Waking up in Geelong

I started taking photos of trains just over a decade ago. So what a better time to borrow an idea from fellow transport blogger Daniel Bowen, and put together a post looking back in time – starting in August 2005.

Eureka Tower was still under construction – Wikipedia says construction commenced in August 2002, with the exterior completed on 1 June 2006.

The roof over the future Southern Cross Station was also well underway – the renaming from Spencer Street Station didn’t occur until 13 December 2005.

Inside the station, the platforms were a mess of raw concrete and temporary fencing, making life difficult for intending passengers.

Down on Flinders Street the last remnants of the flyover at King Street was being demolished.

At Flinders Street Station the last of the original platform ramps was still in place, linking platforms 10 and 11 to the Swanston Street concourse. It was replaced a few months later by escalators and stairs.

At Richmond station an attempt was made to improve the signage presented to passengers, when a LED matrix signage system was installed at the city end. The ‘next train’ part of the display failed on a regular basis and were ditched, with similar functionality not provided until the current LCD screens were installed around the station.

Six Hitachi trains were still in service on the Melbourne suburban network, with ‘Melbourne Airport’ being an option on the destination board.

However the rest of the fleet had already been retired, thanks to the brand new Siemens trains that were still being delivered.

Over at V/Line the locally built VLocity trains had yet to enter passenger service, but could be found around Melbourne on test runs.

Leaving V/Line’s red and blue liveried locomotives and carriages the mainstay of their fleet.

Further reading

Daniel Bowen’s Photos from ten years ago series.

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