Waking up in Geelong

Another instalment in my photos from ten years ago series – this time a three part post on January 2009.

Road trip!

An extended road trip through Western Victoria was on the agenda, starting down the Princes Highway to Warrnambool.

As I followed the daily freight train down to the container terminal at Warrnambool.

Then return to Melbourne.

I also stopped inspected a long list of abandoned stations along railway west to Adelaide.

Westmere.

Maroona.

Murtoa.

Stawell.

Pura Pura.

Dahlen.

I did see a few freight trains along the way – like this one at Lubeck.

And container wagons in the yard at Horsham.

A few stations had become home to freight wagons stored due to a lack of traffic – grain hoppers at Portland.

And louvred vans at Murtoa.

Out west are also a number of closed railway lines, like the route to Mount Gambier.

Closed in 1995, the level crossings were still in place but the tracks have been paved over.

While at Ararat I found the mothballed Avoca line that ran north to Dunolly.

After a decade lying idle, it was upgraded as part of the Murray Basin Rail Project and reopened to trains in 2018.

Chasing trains

The log train that once ran between Bairnsdale and Geelong is a common theme in my “photos from ten years ago” series, and this month is no different – this time we see the empty train passing through Corio at sunset.

The final log train ran in June 2009.

Back in 2009 V/Line trains were still painted red and blue, such as this Warrnambool bound service passing the abandoned station of Pirron Yallock, just west of Colac.

This was replaced by a grey and white livery in 2007, and the current PTV livery in 2017.

The other notable train I photographed was a refurbished Hitachi train way off the beaten track.

One would never expect to see a suburban train sitting under the roof at Ballarat station.

or headed along the tracks without any overhead wires.

Originally intended to have been retired following the 2006 Commonwealth Games, six Hitachi trains stayed in service with Connex Melbourne thanks to an explosion in patronage on the Melbourne suburban network.

In 2008 rust was found in the floors of the aging trains, which led to the trains being transferred to the Alstom Ballarat workshops for rectification works, which saw them back into service until retired for good in December 2013.

Construction

Work was continuing of the $36 million upgrade of North Melbourne station. The superstructure had been completed.

And the first section of concourse roof had assembled, ready to be slid into place along temporary tracks to it’s final home.

The new concourse was opened to passengers in November 2009.

Construction was also underway on a brand new station on the Craigieburn line at Coolaroo.

Tracks needed to be relocated to make room for the platforms, with the station eventually opening in June 2010.

Over at Southern Cross Station the ‘Yardmasters’ building was starting to take shape north of platform 5 and 6.

While the Myki rollout was slowly proceeding, with the discovery centre at Southern Cross closed for renovations.

So that working ticketing equipment could be installed.

It took until December 2009 for Myki to be accepted for travel on Melbourne trains, in a last ditch attempt to meet a “working by the end of 2009” pledge.

Finally, January 2009 saw an extended heatwave hit Melbourne crippling Melbourne’s rail network, leading to a parliamentary inquiry and a day of free travel for train passengers.

Ticket barriers were thrown open.

With signage at stations telling passengers there was no need to buy a ticket.

Footnote

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