Trains

Work on Regional Rail Link was kicking off at Middle Footscray.

Excavators having rolled in.

To demolish the compulsorily acquired houses along Buckley Street.

Work on the extension of suburban trains to South Morang was almost complete, with track laid up to the future terminus.

As was duplication of the single track section between Keon Park and Epping.

The Metcard ticketing system was still hanging on, but new LCD next train displays were being rolled out.

Southern Cross Station was in the middle of a revamp – adding more shops.

While South Yarra station still had it’s little kiosk sticking out into the concourse opposite the ticket gates.

Things that go bump

On 26 November 2011 a V/Line train bound for Albury derailed at West Footscray.

The train split between two tracks.

The incident investigation report finding:

Shortly after its exit from the Bunbury Street tunnel the locomotive encountered a track defect at a location beneath the Nicholson Street road overbridge in Footscray that caused the derailment of one wheelset.

The train continued for about 1200 metres with the locomotive in this partially-derailed state until it encountered a turnout, resulting in the complete derailment of the locomotive and the first passenger car, and the derailment of the leading bogie of the second passenger car.

There were no injuries to passengers or V/Line personnel; however the track sustained significant damage.

Trams

Back in May 2011 work started on platform stops along Swanston Street – months later, the stop outside Melbourne Central was still incomplete.

Yarra Trams marking November with fuzzy Movember moustaches on the front of their trams.

They’ve missed a few Movembers in the years that have followed, and switched to a simpler stick on decal.

And some other bits

A $300 million expansion of Highpoint Shopping Centre was underway, with tower cranes at work on the 30,000 sqm extension, taking the centre to a total of 156,000 sqm.

Mobil petrol stations on the way out, having been taken over by 7-Eleven.

Down at the west end of the Melbourne CBD things were much emptier.

Emporium Melbourne was just a big hole between Little Bourke and Lonsdale Streets.

A day of planespotting

I made a trip out to Melbourne Airport to photograph the procession of planes.

Finding Virgin Blue’s only ‘blue’ plane.

Air New Zealand 747 – since retired.

United Airlines 747 – also retired.

V Australia 777 – subsumed into Virgin Australia.

Skytraders A319 – famous for another reason.

Tiger Airways A320 – merged into Virgin Australia and since retired as a brand.

Singapore Airlines A380 – on hiatus thanks to Covid.

And a Strategic Airlines A330 – liquidated in 2012.

And a trip to Adelaide

I ended November 2011 with a trip to Adelaide.

Where I rode some trams.

Their ‘Jumbo’ railcars.

And the diesel version of Melbourne’s Comeng railcars.

Footnote

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

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A land before COVID

Remember peak hour crowds at CBD railway stations? I wrote about it a decade ago, and ended up in The Age.

In the years since much faster ticket readers by Vix have been deployed at busy stations, but for the past 18 months they’ve been barely used – COVID has cratered patronage.

How about the days when the AFL Grand Final was held in Melbourne? Back in 2011 Collingwood and Geelong were playing, with V/Line running extra trains from Geelong to transports Cats fans to the big game.

V/Line retired their fleet of P class locomotives in 2017, selling them to freight operator Southern Shorthaul Railroad in 2019, and thanks to COVID both the 2020 and 2021 AFL Grand Finals were held interstate.

October also used to be when the Royal Melbourne Show was held, with trains to Showgrounds station to transporting the crowds.

The show has been cancelled for two consecutive years thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the site turned over to a COVID-19 testing site and vaccination hub.

Changes on the railways

Ginifer used to be a station located at ground level.

Flowers placed beside the pedestrian crossing, following yet another person being struck and killed by a train.

And I found more flowers beside a second pedestrian crossing closer to St Albans.

After years of lobbying by local residents, in 2015 level crossings grade separated and new stations were built at Ginifer and St Albans, but there was one omission – the pedestrian crossing between them was left behind.

And finally down in the shadows of Docklands, I found freight wagons being shunted ready for another trip down the Frankston line.

The entire freight yard was relocated in 2015 to make way for the E-Gate urban renewal project, but the land has since been co-opted by the West Gate ‘Tunnel’ Project, to be covered by a tangle of freeway ramps.

Build it up

At 199 William Street the long abandoned skyscraper was seeing some activity.

Redeveloped as ‘The William‘ the lower floors are the Wyndham Hotel Melbourne, with apartments above.

Out at Melbourne Airport, work was well underway on a new air traffic control tower.

The 75 metre tall tower was built at a cost of $19 million, and took over from the 1970s facility next door in 2014.

Outside of Geelong, work on the $78 million final stage of the Geelong Ring Road was almost complete, with a 4.6 kilometre extension from Anglesea Road at Waurn Ponds to Pettavel Road.

It opened to motorists in 2013, and was followed in 2016 by the $164 million Princes Highway West duplication 25 kilometres from Waurn Ponds to Winchelsea.

A nice change from endless road projects was a brand new rail freight terminal at Spotswood.

Operated by Sadleirs Logistics, the terminal sees freight trains daily.

Changes were afoot on the railway towards Sunbury – electrification works were underway

The $270 million project extended suburban train services from Watergardens to Diggers Rest and Sunbury stations, allowing the retirement of the dedicated V/Line services to Sunbury from November 2012.

And the first extension of the suburban rail network in decades – 3.5 kilometres from Epping to South Morang.

When I visited the civil works were mostly complete, with ballast being dropped along the freshly laid track.

The extended line opened to passengers in April 2012, and cleared the way for a further extension of the railway – 8 kilometres north to Mernda, completed in August 2018.

And tear it down

Between Lonsdale and Little Bourke Street in the CBD there was a massive hole.

That was once occupied by Myer Melbourne.

The site was being cleared for the Emporium Melbourne shopping centre, completed in 2014, and which sits behind the facades of the former Myer store.

Over at the former RAAF Williams airfield in Laverton, I found a runway that wasn’t in very good shape.

Last used in 1998, the site is now the suburb of Williams Landing.

On Buckley Street in Footscray I found a row of abandoned houses, with windows boarded up.

Compulsorily acquired for the Regional Rail Link project, the remaining sliver of land is now occupied by townhouses.

While beside the West Gate Freeway another abandoned building was being demolished – the former West Gate Bridge toll plaza.

Made redundant in 1985 following removal of tolls on the bridge, VicRoads retained the site as a conference centre before selling it to a developer in 2010. The site is now the Expressway Business Park.

Things that are gone

Remember yellow ‘Bumblebee’ trams?

By 2014 the bee themed decals were looking rather tatty, so the trams were repainted into the standard Public Transport Victoria livery.

How about the mX newspaper?

Handed out free to homeward bound commuters at CBD railway stations, readership declined thanks to the rise of smartphones, with the final edition published on 12 June 2015.

And the food court at Southern Cross?

It was located on the mezzanine floor at the Collins Street end, and overlooked the country platforms.

The food court closed in November 2011 to make way for a redevelopment of the food and retail outlets at the station, with a Woolworths Metro supermarket now occupying the site.

And things that are the same

Marketing stalls blocking the main entrance to Melbourne Central Station? Still there!

Waiting 20 minutes for a train on the Craigieburn line after 6pm? Still there!

‘Smartbuses’ stuck in traffic in the Melbourne CBD? Still there!

And something foreboding?

Outside Melbourne Central Station I found a line of people dressed in Tyvek coveralls.

But they weren’t testing patients at a COVID exposure site – but handing out marketing junk for the 2011 film ‘Contagion’.

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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