A different skyline

The skyline west end of the Melbourne CBD was much emptier.

Melbourne Star observation wheel still in pieces.

Nothing behind Southern Cross Station.

Or Docklands Stadium.

Worries of flammable cladding yet to come.

The asbestos filled Spencer Street Power Station was gone, with a display suite for the ‘Upper West Side’ development occupying the site.

The $550 million development was completed in 2016, with 2,207 apartments across four towers.

And over at Spotswood, VicTrack had started cleaning up a similarly contaminated railway yard.

The soil contaminated with arsenic, copper, lead and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons was entombed beneath a concrete slab, at what is now a rail freight depot for Sadleirs Transport.

The former Royal Dental Hospital had also been turned into a big hole.

The Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre was built on the site, opening in 2016.

But the Royal Women’s Hospital was still there.

It lay empty for another decade, until recently demolished for a $425 million University of Melbourne expansion.

Transport

On 6 June 2010 the ribbon was cut on a brand new railway station – Coolaroo on the Craigieburn line, between Broadmeadows and Roxburgh Park.

With then-Premier John Brumby and Minister for Public Transport Martin Pakula in attendance.

Over at Southern Cross Station the platforms were covered in artificial grass.

As part of Dairy Farmers’ “City to Country” campaign for yoghurt.

2010 saw new trains finally arriving on the Melbourne rail network to address peak time crowding, but there was nowhere to park them at night.

So a $12 million stabling yard at Newport was under construction.

But even bigger money was also being spent on road projects – work was underway on the $371 million West Gate Bridge Strengthening project.

With a web of scaffolding erected beneath the bridge.

The work reinforced the bridge to carry five lanes in each direction, following the narrowing of traffic lanes from 3.5m to 3.1m wide, with a 0.5m shoulder.

And a holiday related footnote

I headed over to South Australia on holiday.

Where I found The Overland passing through Mount Lofty.

Making a trip down to Victor Harbor for the horse tramway.

And the SteamRanger tourist railway.

And going for a ride on their clapped out diesel suburban trains.

But the South Australian Government was busy spruiking their upcoming public transport investments.

Footnote

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

Post retrieved by 35.215.163.46 using

The post Photos from ten years ago: June 2010 appeared first on Waking up in Geelong.

We start overlooking Southern Cross Station, where the Docklands skyline was a lot emptier.

As was that of Spencer Street.

And the western edge of the CBD.

Back in 2009 the explosion of (flammable!) apartment blocks was yet to take off, with 3-car trains still used after 6 PM on some suburban railway lines, and low floor E class trams not appearing on route 86 until 2016.

Metro Trains Melbourne had just taken over from Connex, so a rebranding effort was underway, like this train at West Footscray.

These ones parked for the night at North Melbourne.

And this one at Footscray.

Passing beneath the new footbridge.

A decade on Regional Rail Link has changed this entire rail corridor beyond recognition, with new tracks at North Melbourne, the near new Footscray footbridge demolished then rebuilt, a rebuilt station at West Footscray, and an extra pair of tracks between the city and Sunshine.

Next up – a ride to the country, where there was a long line at Southern Cross Station to buy a V/Line ticket.

In the days before myki paper tickets were the only option for V/Line travel, and had to be purchased for a specific date, leading to massive queues in the leadup to holiday periods.

But I followed it up with a far more laid back train journey, heading to Tocumwal with the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre.

With Santa even coming along the the ride.

I also headed home to Geelong for Christmas, and passed a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 firefighting air tanker stationed at Avalon Airport.

Registration N17085, it was based at Avalon from January to March 2010 for the summer fire season, but I don’t think it was ever called into service.

On the other side of Geelong, I photographed a V/Line train headed further afield to Warrnambool.

Back then the area south of Grovedale was empty paddocks.

And empty country roads.

But change was coming – stage 4A of the Geelong Ring Road was underway, turning the area into a commuter destination.

Today the paddocks are the Armstrong Creek urban growth area – the Anglesea Road level crossing was grade separated in 2011, Waurn Ponds station opened in 2014, and the Baanip Boulevard connection to the Surf Coast Highway was completed in 2015.

Footnote

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

Post retrieved by 35.215.163.46 using

The post Photos from ten years ago: December 2009 appeared first on Waking up in Geelong.

New infrastructure

Work on the new platform at Laverton was well underway, with tracks laid but not connected.

At Footscray station the new footbridge was starting to look real.

But the rickety old timber bridge was still in place.

While at North Melbourne the new concourse had finally opened, with both Metcard and myki ticket readers provided.

Allowing the old northern exit to be closed off.

With Connex staff on hand to direct any confused passengers.

The extension of the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre had also wrapped up.

The new Seafarers Bridge was open to pedestrians.

And the wharf sheds at the Duke’s and Orr’s dry dock were being restored for use as a bar.

Changes around Geelong

I visited the Barrabool Hills, where the Geelong Ring Road climbs away from the Barwon River.

Back then it was empty paddocks.

But now it’s full of houses, occupied by people who commute to Melbourne.

I also went past the Ford casting plant at North Shore, where engine blocks for Ford cars were produced.

The plant closed in 2016 following Ford’s withdrawal from Australian manufacturing, and is currently being demolished.

And scenes that are gone

Remember when trams stopped at each intersection along Swanston Street, and you needed to climb up from road level?

Design work for platform stops at City Square, Bourke Street and the State Library commenced in 2010, with the new stops completed in 2012.

Southern Cross Station used to be a lot emptier.

As was the Docklands skyline to the west.

The station is now filled with shops, while I’ve lost track of all the buildings built in Docklands.

Over at ‘E’ Gate I found a much more industrial scene, where loaded steel wagons were being shunted.

Followed by a steel train bound for Hastings.

But now the entire area is an empty paddock: the yard closed in 2015 to make room for the ‘E’ Gate development, but will instead be covered with flyovers for the West Gate ‘Tunnel’ project.

I also headed out to West Footscray station.

This entire scene is now gone following the Regional Rail Link project, with the current West Footscray station opened in 2013.

The view in the other direction is also gone.

Every single house on the north side of Buckley Street was compulsorily acquired to make room for the additional tracks, and the footbridge I was standing on demolished and not replaced.

And around the corner was the Rising Sun Hotel.

Back then it was abandoned, but it has since been reborn – the pub was converted to apartments in 2012, with the mural peeking out from behind.

Post retrieved by 35.215.163.46 using

The post Photos from ten years ago: November 2009 appeared first on Waking up in Geelong.

Chasing trains

I drove out to Moorabool, west of Geelong to photograph a freight train. As soon as I stepped out of the car and locked the door I realised I’d left my keys inside – but thankfully I still had my camera, so I didn’t miss the shot.

A blast from the past was this train operated by 707 Operations bound for Geelong.

Steam locomotive R707 and diesel T413 hauled the train to Marshall and back, with a spin on the turntable at Geelong putting the steam engine facing the right way before the return leg to Melbourne.

Another unusual train headed through Geelong was a Hitachi suburban set usually used in Melbourne, being hauled by Seymour Rail Heritage Centre’s freshly restored diesel locomotive T378 for refurbishment work at the Ballarat Workshops.

This Hitachi train was back in service by August 2009 but was put into storage a few years later, eventually being retired in 2015, and transferred to Bendigo for scrapping in May 2018.

Back in 2008 small rail freight operator El Zorro was running the container train to Warrnambool. If they left the Port of Melbourne too late they would lose their ‘slot’ on the single track beyond Geelong, and would get dumped in the siding at Lara station until a path was available.

I was commuting from Geelong to Melbourne multiple days a week, so I’d keep my eye out at Lara for it – jumping off the train for a photo, then catching the next service on to Melbourne.

At Flinders Street Station one morning I stumbled upon this odd looking train.

It is track evaluation vehicle ‘EM100’ and traverses the network on a regular basis, with an array of sensors looking for track faults. It is still in service today, just renumbered ‘IEV100’ and with a snazzy looking Metro Trains Melbourne livery on it.

But somewhere way off my usual beat was the Montague Street bridge in South Melbourne.

Unlike today the bridge was quite anonymous, the feature catching my eye being that only two of the four bridges had tracks across them. Originally built to serve the Montague shipping shed, by late 2009 the tram tracks at Southbank Depot had been extended west over the bridge to stable the newly arrived ‘Bumblebee’ trams.

Railway upgrades

Work was continuing on the new concourse at North Melbourne station, as seen in previous posts in this series.

While another structure being built over active railway lines was the ‘Media House’ development for The Age, located on the southern side of Collins Street, opposite Southern Cross Station.

A massive crane was required to place the steel beams and concrete deck over the railway line.

Which permitted more conventional methods of construction to be used for the office building on top.

A short distance away the Dynon Port Rail Link was also well underway, removing a bottleneck that blocked road traffic every time a train entered the Port of Melbourne.

The network of flyovers replaced a single track level crossing on Footscray Road, allowing more trains to access the port.

As well as eliminating a seven track wide crossing inside the port itself.

Another project aimed at improving rail freight was the Corio Independent Goods Line at the Port of Geelong.

Work started in 2008 with the first train running in October the same year, but in the decade since is better described as a white elephant, with no new rail traffic being attracted to the port.

And the other bits

Down in Geelong work on the Geelong Ring Road was progressing, with the Lewis Bandt Bridge over the Moorabool River pretty much complete.

While a short distance south work on the bridge over the Barwon River had started.

Another road project underway was the Monash-CityLink-West Gate Upgrade. No – not the current ‘upgrade’ adding a new lane to the M1 freeway, but the project a decade ago that added a new to the M1 freeway.

For Engineering Week I ended up atop the freeway viaduct through South Melbourne.

Seeing how the new bridge spans were being tied into the existing viaduct.

Allowing an extra road lane to be squeezed in.

Over in Docklands things looked quite different, with Southern Cross Station still clearly visible from the top level of what was then called Telstra Dome.

But plenty of construction was taking place, with heritage listed No. 2 Goods Shed being converted into offices.

Chopped in half in the early 2000s to make way for the extension of Collins Street into the new Docklands development, work was underway to plug up the gaps at either end, then restore the remaining structure.

But the best view of all was from up inside the roof of what was then called Telstra Dome.

My tour went for a walk through the roof trusses.

Looking down on the grow lights on the playing surface.

And the rows of seats down below.

Footnote

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

Post retrieved by 35.215.163.46 using

The post Photos from ten years ago: August 2008 appeared first on Waking up in Geelong.