On the train

Yes, still on the Regional Rail Link topic – Ballarat and Bendigo trains now had their own tracks through Footscray to Sunshine, along with their own next train displays located away from the ones showing suburban trains.

But for now Geelong line services were still running along the Werribee line. Here we see a N class locomotive hauled train passing through Williams Landing.

A VLocity train passing through Laverton station.

And another passing through the platforms at South Kensington.

Which then took the crossover at the city end of the station to access the new V/Line tracks towards Southern Cross.

Freight trains

A decade ago Pacific National still had the contract to transport grain by rail to the flour mill at Kensington. Southern Shorthaul Railroad won the contract in November 2017.

Meanwhile down at North Geelong Yard Pacific National was busy scrapping surplus wagons – the bulk of which once transport freight that has been lost to road.

Down around Geelong

The North Geelong B signal box was still hanging around a decade after it had been decommissioned in 2005, and surprisingly it hung around almost a decade longer – eventually being demolished in May 2022.

While down in Grovedale money was getting spent on Baanip Boulevard, with a new bridge being built over the railway to link the Geelong Ring Road to the Surf Coast Highway.

And down at North Shore even the dive of a station was getting some attention – new asphalt!

Ding ding on the trams

Remember the ‘Melbourne Star’ observation wheel? This tram was advertising it, before the operator went broke in 2021.

But a tourist icon that people actually patronised was the Colonial Tramcar Restaurant – it ran until 2018 when their restaurant trams were kicked off the Yarra Trams network due to safety concerns.

Another safety concern that is having to dodge cars to climb onboard tram at South Yarra station. The platform stop there wasn’t opened until 2021.

Another crappy tram stop was the one at La Trobe and Swanston Street – on this December afternoon it was overwhelmed by a crowd of RMIT graduates spilling out onto the road. Platform stops were not provided along La Trobe Street until July 2024.

And continuing on that theme, now we’re at Collins and Queen Street – closed in 2015 following completion of a new platform stop at Collins and William Street.

Another stop to close being the one for southbound route 96 passengers at the corner of Spencer and Flinders Street.

Works about to start on new platform stops at Batman Park a short distance to the south.

A few buses

A decade ago route 400 between Sunshine and Laverton was operated by plain white liveried buses – an artifact of the shared operation of the route between Westrans and Sita. Today the operations are now CDC Melbourne and Transit Systems, and the white buses are gone – they’re mostly PTV orange, with the exception of a few buses still in the old poo brown Sita corporate livery.

Another oddball bus was the British-built Optare Solos used on the SkyBus hotel shuttle service around the Melbourne CBD. Later branded as ‘SkyBus Link’, the service was discontinued in 2020 thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, and never restored.

And the last bus is a Designline ‘bubble’ bus running on route 903 along Bell Street in Coburg.

Stuck in traffic waiting at the level crossing with the Upfield line – which was removed in June 2020.

Ticketing bits

Down in Geelong it was once possible to buy a ‘Short Term Ticket‘ from bus drivers rather than use a Myki card – an option removed in April 2013.

While in the lead up to the November 2014 election both parties promised to cap Melbourne suburban travel to zone 1 prices, and introduce the ‘Free Tram Zone’ in the CBD.

Both starting from 1 January 2015.

But don’t think they’re giving you something for nothing – PTV was simultaneously running yet another fare evasion campaign.

As well as promoting free travel on Christmas Day.

Car parking

What’s a worse use of prime CBD land than a ground level car park? This is the ‘Golden Square’ car park at 217 Lonsdale Street, which is still a car park today.

And this is the ‘Safe City Car Park’ at 132 Little Bourke Street in Chinatown – which has since been turned into a pop up event space.

And finally – a power station

Here we are at the main gate to Anglesea Power Station.

Located in the middle of the Anglesea Heathlands.

Next to a brown coal mine.

Opened back in 1969 to power Alcoa’s Point Henry smelter outside of Geelong, the smelter was closed down in July 2014 but the power station remained open pending a new owner, before it too was shut down in August 2015.

Footnote

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

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Some history

V/Line’s ‘H’ type carriage sets were originally built as ‘Harris’ suburban trains back in the 1950s.

SLV image H31188. Photographer unknown. Undated but circa 1956 to 1968.

In the 1980s the decision was made to refurbish the aging Harris trains, bringing them up to the same standards as the air conditioned Comeng suburban trains then being delivered.

Weston Langford photo

However the additional weight of the upgraded equipment and expense of asbestos removal from the bodyshells saw the economics of the program compared to the purchase of additional Comeng trains, so the refurbishment program was abandoned.

Instead, it was decided to convert the Harris trains into the ‘H’ type locomotive hauled carriages for the use on V/Line services to destinations such as Bacchus Marsh, Kyneton, Sunbury, Seymour and Leongatha.

Image via Wikipedia

A role they continued in throughout the 2000s.

The delivery of the new VLocity railcars from 2005 was intended to allow the retirement of the H sets.

But the increase in patronage thank to the Regional Fast Rail project and a 20% cut to V/Line fares saw the aging carriages retained and refurbished from 2007.

And refurbished for a third time from 2020.

But then just a few years later V/Line decided they were were done with the H sets, and in December 2023 H sets were withdrawn from services to Bacchus Marsh.

And the surplus carriage sets were sent to Echuca for storage, where they were quickly vandalised.

Video by ‘Rail Australia’

The last day

On 2 February 2024 the last two H sets were retired from service, their runs to Geelong being taken over by VLocity railcars.

I started my day at 5 am, catching the first train of the day down to Geelong.

There I found diesel locomotive N456 already coupled up to carriage set SLH33.

Ready to shunt it out of the sidings.

And into platform 2.

To form the 7:23 am service to Melbourne

I opted to catch an earlier service to Lara, so I could photograph it’s arrival.

And then ride it though to Melbourne.

On arrival at Southern Cross, N456 ran around the carriages, as shunter Y163 pushed the carriages back into platform 4.

Where the carriage set was stabled for the day.

The last run?

It was the turn of N468 to lead carriage set SLH33 back to Geelong that evening – I caught the train from Sunshine.

And went through to Geelong.

Geelong’s resident shunter Y129 arrived soon after to collect the carriage set.

Pulling the set out of platform 3.

And in a bizarre touch for something being retired – they sent it through the train wash!

And then stabled it in the sidings.

And the actual last run

Turns out V/Line had some late running that day, and the N set rostered to run a down Waurn Ponds service wasn’t available to run that service, so V/Line pulled carriage set SLH32 out of storage at Southern Cross, having withdrawn it from service the day before – and pressed it back into service.

So I climbed aboard it at Geelong.

For the short trip to Waurn Ponds.

On arrival the locomotive was uncoupled from the carriages.

And ran around them via the main line.

N456 then coupled onto the Melbourne end.

And after an arriving VLocity train cleared the single track from Geelong.

Departed Waurn Ponds for the yard at Geelong.

The end for a train now over 65 years old.

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Off to Geelong

On Saturday 25 March 2023 I decided to jump on a train from Melbourne down to Geelong, and the trip was mostly uneventful.

Other than a toilet temporarily out of service.

And rock hard seating in what was a ‘short distance’ VLocity carriage.

The first oddity was the ‘No trains departing from platform 1 for the next hour’ message on the next train display at Tarneit station.

Trains to and from Geelong normally run every 40 minutes on the weekend, so that was a confusing sight.

Another odd sight as the large crowd awaiting at North Geelong station, but given their Collingwood and Bulldogs scarves, I assumed it was just a busy day for footy fans headed to the game.

\

But on my arrival at Geelong I saw that wasn’t the only crowd.

The next Melbourne-bound train was about to depart, and it had standees all the way down the train.

It turns out the previous service – the 10:38 Waurn Ponds to- Southern Cross – had been cancelled.

The 10:38 Waurn Ponds – Southern Cross service will not run today

More information at https://t.co/IiZLwHhuoI pic.twitter.com/kDmNHRRuYG

— V/Line Geelong Line (@vline_geelong) March 24, 2023

And thanks to the 40 minute weekend service frequency, two services worth of passengers had to try and board a normally rather full service.

Admittedly V/Line put some effort into moving the passengers left behind – 15 minutes later a coach from usual rail replacement operator Endeavour Coach Company arrived at Geelong station.

But for my trip home, the same inadequate timetable struck again – Geelong station was full of intending passengers.

With the next service to Melbourne being an already full long-distance service from Warrnambool.

This train had standees on leaving Geelong, and at stations along the way the train had long delays as intending passengers tried to find a doorway not already filled with standing passengers.

I hate to see what these services look after the fare cuts!

Spare trains ahoy

The reason V/Line doesn’t run any more services isn’t a lack of trains – on my way past Wyndham Vale all four sidings were filled with VLocity trains awaiting their next run on Monday morning.

There were more VLocity carriages in the sidings next to the turntable at Geelong.

Three complete 6-car trains worth.

Another 6-car train parked beside the train wash.

And two older locomotive hauled trains stabled beside Geelong station.

And these trains aren’t ‘awaiting maintenance’ – the only work that gets done at these sidings is overnight refuelling and toilet decanting.

The big shed outside Southern Cross Station is the main maintenance facility.

Alongside the Alstom facility at Ballarat East.

The blame lies at the feet of the State Government.

They’ve allocated $207 million over four years to increase the frequency of weekend services in regional Victoria – but the changes won’t occur until July 2024 for the Geelong line, and July 2025 for the rest of the network.

Just a little late!

Footnote: getting pedantic

Trains might be sitting empty in sidings, but if you decided to utilise them more intensively, then maintenance requirements also increase – something that Connex struggled to do in 2009 on the Melbourne suburban network – and which V/Line ignored following the opening of Regional Rail Link in 2015, which resulted in the mass withdrawal of the VLocity train fleet with wheel wear issues.

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Farewell to Metcard

Ten years ago the old Metcard magnetic stripe ticketing system was on the way out, replaced by new Myki smartcards.

The old ticket machines being removed from stations.

But ticket gates at stations weren’t fast enough to handle the new tickets.

And the requirement to ‘touch off’ after a train journey created massive queues at railway stations in evening peak.

The government’s solution – a ‘Touch. Hold. Go’ re-education campaign.

‘Don’t swipe’.

‘Don’t wave’.

But the eventual solution was throwing more Myki readers at the problem, and replacing them with faster ones.

Rail scenes that are gone

I headed out to brand new station of South Morang, which a decade ago was the end of the line.

An empty trackbed leading north towards the current terminus of Mernda.

At Greensborough the old manual safeworking system was still in use – station staff handing over a metal baton to the driver, indicating that it was safe to proceed into the single track section.

At Heidelberg there was still a single track towards Rosanna.

Bell station was still at ground level.

The last few Hitachi trains were still in service.

The heritage listed timber gates at Ballarat station were yet to be destroyed by a runway train.

And something a little different – a passenger train stopped at Lal Lal station, midway between Geelong and Ballarat.

It was there to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the railway being completed.

Regional Rail Link

At Footscray demolition of shops along the Nicholson Street bridge was completed.

With work underway on the signals below.

Ding ding on the trams

The tram tracks along Elizabeth Street were being relayed, requiring an array of excavators to break up the old concrete.

While the newly established Public Transport Victoria was doing what Victoria does best – removing the branding that came before them.

And something else familiar was the “When the Tram Stops, You Stop” campaign found on the back of trams – a half-arsed attempt at addressing the spate of motorists driving past stopped trams and hitting passengers.

But a decade later such campaigns have made no difference – tram passengers ending up in hospital after being hit by hit-run drivers – the only solution is physical separation.

Forgotten bus liveries

A decade ago the Public Transport Victoria livery was yet to be rolled out bus fleets, with Davis Bus Lines in Ballarat still having their brown livery.

Benders Busways in Geelong still had buses in green.

And McHarry’s was still using the “Geelong Transit System” livery, rolled out way back in 1983 as the first attempt to unify public transport in Geelong.

And some other bits

Another update from the Myer Lonsdale Street site – demolition was done, and tower cranes were being lifted into place.

And a fad from a decade ago – ‘My Family’ stickers.

By 2014 the backlash was well underway, and now they’re just a memory.

Footnote

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

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Photo by Marcus Wong (Wongm), via Wikimedia Commons

Let’s take a tour

Today covered by the City of Greater Geelong, Geelong used to be part of multiple local government areas – the City of Geelong, City of Geelong West, City of Newtown, City of South Barwon and Shire of Corio making up the urban areas, with the urban fringe managed by the Rural City of Bellarine, and parts of the Shire of Barrabool and Shire of Bannockburn.

VicPlan map, Local Government Areas pre-1994 amalgamations layer

Ballarat was similar – today’s City of Ballarat was once the City of Ballarat, Shire of Ballarat and Borough of Sebastopol covering the city, with parts of the Shire of Bungaree, Shire of Buninyong, Shire of Grenville and Shire of Ripon covering the outskirts.

VicPlan map, Local Government Areas pre-1994 amalgamations layer

Today the City of Greater Bendigo, Bendigo was once governed by former City of Bendigo and Borough of Eaglehawk, with Shire of Strathfieldsaye, Shire of Huntly, Rural City of Marong and parts of the Shire of McIvor covering the outer areas.

VicPlan map, Local Government Areas pre-1994 amalgamations layer

Gippsland was a little different – what is now the City of Latrobe was split between the City of Moe and City of Traralgon which governed the cities of the same name, the City of Morwell governed both the city and surrounds, and the Shire of Traralgon, Shire of Narracan and Shire of Rosedale managed the rest.

VicPlan map, Local Government Areas pre-1994 amalgamations layer

North East Victoria was another part of Victoria subject to “double barrelled” LGAs – both Benalla and Wangaratta had a City covering the urban area, and a Shire of the same name covering the surrounding districts.

VicPlan map, Local Government Areas pre-1994 amalgamations layer

Maryborough had some odd boundaries – they just drew a square on the map and called it the City of Maryborough.

VicPlan map, Local Government Areas pre-1994 amalgamations layer

Castlemaine is another box drawn on the map, the City of Castlemaine having since been merged with the Shire of Maldon, Shire of Metcalfe and Shire of Newstead to form today’s Shire of Mount Alexander.

VicPlan map, Local Government Areas pre-1994 amalgamations layer

And finally, South West Victoria – Camperdown and Colac were their own little islands in the Town of Camperdown and City of Colac.

VicPlan map, Local Government Areas pre-1994 amalgamations layer

So how did they all come from anyway?

The short answer is “history” – for the rest I’ll just crib from the Wikipedia page on Local government in Victoria.

Local government had existed in Victoria since before its separation from New South Wales in 1851. The Town of Melbourne was established by an Act of the NSW Governor and Legislative Council in 1842 and the Borough of Geelong was established in 1849. Both bodies continued after the creation of Victoria as a separate colony, and both later became cities.

Road districts were established under legislation passed in 1853. From 1862 many road districts became shires pursuant to the District Councils Bill 1862. To become a shire, the road district had to be over 100 square miles (260 km²) in size and have annual rate revenue of over £1000. Promotion to town or city status was dependent on the gross revenue of the council.

The 1989 Local Government Act eliminated administrative distinctions between cities and shires, introduced the category of rural city and removed the possibility of declaring any further boroughs or towns. Five shires became rural cities.

An example of this evolutionary process is the local councils that once covered Geelong – established in the 1800s as either a “Road District” covering a small township or a “Borough” covering a young suburb, and growing in the years that followed to become a “Shire” or “City” respectively.

1849 – Geelong incorporated as a Town
1853 – Barrabool Road District proclaimed
1853 – Portarlington Road District proclaimed
1856 – Connewarre Road District proclaimed
1857 – South Barwon Municipal District proclaimed
1857 – South Barwon Road District proclaimed
1858 – Newtown and Chilwell Borough proclaimed
1860 – Portarlington Road District renamed as Indented Head Road District
1861 – Corio Road District proclaimed
1862 – Bannockburn Road District proclaimed
1863 – Meredith Road District proclaimed
1863 – Queenscliff and Point Lonsdale separated from Indented Head Road District to form Queenscliffe Municipal District.
1863 – South Barwon Borough created by amalgamating South Barwon Municipal District and South Barwon Road District
1864 – Bannockburn Road District redesignated as Shire
1864 – Corio Road District redesignated as Shire
1865 – Indented Head Road District redesignated and renamed as Bellarine Shire
1874 – South Barwon Shire created by amalgamating Connewarre Road District and South Barwon Borough
1875 – Geelong West Borough proclaimed
1910 – Geelong proclaimed a City
1915 – Meredith Shire added to Bannockburn Shire
1922 – Geelong West proclaimed a Town
1924 – Newtown and Chilwell proclaimed a Town
1929 – Geelong West proclaimed a City
1959 – Newtown and Chilwell proclaimed a City
1967 – Newtown and Chilwell City renamed as Newtown City
1963 – Queenscliffe Municipal District redesignated as Borough
1974 – South Barwon proclaimed a City
1989 – Bellarine proclaimed a Rural City

And where did they go?

Ian Tiley from the University of New England Centre for Local Government has the answer to this one, in his paper Evolution of Council Amalgamation in Victoria Tasmania and South Australia. The proliferation of local governments had been seen as a problem for some time.

Progressive investigations into local government reform have been undertaken since the 1960s, when Victorian local councils numbered 210. In 1962, a Commission of Inquiry into Victorian Local Government recommended reduction in the number of municipalities to 42, but the Inquiry was not acted on. A 1979 Report to government recommended establishment of a Municipal Commission to restructure local government. In 1985, the Victoria Grants Commission undertook a statistical analysis of economies of scale in local authorities of varying sizes and predicted a financial crisis in smaller units unless they were amalgamated.

The Cain Labor Government deciding to take action in 1985, but failing.

In September 1985, Victorian Premier Cain announced a strategy for state-wide amalgamations of local government. There was pressure for amalgamation in some economically-depressed, manufacturing reliant Victorian provincial cities, which had a relatively large number of local authorities in their urban areas, such as Geelong (four), Bendigo (five) and Ballarat (six) councils.

However, a year later, because of a combination of community opposition, bypassing of existing local government power structures, failure to establish majority support, conflicting aims, and lack of restriction in scope, the Premier announced that restructuring would only occur on a voluntary basis and attempts to reduce the 210 local authorities in Victoria at that time failed.

With the Kennett Liberal Government reopening the issue on winning government in 1992.

The local government reform implementation process took place in two stages. The first phase occurred during the initial Kennett Government term of office and entailed a radical agenda that fundamentally altered local government. The second reform phase from 1996 onwards consisted of consolidation of central direction of the local government sector through a variety of means including threats, contempt for some local government representatives and ad hoc interventions by the Minister.

The Kennett government quickly introduced the Local Government (General Amendment) Act 1993 to enable transformation of the Victorian municipal system. The Act established a Local Government Board to provide a process for reviewing local government structure and specifically precluded the Victorian Supreme Court from hearing any proceedings brought against the Board, its staff or the Minister in respect of such review.

The Board adopted a forceful “top-down” style (and community of interest was not considered a relevant issue, except where it could be used to suggest that existing local government boundaries divided communities as strong commercial area.

But merging local government areas wasn’t the only outcome of the Kennett-era reforms.

There were three key features of the municipal reforms.

Firstly, councils were summarily sacked in successive stages so that local government was effectively suspended and communities disenfranchised as Government-appointed commissioners assumed administrative responsibility under strict oversight of the Local Government Board.

The second feature was the ultimate reduction in the number of local government councils from 210 to 78 and allied reduction in staff numbers, buildings, plant and equipment, services and capital reserves.

The third key feature was that an increasing proportion of council budgets were required to be subject to Compulsory Competitive Tendering. The management tools of CCT and the consequent privatisation of services created a more “entrepreneurial” government and reduced the role and function of local government in favour of the private sector.

The hollowing out of local government capabilities following the introduction of Compulsory Competitive Tendering is still seen today.

Footnote 1 – the one that got away

There was one local government area that escaped the forced amalgamations of 1994 – the tiny Borough of Queenscliffe. Covering an area of just over 10 square kilometres and with a population of almost 3,000 people, it is the smallest local government area in Victoria.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Queenscliffvic-airview-0508-2601-63.jpg

Labor Party MP for Geelong North stating at the time.

…we are not sure why it was omitted. The Minister for Local Government said it was because Queenscliffe is unique. The Premier said it was because of the council’s effectiveness. Some people suggest the uniqueness of Queenscliffe has a lot to do with the number of influential Liberal Party members living at Point Lonsdale who have exerted pressure

Footnote 2 – the mysterious Yallourn Works Area

Out in the Latrobe Valley west of the City of Moe was the mysterious Yallourn Works Area.

VicPlan map, Local Government Areas pre-1994 amalgamations layer

I knew Yallourn was a company town run by the State Electricity Commission of Victoria.

Photo by , via Wikimedia Commons

Which was eventually swallowed up by a coal mine.

But I didn’t realise Yallourn was also an unincorporated area subject to the almost total control of the SECV.

Yallourn was a company town, which meant that the State Electricity Commission was simultaneously landlord, employer and governor. The Commission decided who lived there, and exercised control over public and private space in the town.

The establishment of the Yallourn Town Advisory Council in 1947 curtailed the SEC’s autocratic administration of the town. But resident action groups were no match for the SEC or the Victorian Parliament once the decision was made in the 1960s to get rid of the town.

Footnote 3 – Kennett complains about ‘woke’ names

In 2021 the Moreland City Council was in the news for wanting to change its name due to links to slavery, and Jeff Kennett weighed in by saying that councillors who voted for the name change should pay the cost of the changeover. One small problem there Jeff – you created it back in 1994 when you amalgamated the former local government areas of the City of Brunswick, the City of Coburg and the southern part of the City of Broadmeadows.

Footnote 4 – PTV’s local area maps and local government areas

Public Transport Victoria doesn’t publish a full map showing all models of public transport in Melbourne – they stopped updating it back in 2009 – but does have a series of local area maps broken down by local government areas.

As someone who grew up in Geelong, it has taken me years to work out which local government areas cover which part of Melbourne, and I still don’t know the borders between most of them – just rough mappings to suburbs.

So perhaps I shouldn’t be so hard on the people I’ve met who didn’t know that Victorian towns outside of Melbourne are big enough to be divided up into named suburbs.

Further reading

• Evolution of Council Amalgamation in Victoria Tasmania and South Australia by Ian Tiley.
• Local Government Areas for Victoria prior to the 1994 amalgamations dataset at Data Vic.
• Controversial council amalgamations redesign Melbourne, The Age, 1994,
• State Electricity Commission (Yallourn Area) Act 1947

Plus the former local government areas in regional Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne are listed over at Wikipedia.

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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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Trains

This month ten years ago I went for a trip around the Melbourne suburbs in a restored Diesel Electric Rail Motor operated by DERMPAV

We headed out to Upfield, Alamein and Belgrave, with a lunch stop at the VRI bar on the platform at Lilydale station.

Lilydale station is currently being rebuilt as part of the Level Crossing Removal Project, but the heritage station building is being retained.

In August 2011 electrification of the railway between Watergardens and Sunbury had started.

Along with the upgrade of Diggers Rest station.

Allowing the first electric train to Sunbury running in November 2012.

The South Morang Rail Extension Project was also underway, extending the railway 3.5 kilometres from Epping to South Morang.

Along with duplicating 5 kilometres of existing single track railway between Keon Park and Epping.

Opened in April 2021.

Planes

I paid a visit to the viewing area at Melbourne Airport, and Qantas was still flying 747s.

Virgin Australia was still called Virgin Blue, with red painted planes.

Except for the one 737 that was actually painted blue.

Virgin Blue is now Virgin Australia, with the Coronavirus pandemic seeing them go into voluntary administration, while Qantas retired their 747 fleet.

And on the water

I also headed down the bay to see the Queenscliff-Sorrento ferry.

I’d found out that the older ferry Peninsula Princess had been brought back into service.

So I wanted to go for a ride.

Along the way I found the Port Phillip Sea Pilots headed out the heads.

And a cargo ship following them out.

New roads

Big money was being spent on extending the Geelong Ring Road west from Waurn Ponds.

The new freeway passing the cement works.

To meet the two lane Princes Highway towards Winchelsea.

Opening to motorists in February 2013.

The flood prone Breakwater Bridge over the Barwon River was also being replaced.

A new high level bridge being built over both the river and the railway at a cost of $63 million.

Requiring the demolition of nine houses.

The new bridge opening to traffic in May 2012.

And scenes that are gone

Down at Frankston I found the abandoned Peninsula Centre.

It’s since been redeveloped into an apartment complex.

And the Ambassador Hotel – home of Melbourne’s cheapest apartment.

It was eventually demolished.

Over in Hawthorn I found the Motel California

Since demolished, and about to become apartments.

The Ford casting plant down at Geelong

Demolished following the end of local production by Ford Australia.

And this dirt track off Barwon Heads Road at Connewarre, south of Geelong.

Now part of the massive Warralily Estate at Armstrong Creek.

Footnote

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

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On the road to Ballarat

We start off on the Western Highway headed to Ballarat, where work was underway on the $200 million Anthony’s Cutting upgrade outside Melton.

The winding road over Djerriwarrh Creek was about to be bypassed.

As well as the steep drop down into Bacchus Marsh.

The reason for my visit – another brand new X’Trapolis suburban train was about to leave the Alstom factory at Ballarat.

So I followed it on the diesel locomotive-hauled delivery run to Melbourne.

Passing the abandoned bluestone station buildings of the Geelong-Ballarat railway.

And the V/Line coach that now links the two cities.

Today there are 210 X’Trapolis trains on the Melbourne network, the bulk of them delivered since 2009 to cope with surging patronage.

Another train I captured leaving Ballarat was 122 year old steam locomotive Y112.

It was headed from the home base of Ballarat for Geelong, where it hauled a weekend worth of special trips for happy passengers.

Level crossings and bridges

At Anglesea Road in Waurn Ponds, I found a new level crossing about to be opened.

But it was only a temporary one – constructed to permit the grade separation of the level crossing as part of Stage 4A of the Geelong Ring Road.

You can replace a level crossing with a bridge, but at Separation Street in North Geelong motorists still find a way to crash onto the tracks.

In 2010 $3.2 million was spent to replace the Melbourne-bound parapets with a concrete wall, with the Geelong-bound lanes similarly upgraded in 2020 at a cost of $4.2 million.

And finally, on nearby Thompson Road I found a level crossing with no trains.

Part of the mothballed Fyansford line, the line lay idle for twenty years following the closure of the cement works in 2001, until it was finally pulled up in December 2011.

Scenes that are gone

Ding ding on La Trobe Street, my usual hackspot for capturing trains headed out of Southern Cross Station, but this month the interesting bit is behind this W class tram – a clear view of the old The Age offices, and National Bank House at 500 Bourke Street.

And in the other direction, Docklands Stadium.

Today all you’ll see is a wall of apartment towers along Spencer Street, and the fire damaged Lacrosse building in the other.

I also headed out to the abandoned RAAF Williams base to capture passing trains.

In 2010 the location was named as the site of the $86 million ‘Point Cook’ station, which opened in 2013 as Williams Landing, along with the extension of Palmers Road into the namesake housing estate.

And you thought insurance is boring?

The clock on top of the Mercer Street silos in Geelong hasn’t worked for years, but the thing I noticed was the ‘We Are Geelong’ billboard.

Back in 2010 Newcastle-based for-profit health insurer NIB started sponsoring the Geelong Football Club, in an attempt to butter up locals pending their hostile takeover of Geelong-based mutual health fund GMHBA. The takeover was rejected, and NIB pissed off with their tail between their legs.

On the same insurance note, I also paid a visit to National Mutual Plaza on Collins Street.

Once the home of Melbourne’s first rooftop restaurant, National Mutual was demutualised in 1996 and sold to AXA, with Suncorp Insurance having taken over the building.

A year later part of the facade fell from the tower, narrowly missing people down below. In 2014 demolition of the building was approved despite a pending heritage listing, with the ‘pantscraper‘ now occupying the site.

Footnote

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

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Up in the air

Who remembers the day of big events and flying? March 2011 saw the Australian International Airshow held at Avalon, with Tiger Airways still flying into the airport.

V/Line ran extra trains to Lara station.

Connecting with shuttle buses.

That delivered patrons to Avalon Airport.

New roads

Around Geelong big money was being spent on new roads, with Stage 4A of the Geelong Ring Road taking shape at Waurn Ponds, extending the freeway south towards Colac.

$63 million was also being spent on a new bridge over the Barwon River at Breakwater, replacing the previous flood prone crossing.

The project also included a massive new intersection with Fellmongers Road.

Resulting in the demolition of nine houses.

Rail projects

West of Geelong, duplication was underway on the main line west to Adelaide. The second track was completed in 2012, and allows grain trains to access the Port of Geelong without conflicting with through services.

The rail over road bridge at Moorabool Street was upgraded, with the 100 year steel span being replaced by a new one looking much the same.

Out at Marshall station was a much less interesting upgrade – the 1 in 2 replacement of timber sleepers with concrete.

March 2011 also saw the disused Geelong Racecourse station disconnected from the main line, removing the ability for trains to access the platform.

Footscray gained a new traction substation at the corner of Ballarat Road and Droop Street, providing extra power for route 82 trams.

The $48.5 million Kororoit Creek Road duplication project reached a milestone – the bridge carrying the westbound carriageway over the Werribee line was complete, allowing the level crossing to be closed, and work to start on the parallel bridge.

Was Regional Rail Link really a decade ago? 2011 saw the new platforms 15 and 16 at Southern Cross Station almost finished – track being the most noticeable omission!

Alstom Ballarat was churning out new X’Trapolis trains for the Melbourne suburban network.

And the massive new train maintenance facility at Craigieburn was taking shape to house a growing fleet of trains.

And scenes that are gone

Who remembers the Melbourne City Tourist Shuttle? Introduced in 2006 by the City of Melbourne as a free service, fares were introduced in 2011 but with competition from the Free Tram Zone, it was discontinued in 2017.

Something else gone is the stink of horse piss at the arse end of Swanston Street. They were kicked out in 2017, and the strip of seedy fast food restaurants was demolished soon after to make way for the new Town Hall station.

A forgettable building was 199 William Street. After sitting empty for decades the year 2011 saw work start on the redevelopment of the tower into ‘The William’ hotel and apartment complex.

I wrote about ‘Mount Mistake’ in Footscray recently – a decade ago the old West Footscray station still existed. The current station opened in 2013.

The same can also be said about this level crossing in Sunshine, where Anderson Road passes over the Sunbury line tracks. It was replaced by a road under rail bridge in 2014.

And finally, we end on the northern edge of Melbourne at the township of Donnybrook. Back then the only people who went there were gunzels photographing trains passing the semaphore signals and having a feed at the local pub, but today it is new housing estates as far as the eye can see.

Footnote

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

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By the beach

We start the month down at Queenscliff.

Where I found the Queenscliff-Sorrento car ferry.

A bridge to the secretive military base on Swan Island.

And rode the Bellarine Peninsula Railway.

Passing through Marcus station.

In the back streets of Geelong I found a Ford Territory SUV covered in camouflage.

The facelifted SZ series Territory was released in April 2011, and first official photos of the facelifted edition being released in February 2011 – looks like I had a scoop back then.

Around Melbourne

Summer in Melbourne – and it was raining!

Tram passengers along Swanston Street still needed to climb up from street level.

Platform stops were eventually built in 2012.

At the corner of Bourke and William Street the St James Building was being gutted, making way for the redevelopment of AMP Square.

And trains

I photographed luxury rail cruise train The Southern Spirit arriving into Melbourne.

A very expensive rail cruise operated by Great Southern Rail, the Southern Spirit ran on various routes around Australia in January 2010, January 2011 and February 2012 before it was discontinued.

I also headed out to Diggers Rest, where I found a much less salubrious train.

Back then Diggers Rest was served by V/Line services, but work was about to start on the Sunbury electrification project that would extend service services to the town.

Another piece of construction was at Lara, where I found a set of points leading nowhere.

Part of a new 1850m crossing loop, Elders Loop opened in 2011.

While north of Craigieburn station a massive shed was taking shape.

Originally just a single stabling siding, the rail yards have since been expanded into the massive The Craigieburn Train Maintenance Facility.

One night after the last train, I found an X’Trapolis train being walked through the station at Ascot Vale, staff watching to make sure that the train didn’t strike the edge of the platform.

Back in the 2000s Melbourne’s rail network had been split between two private operators, with X’Trapolis trains purchased by Connex for use on the Lilydale, Belgrave, Glen Waverley, Alamein, Epping and Hurstbridge line.

This split meant X’Trapolis trains were never tested on the ‘other’ half of the network, requiring Metro to go back and complete this testing so that they could run them along the Craigieburn line to the new workshops.

Another nighttime find was this noisy machine at work on Pascoe Vale Road in Essendon.

It’s a rail grinder used to smooth tramway rails, making the ride quieter for the trams that pass along it.

‘Real’ Myki barriers were finally starting to appear on the network – this set was at the Swanston Street end of Melbourne Central.

These barriers eventually replaced the slower Metcard ‘Frankenbarriers’, but weren’t fast enough – in 2014 another style of gate was adopted at upgraded stations.

Footnote

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

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