Waking up in Geelong

Another instalment in my photos from ten years ago series – this time it is September 2009.

Around Geelong

We start down in the Geelong suburb of Waurn Ponds.

Which a decade ago was the southern terminus of the Geelong Ring Road.

But work was underway to extend the freeway over the Waurn Ponds Creek valley.

And up the hill via Anglesea Road.

The nearby streets had bus stops to nowhere.

With new houses stretching as far as the railway line.

Back then only thrice-daily trains to Warrnambool used this line.

But a decade later it is now the site of Waurn Ponds station, terminus of the majority of V/Line services from Melbourne.

The Geelong Football Club made it into the 2009 AFL Grand Final, so V/Line ran special trains from Geelong to the MCG to carry the thousands of fans.

With a special ‘Geelong Cats’ headboard decorating the front of one train.

More construction

The new concourse at North Melbourne station opened in September 2009.

With Connex staff outnumbering the passengers on the first day of operations.

But for the first few weeks passengers still used the old northern entrance, as work on the new station building was still underway.

At Laverton station, the third platform was now starting to look real.

And the lift shafts for the new footbridge towering above the existing footbridge.

The new footbridge at Footscray was also rising at a rapid pace.

Multiple sections of bridge were ready to be lifted into place.

With others awaiting ramps and stairs to be added.

After the turning of the first sod for the Regional Rail Link project in August 2009, work at Southern Cross Station ramped up. The pile driver continued work on the future platform 15 and 16.

And the trackbed north of Latrobe Street was cleared to make room for the new Regional Rail Link tracks.

And some trains

The first of Melbourne’s ‘interim’ order of X’Trapolis trains had arrived at the Newport Workshops in September 2009.

A decade later we’re still ordering more of the aging design, but with no commitment to updating it, Alstom’s Ballarat plant may close down.

A much older train was the Steamrail Victoria special I followed through the eastern suburbs of Melbourne.

A decade later, this station at Heatherdale no longer exists – replaced by a rail-under grade separation in 2017.

Neither does the station at Mitcham – replaced in 2014.

Or the rickety footbridge at Ringwood – replaced in 2015.

Another steam train was this Steamrail Victoria special for Ballarat.

I also captured it at North Geelong C.

Where the century-old semaphore signals have only just been replaced.

I also followed the transfer of a V/Line power van from Melbourne to the Ballarat Workshops for refurbishment.

And the return working on a refurbished classmate.

Both vans are used by V/Line on their frequently failing V/Line Albury service.

And finally we end on the derailment of a V/Line train at Stonyford on the Warrnambool line.

On the evening of Saturday 12 September 2009 the train collided with trees lying across the track, felled by strong winds.

Which resulted in the derailment of the locomotives and four of the five passenger cars.

But the presence of a second locomotive on the train may have reduced the impact of the crash – there were only minor injuries to both locomotive drivers and one passenger.

As a result of the crash V/Line has taken a much more aggressive attitude to trees near railway lines.

Footnote

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

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