A trip to Sydney

I decided to make the trip up to Sydney this month, catching the XPT north from Melbourne.

And being greeted by a light rail vehicle tram as soon as I arrived at Central Station.

I saw a double decker train the next day.

And presumably took some other photos up there, but they weren’t of trains – as I still haven’t uploaded them to my Flickr account.

Then then flew back home to Melbourne – to be greeted by a Myki visitors pack advertisement inside the Qantas terminal.

Along with a SkyBus one.

A decade on and the Myki machines at Melbourne Airport are just as hard to find, and SkyBus is still the only public transport route that runs from the airport to the CBD.

Melbourne Central

I also went on a tour of the Melbourne Central Tower this month, where we got to look out over the roof of Melbourne Central Shopping Centre, towards Myer House and Emporium.

But unfortunately we only got to look down on the glass cone, not look inside like some previous tours did.

Technology

It seems like an everyday scene now, but a decade ago seeing an entire tram full of passengers absorbed in their smartphones was still novel.

But Telstra was still behind the times – rollout out their ‘Telstra Air’ wifi hotspots to payphones, despite almost everyone having stacks of mobile data to use on their phone.

The Wi-Fi network is still in place today, but free since 2023.

Trams

‘Safety’ zone trams stops were still common place in the Melbourne CBD a decade ago – this one was on Collins Street at William Street.

This particular tram stop was replaced by a platform stop in June 2015, with the last safety zones in the CBD upgraded in July 2024. As for the rest of the tram network – the December 2022 deadline to make all tram stops accessible has been and gone, with hundreds still non compliant.

Meanwhile Yarra Trams was coming up with crackpot schemes like a coffee stall taking up precious space for passengers at the Flinders and Swanston Street stop.

Luckily that idea got kicked out very quickly.

A handful of 1970s-era Z1 class trams were also still kicking around the network, with their crappy little sliding windows and only two doors per side – despite having supposed to have been retired a decade earlier in favour of the incoming low floor C and D class trams, but kept on due to increasing patronage.

This particular tram – Z3.86 – was eventually retired in August 2015, following the delivery of the new E class trams.

A different flavour of stupidity are people who drive down Swanston Street – this driver managed to break down in the middle of the tram stop, and drum up help from passersby to get clear of the tracks.

While this confused country bumpkin headed up Swanston Street in their LandCruiser got pulled up by an unmarked police car, and got sent on their way.

And a decade on – nothing much has really changed.

V/Line trains

Here we see an original liveried VLocity train departing Richmond station for the city.

These days the entire VLocity fleet is in the PTV purple livery, the open air ramps at Richmond station are now roofed over, and Eureka Tower has been usurped by Australia 108 as the tallest building in Australia.

Down in Geelong I photographed a 6-car V/Line train approaching the brand new terminus station of Waurn Ponds.

Opened in October 2014, Waurn Ponds gained a second platform in 2022, and the 8 kilometers of track between South Geelong and Waurn Ponds has just been duplicated.

And a V/Line train in are more shocking condition was VLocity set VL12.

Involved in a collision on the Werribee line in August 2014 where a V/Line train passed a signal at stop and crashed into the rear of a Metro train, it had to be dragged to the workshops at Bendigo to be repaired.

The collision resulted in Metro trains rewriting the rules around passing a signal at stop, while VLocity VL12 reentered service in March 2015 as the only 2-car VLocity set to ever wear the PTV livery.

A load of rubbish

After the removal of rubbish bins from Melbourne stations due to the “increased terror alert level”, they all got dumped in a pile at Flinders Street Station.

And the average passenger responded as you might expect – like a filthy pig just leaving their rubbish on the ground.

The bins were eventually returned in March 2015, with the exception of the private management at Southern Cross Station, who still refuse to place any rubbish bins on their platforms.

A different kind of rubbish

It was the leadup to the 2014 State Election, and the Napthine Government was ramped up their ‘Moving Victoria’ campaign, promoting their unfundedthe Melbourne Rail Link project.

Conceived as an alternative to the Metro Tunnel, the Melbourne Rail Link tunnel would have run between South Yarra and Southern Cross, serving new stations at Domain and Fishermans Bend – instead of Arden and Parkville, who would be stuck using buses and trams.

But as you might have guessed, the Melbourne Rail Link project went nowhere, construction of the Metro Tunnel started a few years later and is almost finished, work on the Melbourne Airport Rail project has been stop-start, and a rail link to Fishermans Bend is as far away as ever.

And another piece of pork barrelling I photographed was this Denis Napthine’s $115 million dollar train on the Frankston line – or what the government called the ‘Bayside Rail Project’.

Announced in May 2013, the Bayside Rail Project was promoted as bringing the newest trains in Melbourne – the X’Trapolis – to the Frankston line.

However these trains accelerate faster than anything else in the Melbourne fleet, putting them at risk of beating the boom barriers at level crossings, but because of the upcoming election, it was decided in October 2014, to just run a single X’Trapolis train on the line each morning, but with a speed restrictor on the throttle and two drivers in the cab.

Following changes to level crossing timings on the line in August 2016, the restriction on X’Trapolis trains was removed, allowing any X’Trapolis set to run revenue services to Frankston, and more amazingly a decade later, the bulk of the level crossings on the Frankston line don’t even exist anymore.

And a third kind of rubbish

For decades this ancient advertisement for Medibank Private faced passengers at Melbourne Central platform 1.

But 2014 saw this billboard finally removed from the platform wall, replaced by the ‘Xtrack TV’ digital screens with their insipid loop of advertisements – with audio soundtrack.

And Medibank Private – it’s still just as useless as the rest of the Australian private health insurance system.

Footnote

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

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Regional Rail Link

Yes, more Regional Rail Link this month! First off, a V/Line train headed over the newly upgraded North Melbourne flyover bound for Southern Cross, avoiding the suburban trains down below.

The sharp curves catching V/Line unaware a few years later, when almost the entire VLocity train fleet was withdrawn from service due to wheel wear issues.

At Footscray the upgraded station was open to passengers, with the forecourt to Irving Street nicely landscaped.

And restoration work underway on the heritage listed station buildings.

There were also works happening in the background – a new traction power substation was under construction, so that extra suburban services could use the track capacity freed up by giving V/Line trains their own route into the city.

But despite the infrastructure upgrades, little use was made of the extra capacity – by 2018 only half of the extra capacity was being used.

And still on the trains

I photographed a slice of the past out at Beaconsfield, where the 1950s-era overhead wiring and traction power tie station was still in place. It’s all since been replaced by a modern power supply as part of the work to support the rollout of High Capacity Metro Trains to the Pakenham line.

At Flagstaff station I found a set of defective myki gates under repair – presumably from being smashed open by a fare evader.

While over at Southern Cross were Authorised Officers in their new military-style vests, looking out for the next person trying the same trick.

On the trams

A decade ago City Circle trams were still in the maroon and gold livery, and the ‘shard’ at Federation Square had yet to be demolished for the Metro Tunnel entrance.

The original Z1 class trams were also still running down Swanston Street, with only two doors per side and dinky little sliding windows.

East Preston Depot was still open to serve the high floor B2 class trams used on route 11 and 86 – all since replaced by the low floor E class trams based out of ‘New’ Preston Depot.

While testing of the new E class trams was still continuing – I found one at the route 57 terminus in West Maribyrnong on a late night test run.

Meanwhile on Collins Street, things were going backwards – passengers having to step up to trams from street level.

The platform stops closed so they could be dug up and raised to current standards, despite only being a decade old.

Buses

Transdev had taken over from National Bus, but the transition into the new PTV colour scheme was going in fits and starts.

While route 286 through the back streets of Blackburn was removed, but then a few months later, reintroduced as route 271.

Another changed bus stop can be found at Melbourne Airport – the route 901 service to Broadmeadows and eventually Frankston once stopped outside Qantas terminal T1.

But these days it’s hidden at the far end of the ‘Ground Transport Hub’, a long walk from terminal 4.

And something different

My next stop at Melbourne Airport a decade ago was Brisbane.

Catching a train from Brisbane Airport into the city.

To Roma Street – the Brisbane Transit Centre since demolished for the Cross River Rail project.

While I was in town, I photographed some of their first generation EMU trains.

The Merivale Bridge.

And buses on the network of Brisbane City Council operated busways.

Which include underground bus stations.

Passengers boarding buses from air conditioned platforms.

But the reason for my visit was a trip on The Sunlander.

A locomotive hauled sleeping train that ran from Brisbane to Cairns until December 2014.

When I woke up the next day, we were well into cane country.

But the trip north is a long one – not arriving into Cairns until that evening.

While in Cairns I rode the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway up to Kuranda, and with some lucky timing spotted a Kuranda-bound train stopped at Barron Falls.

After lunch, it was time to head to Kuranda station, where I found a signal box still in service.

And caught the Kuranda Scenic Railway back down the range to Cairns.

Unfortunately I didn’t have time for the four day journey on the Savannahlander, but I did see it arrive back into Cairns.

But it was time to fly home via Sydney – my plane passing over the Hawkesbury River railway bridge on our descent.

The Inner West Light Rail

And a Pacific National container train shunting the freight yard at Cooks River.

Time to change planes, and soon enough I was back in Melbourne – greeted at the airport luggage claim by propaganda for the Napthine Government’s East West Link, CityLink Tulla Widening, and an unfunded Melbourne Airport Rail Link.

A decade on we’ve gotten the west half of the East West Link, the Tullamarine Freeway has been widening, and airport rail – still talking.

Footnote

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

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I set off from the CBD at C̶i̶r̶c̶u̶l̶a̶r̶ ̶Q̶u̶a̶y̶ the Ferry Building.

The ferry set off across the water, C̶e̶n̶t̶r̶e̶p̶o̶i̶n̶t̶ ̶T̶o̶w̶e̶r̶ Sky Tower above the skyline.

The arch of the S̶y̶d̶n̶e̶y̶ ̶H̶a̶r̶b̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶B̶r̶i̶d̶g̶e̶ Auckland Harbour Bridge to one side.

Navy ships moored at the G̶a̶r̶d̶e̶n̶ ̶I̶s̶l̶a̶n̶d̶ Devonport Naval Base.

As we headed across S̶y̶d̶n̶e̶y̶ ̶H̶a̶r̶b̶o̶u̶r̶ Waitematā Harbour.

Before our arrival at the M̶a̶n̶l̶y̶ Devonport ferry pier.

There I realised I could catch a bus back to the city.

So I caught a local bus to the M̶a̶n̶l̶y̶ ̶V̶a̶l̶e̶ Akoranga busway station.

And jumped on a B̶-̶L̶i̶n̶e̶ Northern Busway double decker bus.

To the northern terminus of M̶o̶n̶a̶ ̶V̶a̶l̶e̶ Albany.

And then hopped on a bus headed back south towards the W̶a̶r̶r̶i̶n̶g̶a̶h̶ ̶F̶r̶e̶e̶w̶a̶y̶ Northern Motorway.

I found a separate set of lanes to one side, o̶n̶c̶e̶ ̶u̶s̶e̶d̶ ̶b̶y̶ ̶t̶r̶a̶m̶s̶ ‘cliped-on’ to the original bridge.

On the other side there was a tangle of exits from the W̶e̶s̶t̶e̶r̶n̶ ̶D̶i̶s̶t̶r̶i̶b̶u̶t̶o̶r̶ Auckland Northern Motorway.

And there it was – S̶y̶d̶n̶e̶y̶ ̶ Auckland!

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Trams

We start off with me being featured in The Age on the subject of a tram stop in Ascot Vale that kept being hit by motorists.

Also on the tram front, I spotted Victoria Police offices pulling over a motorist who drove through a tram stop on Swanston Street.

Meanwhile on Flemington Road I found buses driving along the tram tracks.

Route 59 trams terminating on Flemington Road due to the tram tracks along Mount Alexander Road in Travencore being replaced.

These works also isolated Essendon Depot where trams would park at night, so the route 55 tracks through Royal Park were converted into a temporary stabling location.

Which forced route 55 passengers onto replacement buses as well.

Trains

Regional Rail Link is an ongoing theme in this series, and in February 2014 the original tracks through Footscray towards Sunshine had been dug up.

With both V/Line and suburban trains diverted onto the new platform 1 and 2 to allow the new V/Line track pair to be constructed.

Privately owned automatic lockers were installed at the Swanston Street end of Melbourne Central station, only to be ripped out a few months later thanks to the ratcheting up of the national terrorism alert level.

But one thing that hasn’t changed is junk clogged up the entrance to Southern Cross Station – this month we had the ‘Exhibition of Lost Souls’ to promote the film ‘Wolf Creek 2’.

And a Victorian Government ‘use the Right Water’ promotion on the main concourse.

And something I haven’t seen for a few years – Metro Trains Melbourne at the Chinese New Year festival in Chinatown, giving away free balloons.

Down the pub

Remember the Savoy Tavern opposite Spencer Street Station?

The 1970s pub lay derelict for 15 years, until it reopened in 2014 after a minor refurbishment – only to close again in 2016 when the site was cleared to make way for the apartment tower that is currently on the site.

And a trip to Sydney

A friend invited me up to Sydney to visit, so I decided to turn it into a long weekend and spend the day on the train rather than fly. The XPT departed Southern Cross at 8.30am.

I jumped out for a quick photo at Albury.

Wagga Wagga.

Cootamundra.

And Goulburn.

Before we arrived into Sydney just on 8.30pm.

The next day I visited the usual touristy spots, like Circular Quay.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge.

And the Sydney Opera House.

Which was busy having the front steps replaced.

I can’t go anywhere without taking a photo of a train.

But I’m a fan of ferries as well – modern ones like the Sydney RiverCats.

And the classic Freshwater-class ferries on the Manly run.

I also headed past the since demolished Sydney Harbour Control Tower and the then-incomplete Barangaroo development.

My destination – Cockatoo Island.

A former shipyard.

Unfortunately I didn’t have another spare day to catch the train home to Melbourne, so I was off to Sydney Airport.

Sitting in a cheap seat with Jetstar.

Who luckily took me right over the top of the Craigieburn Train Maintenance Facility in Melbourne’s north.

Footnote

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

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The story starts in 2019, when Melbourne-based bus body builder Volgren was building a prototype electric bus on an imported BYD K9 chassis.

In July 2019 Volgren completed the prototype of its first ever pure-electric bus, a product launch the company is describing as its most significant since it introduced the Optimus route bus in 2013.

The 12.2-metre vehicle is built on a BYD K9 electric bus chassis and features 324-kilowatt hours of battery capacity. It’s capable of travelling up to 300 kilometres on a single charge and will carry a total of 61 passengers; 39 seats and 22 standees, the company states.

Volgren has been investigating electric technology for more than five years and the prototype alone has involved 12 months of planning, research and engineering problem-solving, as well as partnership-building and discussion with BYD – not to mention the build itself.

There is a great deal of pride at Volgren that its first pure-electric vehicle body was not a brand new design, but a modified Optimus.

That’s not to say, however, that this project was merely a matter of Volgren placing its flagship product over BYD’s and getting the wiring right. Kearney explains that the electric vehicle body Volgren developed required a number of new parts, among them “…new moulded solutions for interior finish and fitout”, as well as “…the introduction of a roof-treatment package designed to better integrate the roof-mounted EV equipment into the vehicle”.

To understand how Volgren ensured these components – and the bus as a whole – worked precisely as it needed to, it’s best to go back to 2018.

“We began with some feasibility studies and reviews in early 2018, assessing the product layout, compliance with Australian Design Rules and other regulations, suitability for Australian customer specification and developing a preliminary understanding of the high-voltage systems and their integration,” Kearney said.

In June of that year the company sent two design engineers to China to attend ‘familiarisation training’ with BYD.

“This process also included a review of issues elicited through the feasibility study and the provision of design and product information from BYD to enable commencement of detailed design.”

Kearney says that for assistance with development of the aesthetic roof treatment they turned to Monash University’s Mobility Design Lab. It was a partnership Volgren knew it could count on, having worked with Monash University in the development of the Optimus Route Bus body earlier this decade.

A few months later the Victorian Government announcing an electric bus trial in conjunction with bus operator Transdev Melbourne.

Victoria’s first locally built, fully electric bus will soon begin carrying passengers on one of Melbourne’s busiest routes, thanks to a partnership between the Andrews Labor Government and Transdev.

The bus will run on Route 246 between Elsternwick and Clifton Hill via St Kilda before potentially being used across other inner Melbourne routes.

The body construction and fit out for the new bus was carried out in Dandenong by Volgren, supporting Victorian jobs and backing the local automotive industry to develop new capability and innovation.

The new zero-emission bus is fitted with 324 kWH of Lithium Phosphate batteries providing 300 kilometers of travel range.

The bus will be based at Transdev’s North Fitzroy depot where a charging station has been installed.

The trial will continue until January 2021 and will be reviewed to determine the potential to roll out fully electric buses across Victoria.

However the trial was the idea of Transdev Australasia and not the Victorian Government, as part of what they called ‘Project Aurora‘

The seeds for the company’s zero-emissions ambitions ‘Down Under’ were sown in 2019, following a phone call with Transdev Australasia’s chief engineer Marc Cleave and Volgren Australia.

Dandenong-based Volgren had recently commenced manufacture of its BYD-chassis prototype electric bus – a modified version of its popular Optimus model. For Transdev and Marc Cleave, now somewhat a veteran of the bus manufacturing scene, the call helped to ignite a vision for a zero-emissions fleet in Australia and New Zealand, helping to kick-start internal ‘Project Aurora’.

Transdev had pioneered zero-emissions electric and hydrogen fleets internationally, it says, but usage in the Australian and New Zealand market was still in relative infancy. From our international learnings we knew the value that zero emissions vehicles could add to our local fleets and contracts, which is why we acted quickly in developing Project Aurora.”

Armed with insights about what worked, Transdev quickly set about gathering a group of locally based suppliers to help realise the vision and bring the company’s first electric bus – ‘Aurora 1’ – to Melbourne in November, 2019.

Under Project Aurora, Transdev took delivery of its first new Volgren BYD Optimus electric bus and BYD charging infrastructure in November, 2019, with the bus going into service on Melbourne’s streets in December of that year, as part of a trial with Victoria’s Department of Transport.

The remaining four vehicles rolled off Volgren’s Dandenong production line in March, 2021, with one commencing service in Brisbane in April and three going into service in Sydney in May. Gala events were held in Dandenong, Brisbane and Sydney, with local authorities, stakeholders and industry to celebrate the launch of the new fleet.

Tessari says the commissioning of the Transdev fleet as part of Project Aurora was significant for the company.

Transdev Australasia funded three of the five vehicles delivered under Project Aurora. Transport for NSW directly funded two vehicles for Sydney, which Transdev procured on its behalf.

“We wanted to demonstrate zero-emissions technology by investing our own cash in it. It’s here now, and it’s the future now that we want to promote to government and show that public transport can be decarbonised,” Craig added.

The trial bus was given fleet number #3000 and registration plate BS05MR, with the first stage of the trial program commencing in December 2019 on route 246, followed by stage two in October 2020 on route 250, and stage three in May 2021 on route 903.

November 2021 also saw the electric bus receive special ‘Ride with Pride’ decals on the side.

But then bad news for Transdev Melbourne – in October 2021 it was announced that their bid for an extension of their Melbourne Bus Franchise contract had failed, and that a new operator would take over – Kinetic, parent company of Melbourne’s SkyBus service.

As a result, once the electric bus trial ended in October 2021, Transdev Melbourne withdrew the bus from their fleet, and sent up to Transdev NSW to join their fleet of four other electric buses operating in Sydney.

Video by NSW Transport on YouTube

Where it also lived a short life, being withdrawn from service in July 2023 and placed into storage.

The only consolation prize for Melbourne – Transdev’s successor Kinetic has to introduce 36 electric buses to their fleet by mid-2025.

Transit Systems in Melbourne’s west also purchasing electric buses.

Along with Sunbury Bus Service.

Ventura in Melbourne’s east.

And Mitchell Transit in Seymour.

But not much of an improvement over the massive order for 50 hybrid buses CDC Melbourne made back in 2019.

CDC Melbourne photo

Footnote: the gory details

History of Transdev’s trial electric bus #3000 from Australian Bus Fleet Lists:

Chassis Type:
BYD D9RA

Chassis No:
LC04S44S4J1000003

Body Manufacturer:
Volgren Optimus

Body No:
VG4899

Body Date:
9/19

Registered BS05MR:
16/12/2021

Transferred to Transdev NSW, and registered as m/o 8190:
24/04/2022

Withdrawn by 29/7/23 and placed in storage

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A trip to Sydney

I spent a few days up in Sydney, and went for a ride on their double deck trains.

Stumbled upon the wooden tread escalators at Wynyard station.

And went for a last ride on the Sydney Monorail.

The Sydney Monorail closed in June 2013, while the wooden escalators were finally retired in 2017.

Southern Cross Station is a joke

I’ve written before about the joke that is Southern Cross Station – Grand Prix merchandise stalls blocking the main entrance.

The hopeless tram stop at the corner of Bourke and Spencer Streets, where cars have priority.

And V/Line trains not arriving on the platform until a minute before departure time.

A decade later – nothing has changed.

Regional Rail Link

Something far more positive was work ramping up on the Regional Rail Link project.

The rail yards beside North Melbourne station were a busy worksite, as the dedicated V/Line tracks towards Southern Cross Station took shape.

Work also underway beside the Heavenly Queen Temple for a third bridge over the Maribyrnong River at Footscray.

Outside Footscray another two tracks were being threaded through what was then an industrial wasteland.

And the Hopkins Street bridge was down to just two lanes, so that the bridge could be extended over the new tracks.

Footscray station was also getting dug up.

To make way for the new suburban platforms next to Irving Street.

The old West Footscray station was still in place for now.

But work on the new station had just started.

Tottenham station still had two tracks for now.

But at Sunshine work on the new station concourse had started.

Meanwhile on the greenfields section between Deer Park and Werribee, new bridges were taking shape to carry roads over the future railway.

The station building at Wyndham Vale was emerging.

Soon to take over from the token bus service.

The railway cutting through the Manor Lakes estate had also been started.

Tonnes upon tonnes of solid basalt rock needing to be removed.

While down the line at Manor Junction, heavy duty dump trucks were helping to building the grade separated junction with the existing route towards Geelong.

The first sections of Regional Rail Link opened from October 2013, with the complete route via Tarneit and Wyndham Vale stations opened in June 2015.

And some other bits

I went on a trip to the Murray River at Tocumwal with Steamrail Victoria.

Special trains still make the journey up to the Murray from time to time, despite V/Line services only running as far north as Shepparton.

Remember Melbourne Bike Share? I found staff taking bikes back to the top of the Swanston Street hill. The service closed down in November 2019.

As for cycling to the inner north-west, Flemington Road was a joke then, and still is today.

And remember Safeway?

Rebranding as Woolworths commenced in 2008, with the final store changed over in 2017.

Footnote

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

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Heading up to Albury

I followed the Hume Highway up at Albury, and stopped in at Seymour, where I found the Travellers Aid ‘Connection Assistance’ service transporting passengers through the railway station underpass.

And saw the northbound Melbourne-Sydney train speed past me.

At Violet Town I visited the Southern Aurora Memorial Garden, which commemorates the crash of the Southern Aurora passenger train in February 1969.

Closer to Albury, the near new VLocity trains were actually running a service that day.

And on the other side of town, I found V/Line’s retired fleet of carriages stored in some sidings, covered in graffiti.

Taking the back roads

Along the way I found country pubs.

Overgrown cemeteries.

Quiet railway stations.

And abandoned ones.

Repeater huts for the Sydney–Melbourne co-axial cable

The Headlie Taylor Header Museum.

The Rock Regional Observatory

And field after field of canola.

Junee, a railway town

I stopped in at the railway town of Junee.

Going for a wander around the Junee Roundhouse Railway Museum.

And took a drive out to the Bethungra Spiral.

Where northbound trains loop around the hill via a tunnel.

And then cross back over themselves, as they climb the grade towards Sydney.

Random industries along the way

At Benalla I found the largest precast concrete facility in the Southern Hemisphere.

Churning out concrete tunnel lining segments for the West Gate Tunnel project.

At Ettamogah I went past the former Norske Skog paper mill.

At the Wodonga Logistics Precinct the state government had just paid $5.5 million for a new natural gas connection.

And in the paddocks outside Uranquinty I found a gas fired power station.

Outside Wagga Wagga was industry galore – the Austrak plant was churning out concrete railway sleepers.

Enirgi Power Storage had a lead acid battery recycling facility.

And Southern Oil Refining had a lube oil recycling plant.

At Berrima I found the Boral cement works.

Maldon had the Allied Mills flour mill.

Outside Marulan I had to stop for an off-road dump truck crossing my path.

And finally, on the Hum Highway I breezed by the Marulan heavy vehicle inspection station.

Photographing freight trains

Of course I’m not going to drive all the way up to New South Wales and not photograph freight trains!

Yet I managed to find the same steel train that goes past my house every day.

Grain trains were the big thing this time of the year.

Trains run by multiple operators.

Moving the harvest in conventional hopper wagons.

As well as specialised containers.

Something different was a train transporting containerised ore to Port Kembla.

Port rail shuttles at Port Botany.

Triple headed intrastate container trains to regional terminals.

And the garbage train which transports Sydney’s waste to a giant landfill outside Canberra.

Rail in, rail out

At the Berrima cement works I found the whole supply chain moving by rail.

Lime from Marulan South.

And aggregate from the Lynwood quarry.

And finished cement despatched by rail.

Along with clinker for further processing.

Coal, coal, coal

Coal is big business up in New South Wales.

And I saw train hauling it everywhere.

Snaking through suburban railway stations.

And through the hills.

Bound for the export terminal at Port Kembla.

A weekend of heritage trains

The October long weekend in NSW was of rail heritage events – the first being Streamliners 2022 at the Goulburn Roundhouse Railway Museum.

With fireworks closing out the event.

The Lachlan Valley Railway was also running train trips from Goulburn to Tarago.

I also visited the Goulburn Crookwell Heritage Railway.

Going for a ride on their gangers trolleys.

Meanwhile Sydney had their annual Transport Heritage Expo.

Steam trains running trips throughout the weekend.

Along with Sydney’s early single-deck electric trains.

Country railcars.

And heritage double decker buses.

Trams in Sydney

I finally got to see the completed CBD and South East Light Rail.

Which uses as wire free power supply down to Circular Quay.

I also paid a visit to the Sydney Tramway Museum.

Where I ended up on a *Melbourne* tram.

And ferries

I couldn’t go to Sydney without photographing a few ferries, including the new Emerald class.

And River class.

But I’m a fan of the older First Fleet class.

And the classic double ended Manly ferries.

Along the Illawarra

I headed down towards Wollongong despite some horrible weather.

Finding trains winding their way down the escarpment.

Along a curving railway.

Following the coast.

Until they finally ended up at the tiny stations of the Port Kembla branch line.

Shipping steel at Port Kembla

I couldn’t miss visiting the Bluescope Port Kembla steelworks.

Iron ore comes in by ship.

Finished steel is shunted around the complex for processing.

And then despatched by rail.

Down the South Coast

I headed down to Kiama, where electric trains terminate.

Passengers switching to a diesel railcar for the last few stops to Bomaderry.

There I found a long grain train headed in the same direction.

Bound for the Shoalhaven Starches plant at Bomaderry, which will turn the grain into wheat starch, gluten and ethanol.

And up into the hills

I took the back roads from Bomaderry back towards the Southern Highlands, driving over the heritage listed Hampden Bridge – one of the few suspension bridges in Australia.

Headed up towards Moreton National Park.

And found Fitzroy Falls.

This scary looking spillway at Pejar Dam.

And what looked like a canal blasted through solid rock.

Which I later discovered was part of the Shoalhaven Scheme – a pumped-storage hydroelectricity facility.

The rain finally clears

After days of rain the sky finally cleared, but the roads were still closed due to flooding.

Looks like I won’t be driving this way!

But at least on one spot along my route, a new high level bridge had opened just in time, taking the road clear of the floodwaters.

Off to Canberra

I decided I’d make a detour via Canberra.

Checking out what passes for the rail service between Sydney and Canberra.

I found a V/Line coach leaving Canberra on the long drive to Bairnsdale.

And the well used first stage of the Canberra Light Rail.

About to be extended south to Woden.

I also made the trip out to the back blocks of Canberra to find their tram depot.

Found one of ACTION’s old orange high floor buses.

A bus with a bike loaded on the front rack.

And dozens of the classic Canberra concrete bus shelters.

And homeward bound

At Albury I found a familiar face – a VLocity train awaiting awaiting departure time for Melbourne.

I decided to head over to Shepparton to capture the end of locomotive hauled trains on that line.

Shunter at work coupling the locomotive up to the carriages.

By the time I got to Murchison East, I was drenched.

My next stop – Bendigo.

My target – Comeng trains awaiting scrapping.

But the weather wasn’t on my side, flood waters rising.

So I high tailed it home, narrowly beating the waters that flooded central Victorian towns like Colbinabbin.

That ended two weeks on the road, followed by two months editing the resulting photos.

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Off to Sydney

We start this month at Melbourne Airport, where the terminal was in disarray on July 18. But staff shortages weren’t to blame this time – but a power outage.

Leaving the split-flap display board in the international terminal stuck mid-message on ‘Ouckau8hko Jcahao’.

Out airside Virgin Australia was midway through it’s rebranding from Virgin Blue.

And Tiger Airways was still flying.

An hour later, my flight was on the final approach to Sydney Airport.

Down on the tarmac, I snapped a since-retired Qantas 747-400ER taking off.

Then made my way to the airport station to catch a train.

I did the cliche stuff like checking out the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

As well as checking out stuff like the decommissioned toll gates.

Headed to the top of the Sydney Tower to photograph the trains down below.

Down to the tangle of tracks that are the Flying Junctions outside Central.

I stumbled upon the “Pre Production Trial Vehicle” for Sydney’s new fleet of Waratah trains.

And stared in wonder at the realtime train data provided to platform staff at Central Station.

Riding the Sydney Monorail

The real reason for my trip was to ride the Sydney Monorail before it’s upcoming closure.

I went past all of the hackspots.

Wandering around Darling Harbour.

Down to the monorail depot hidden away in the back blocks.

Along the way I found forgotten signage from the TNT Harbourlink era.

And a complicated looking joint in the monorail beam across Pyrmont Bridge.

Used to allow the monorail beam to pivot out of the way of tall ships.

Ding ding

In 2012 the Sydney Light Rail was still using the fleet of 1990s Variotrams.

But I also made my way out to the Sydney Tramway Museum to ride their museum fleet.

And I found a Melbourne W class sitting in their display shed.

And back to Melbourne

My welcome back to Melbourne – going for a cruise down the Yarra River towards the West Gate Bridge.

And back up under the Bolte Bridge.

Far less entertaining was getting kicked off my train home thanks to a door fault.

The entire train load of passengers turfed off at Newmarket station.

Left hoping that we’d be able to catch the next train to come along.

The rollout of Myki was still crawling along, with new ticket gates installed at the south end of Parliament station.

But at least the new Swanston Street platform stops were finally finished!

Leading to the closure of the tram stop at Swanston and Lonsdale Streets.

Some passengers oblivious to the ‘tram stop closed’ signs.

Some things that have changed

Before Regional Rail Link opened in 2015 V/Line and Metro trains shared the tracks through Footscray.

It seems hard to believe today, but until 2016 Flagstaff station was closed all day Saturday, Sunday and Public Holidays.

And until 2015 free copies of the mX newspaper were being handed out to evening commuters.

And some that are odd

On a visit to the Port of Melbourne, I found six X’Trapolis carriages sitting on the wharf, fresh off the boat at Appleton Dock.

We also had the strange situation of a ‘Sydenham’ train line that terminated at Watergardens station – a designation that ended following the extension of electric train to Sunbury.

Box Hill is an odd station – still using ancient CRT screens for the next train displays.

A McDonald’s counter facing into the paid area of the station.

And a complete trackless platform – unused since the 1980s.

I also found a trackless platform at Southern Cross – completed as part of the Regional Rail Link project, but yet to have track installed.

But the most harebrained thing I found was some antennas fitted to a Comeng train.

The antennas were part of a $5.5 million three-year project, testing whether wireless communication between trains and road vehicles would reduce the number of level crossing collisions.

Looking back, spending millions to install radio transmitters on each and every train, along with dedicated receivers in each and every road vehicle, just to give idiot motorists another warning to ignore, sounds like a stupid idea – especially since we’ve physically removed 65+ conflict points between road and rail in the past 10 years.

And a NBN footnote

I also ended up at the NBN Co. Discovery Centre in Melbourne.

Showing off fibre in pits.

Curbside fibre distribution hubs.

And junction boxes for multiple unit dwellings (MDUs).

All were part of the Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) network that was planned to cover Australia, but later abandoned for the half-baked “Multi Technology Mix” of Fibre to the Node (FTTN), Fibre to the Curb (FTTC) and legacy Hybrid Fibre Coaxial (HFC) networks.

Footnote

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

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I’ve spotted them up in Queensland, where they use the 25 kV AC electrification system.

I’ve spotted them over in Adelaide, which also adopted the same voltage for their new electric trains.

And I’ve noticed them in Sydney, which uses the same 1500 volt DC system as Melbourne.

And curiously, on the Sydney Light Rail, which uses 750 volt DC power for traction.

The reason for these insulation gaps is safety – if the overhead lines that power trains fall to the ground, the last thing you want to happen is the entire railway station become live, and electrocute any passengers who happen to be touching a metal object! By providing insulated gaps in metal fences between the ‘trackside’ and ‘station’ sections, this risk is reduced.

Back in Melbourne, I’ve never seen an insulated gap in our station fences – only jumper cables between the overhead stanchions and the running rails.

And grounding connections between the tram fences and the tram tracks.

It makes me wonder – why doesn’t Melbourne have insulated gaps in the metal fences around out railway lines?

Some recent developments

About five years ago Melbourne started adding some new.

Insulating plastic shrouds around overhead stanchions on station platforms.

I wonder what the driver for their rollout was?

Further reading

The Transport for NSW Asset Standards Authority (ASA) has published Guideline on Earthing and Bonding at Railway Stations that explains the safety issues further.

At railway stations, three main types of risks may exist:

1. Risks associated with 1500V DC stray leakage or fault current.
2. Electric shock risk due to 1500V DC touch & step potential rise under fault condition
3. Electric shock risk due to high voltage/low voltage distribution systems’ touch & step potential rise under fault condition

There is a possibility that overhead wiring structures may rise to a potential above earth. The risk of persons receiving an electric shock when standing beside an overhead wiring structure and touching the structure is present and is of concern.

Other hazardous situations where persons could receive an electric shock is when physical contact is made by touching overhead wiring structures at the same time as they touch lighting poles, metallic parts of canopies or awnings, steel troughing, metal fences or rolling stock.

In order to minimise these risks, methods have been developed and deployed for the overhead wiring system.

As well as a document detailing the specifications for insulation panels found in their fences.

Insulation Panels

Insulation panels, a minimum of 2200mm in length, are required in metallic fencing in the electrified area to break the fence up into short electrically isolated sections. The panels consist of the fence material with supporting posts that are non-metallic. The panels are installed where ‘continuous’ fencing:

• would otherwise approach within 2.0 metres of an OHW structure (including any metallic attachments to the OHW structure such as switch handles, back anchor guy rods etc)
• would otherwise approach within 2.0 metres of station fences, foot bridges, rail bridges, entrance fences and metallic buildings
• runs parallel to, and within 2.0 metres of, above ground metallic signalling/cable troughing or air lines. The insulating panels must be located directly adjacent to the insulated joint in the signalling/cable troughing or air lines
• meets any high voltage substation fence (either RailCorp or local electricity distributor). Where the substation earth mat extends outside the substation fence, ‘continuous fencing must not enter the area of the earth mat.
• meets any pole mounted or pad mounted substation (either RailCorp or local electricity distributor). The ‘continuous’ fencing must not enter the area of the earth mat. The continuous fencing must also not be closer than 2.0 metres from exposed substation metal fittings.

Insulation panels are to be installed:

• to ensure that persons cannot contact ‘continuous’ fencing and any other metallic service such as OHW structures, station fences (associated with the station low voltage earthing system and water pipes) and footbridges that extend outside RailCorp property,
• at approximately 300 metre intervals in the ‘continuous’ fencing (with a maximum spacing of 800m in areas away from above ground signal troughing).

The non-metallic posts shall have a clearance of minimum 50 mm and maximum 100 mm from the adjacent metallic post of the ‘continuous’ fencing. Each non-metallic post must have a warning sign attached as shown on the drawing.

The bottom rail shall be installed so as to remain 80 mm clear of the ground.

Security and High Security Fences

When installing security and high security fencing, the fence shall be designed and positioned so to reduce or eliminate the requirement for insulation panels. Where insulation panels are required and can not be avoided, they shall be of a design that complements the high security performance of these fence types.

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Throughout the AFL season V/Line runs additional trains between Geelong and Melbourne, transporting Cats fans to Etihad Stadium and the MCG.

Geelong made it into both the 2009 AFL Grand Final, so for the occasion V/Line added a special ‘Geelong Cats’ headboard to the front of some trains.

V/Line also timetabled trains direct to Richmond for easy access to the MCG, and the reverse after the game. These operational changes required 20 pages of special instructions for railway staff, detailing the timetable of each of the additional trains, and the rolling stock reallocations required to free up the trains that would be used.

They also included a special instruction tailored to Geelong supporters, known for walking out at three quarter time if their team is losing – trains depart early if the Cats are down.

Are there any other teams where the supporters beat the traffic by walking out?

A footnote on football crowds

The MCG is served by Richmond and Jolimont stations but crowding is a problem – as Daniel Bowen explains.

Compare this to Olympic Park in Sydney.

Which has a station specially designed for sporting crowds.

Olympic Park station is located on a single track balloon loop spur line, but features two tracks and four platform faces.

Ordinarily, the centre island platform is used for both boarding and alighting, but this changes when the station is operating in major event mode. In this mode, the centre island platform is used by alighting passengers and the two side platforms are brought into use for boarding passengers.

But the brand new Perth Stadium shows what how it is done.

Diagram by WA Department of Sport and Recreation

With six platform faces across three island platforms, departing passengers are segregated by destination, and two stabling yards are located nearby, allowing up to 23 six-car trains to hit the tracks as soon as patrons start to walk out of the ground.

Footnote

Continuing on the Perth theme, here is the ‘New Perth Stadium’ transport project definition plan.

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