There are many cargoes that go by rail, but the sweetest one would be the sugar that that Manildra Group transports from northern NSW to Melbourne.
The sugar is refined at the Harwood sugar mill in northern New South Wales, near Grafton, in a plant established in 1989 by the Manildra Group and New South Wales Sugar Milling Cooperative.
It is then transported by road to South Grafton and stored in silos, ready to be loaded into rail hopper wagons.
Pacific National shunts the wagons using a 48 class locomotive, attaches them to a southbound freight train bound for Newscatle, and then onto the tail end of a southbound steel train for the trip to Melbourne.
On arrival in Melbourne the sugar hoppers are collected by the South Dynon shunter.
And taken over to the Manildra siding at the back of South Kensington station.
The empty wagons are taken away.
And the loaded wagons shunted in.
With the Manildra staff using their own shunting tractor to move the wagons into their unloading shed.
The empty wagons are then returned to South Dynon.
Then attached on the next northbound steel train for the trip back to Grafton.
But it has come to an end
In late 2018 Manildra Group listed their site in West Melbourne for sale.
Commercial Real Estate.com.au photo
The plant has since been shut down, with the site being cleared.
Manildra operate a second Melbourne plant at Altona North, around the corner from the paused Port Rail Shuttle terminal, so the sugar train is no more.
Some history
The Manildra Group complex dates back to 1907, when James Minifie & Co opened the ‘Victoria Roller Flour Mill’ on the site, with the adjacent concrete silos were designed by Edward Giles Stone were built beside the mill in 1910-11. The mill produced ‘O-So-Lite’ packaged flour and cake mixes, until it closed in 1969.
Photo by Graeme Butler, Flemington & Kensington Conservation Study 1985
More photos
- Shunting sugar wagons at Grafton
- Grafton sugar loading facility
- Sugar wagon outside the Grafton sugar loading facility
- Inside the Harwood sugar refinery
- 48 class diesel locomotive shunting at Grafton
- Combined sugar and cement train on the North Coast Line
- 1971 track diagram of South Kensington
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