Line trains were still painted red and blue, such as this Warrnambool bound service passing the abandoned station of Pirron Yallock, just west of Colac.

This was replaced by a grey and white livery in 2007, and the current PTV livery in 2017.

The other notable train I photographed was a refurbished Hitachi train way off the beaten track.

One would never expect to see a suburban train sitting under the roof at Ballarat station.

or headed along the tracks without any overhead wires.

Originally intended to have been retired following the 2006 Commonwealth Games, six Hitachi trains stayed in service with Connex Melbourne thanks to an explosion in patronage on the Melbourne suburban network.

In 2008 rust was found in the floors of the aging trains, which led to the trains being transferred to the Alstom Ballarat workshops for rectification works, which saw them back into service until retired for good in December 2013.

Construction

Work was continuing of the $36 million upgrade of North Melbourne station. The superstructure had been completed.

And the first section of concourse roof had assembled, ready to be slid into place along temporary tracks to it’s final home.

The new concourse was opened to passengers in November 2009.

Construction was also underway on a brand new station on the Craigieburn line at Coolaroo.

Tracks needed to be relocated to make room for the platforms, with the station eventually opening in June 2010.

Over at Southern Cross Station the ‘Yardmasters’ building was starting to take shape north of platform 5 and 6.

While the Myki rollout was slowly proceeding, with the discovery centre at Southern Cross closed for renovations.

So that working ticketing equipment could be installed.

It took until December 2009 for Myki to be accepted for travel on Melbourne trains, in a last ditch attempt to meet a “working by the end of 2009” pledge.

Finally, January 2009 saw an extended heatwave hit Melbourne crippling Melbourne’s rail network, leading to a parliamentary inquiry and a day of free travel for train passengers.

Ticket barriers were thrown open.

With signage at stations telling passengers there was no need to buy a ticket.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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It seems that every month sees me start in Geelong, where this time around I photographed a boring blue bus at Geelong station.

The ‘GTS’ stood for Geelong Transit System and was the operating brand for public transport in Geelong between 1983 until 2000, when it was replaced by a mishmash of bus operator branding. Today no sign of it remains, Myki being the ticketing system, and the Public Transport Victoria livery has been applied to buses.

I also took at look at progress on the Geelong Ring Road through the Barrabool Hills.

Barrabool Road had been slewed to one side, allowing construction of the bridge over the future freeway to be carried out without interference with traffic.

Excavation work on the long cutting towards Waurn Ponds was well underway.

As was the massive climb uphill from the Barwon River.

Another ongoing theme is the decline of rail freight – I found a rake of redundant superphosphate hopper wagons in storage at North Geelong Yard.

As well as a rake of much older cement hoppers.

Both were destined for the scrap yard – the superphosphate traffic was completely lost to rail in the early 2000s, but cement traffic was still barley holding on but in smaller volumes, hence the retirement of older wagons.

But there was one new traffic that rail won – the transport of containerised mineral sands from the Iluka Resources processing plant outside Hamilton to the Port of Melbourne for export.

The service was run by small operator El Zorro, with the transport of the mineral sands between mine and processing plant also moving to rail in 2011.

And another success was the transport of Geelong football fans to Melbourne, where they would see the Cats get thrashed by Hawthorn in the 2008 AFL Grand Final.

A number of special 8 car trains ran between Geelong and Richmond during the finals seasons, with one of the trains on grand final day wearing a special ‘Geelong Cats’ headboard on the lead locomotive.

Up in Melbourne I took a walk through Flinders Street Station, where Connex had opened a new customer information booth on the main concourse.

The booth still exists today, just rebranded for Metro Trains Melbourne.

I also photographed the ‘split flap’ Solari boards hidden on the main concourse, which once listed train departures for each line.

Installed in the 1990s, the screens were decommissioned in 2007 but remained in place for a few years, hidden by advertising.

Over at Southern Cross Station I followed a speedy piece of construction – a new loading ramp at the north end of platform 1.

Built to enable the provision of motorail services on The Overland between Melbourne and Adelaide, two weeks later it was virtually complete.

The first cars were loaded onto The Overland in February 2009, but today the ramp stands unused – the motorail service was withdrawn in November 2015.

Finally, we end this month with a trip to Ballarat.

In the small township of Millbrook I came across a level crossing on Old Melbourne Road, protected by bells and lights but no boom barriers.

VicTrack funded a upgrade of this level crossing during the 2012/13 financial year, but the railway line is due to be closed in a year or two time, made redundant by the Ballarat Line Upgrade.

On the shores of Lake Wendouree is the Ballarat Tramway Museum, where I photographed tram 33 departing the St Aidans Drive terminus.

While a short distance away I paid a visit to the future Wendouree station site.

The railway past the station was still being used by trains to Ararat, so the tracks were slewed away from the platform, allowing construction to be completed without delaying V/Line services.

I also had a look at the Alstom workshops at North Ballarat, where the sidings were full of abandoned trains.

I found Comeng carriages 1109T and 533M showing plenty of accident damage; as well as classmate 671M stored in a stripped condition, minus windows, doors, cab front and who knows what else.

Comeng carriage 671M was eventually made part of a new MFB training facility at Craigieburn in 2014, while 1109T and 533M were scrapped in 2010.

I also found Hitachi carriages 204M and 203M.

Both scrapped in 2010.

But there was also signs of new life – Hitachi carriage 225M was under refurbishment.

It reentered service soon after, remaining in service until 2014.

Along with a number of Great Southern Rail carriages being upgraded for use on the Indian Pacific and The Ghan services.

They also saw use on the ultra expensive Southern Spirit service that operated between 2010 and 2012.

But we end some something I just stumbled upon – the abandoned Joe White Maltings factory at Wendouree.

The factory itself had already been demolished, with the silos meeting the same fate in 2010. Houses now occupy the site.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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At North Melbourne station work was continuing on the new concourse, with a massive steel and timber crash deck at the city end of the platforms allowing construction to continue while trains continued running below.

While in the rail yards next door I found a since-retired Hitachi train shunting into the sidings.

In both views note how much sparser the CBD and Docklands skylines are – the current explosion of apartment developments had yet to take off.

Down in Geelong the first two stages of the Geelong Ring Road looked ready to drive on.

With only the white lines remaining to be painted.

I mentioned crate men recently – and July 2008 saw a plague of them across Melbourne’s west.

Jumping a fence at Newport.

Atop the WC Thomas & Sons flour mill.

Riding a crane in Spotswood.

And having a smoko atop a South Kensington roof.

I also spent a morning at Newport photographing a procession of citybound trains.

First was a V/Line train hauled by diesel locomotive A62.

This unit has been stored since 2013, and probably won’t run again.

I also saw A85 with the Waurn Ponds – Lyndhurst cement train.

The last cement train ran to Lyndhurst on the Cranbourne line in 2009, with the traffic moving completely to road in 2015.

And finally the train I was waiting for – The Ghan liveried locomotives NR74 and AN3 on a freight train ex-Adelaide.

Given The Ghan runs between Adelaide and Darwin, what were these two engines doing in Victoria? The answer is simple – they were due for scheduled maintenance at the workshops in Melbourne, and the easiest way to get them there was to pull a freight train headed this way.

At Southern Cross Station massive advertising banners are nothing new, but back in 2008 a company called Intralot was.

July 1 saw the company start operations in Victoria, selling ‘scratchie’ lottery tickets in competition with incumbent operator Tattersall’s, after winning 10-year licence from the state government. By 2010 their Victorian operations were bleeding money, leading the company to sell out to Tattersall’s in 2014, restoring the previous monopoly status.

And I end this month with a train trip north from Seymour, to the Murray River town of Tocumwal.

Normally only traversed by freight trains, I was travelling on collection of museum pieces restored by the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre.

Our train had a V/Line locomotive up front to assist.

And what looked to be the entire town of Tocumwal coming out to greet us.

On the way we passed the station building at Murchison East.

Destroyed by fire in 2014.

And Mooroopna.

Destroyed by fire in 2018.

North of Shepparton we passed oil terminals that were once served by rail.

As well as a fertiliser depot, the rail siding covered with rust.

But it wasn’t all doom and gloom for rail freight – the container terminal at Mooroopna was still being used to load freight trains.

And the railway line itself wasn’t being neglected.

With track crews hard at work.

Replacing timber sleepers.

Allowing the thrice weekly freight train to Tocumwal to keep running.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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