Time for another instalment of “then and now” – this time a double barrelled collection at Sunshine station.
At the station
We start in 1960, with Weston Langford standing on platform 2 and 3. Cars still had to use a level crossing, but a timber footbridge allowed pedestrians to avoid waiting for passing trains.
The Hampshire Road overpass was completed in 1961, but the scene at Sunshine staying much the same for decades – this was the scene in 2012 when my heritage train passed through on the way around the suburbs.
But the Regional Rail Link project changed it up again, replacing the pedestrian underpass with a massive new overhead concourse, and adding an additional platform for the use of V/Line trains.
And the HV McKay Footbridge
In this 1977 Weston Langford photo the view south from the footbridge was sparse – railway sidings for the Sunshine Harvester Works dominating the foreground.
But following the closure of the factory in the 1990s central Sunshine was redeveloped, and in my 2010 view gum trees had taken over the George Cross reserve on the other side of the tracks.
But Regional Rail Link also changed this scene – a new footbridge, and two new tracks beneath it for the use of V/Line trains.
And the next chapter?
Work is about to start on the Melbourne Airport Rail Link, with some changes coming for Sunshine – a tangle of new track between Sunshine and Albion, and a new station concourse at the city end.
A shadow of the ‘super hub’ once promoted by the State Government, but change none the less.
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