Archive for November, 2019

Ten years since Connex left Melbourne

Remember when Connex ran suburban trains in Melbourne? November 30 marks ten years since they left Melbourne, and Metro Trains Melbourne took over the operation of the suburban rail network. The fall For years the state government had been underinvesting in rail infrastructure, leading to debacles such as the 2008 Oaks Day failure: Connex did […]

Trucks cutting corners in Melbourne’s inner west

You’d think that someone paid to drive trucks for a living would know how to turn a corner – but from what I’ve seen in Melbourne’s inner west, many struggle to. Somerville Road and McDonald Road, Brooklyn There is a level crossing at the corner of Somerville Road and McDonald Road in the Melbourne industrial […]

Photos from ten years ago: November 2009

Another instalment in my photos from ten years ago series – this time it is November 2009. New infrastructure Work on the new platform at Laverton was well underway, with tracks laid but not connected. At Footscray station the new footbridge was starting to look real. But the rickety old timber bridge was still in […]

Manildra to Melbourne – the sweetest train of all

There are many cargoes that go by rail, but the sweetest one would be the sugar that that Manildra Group transports from northern NSW to Melbourne. The sugar is refined at the Harwood sugar mill in northern New South Wales, near Grafton, in a plant established in 1989 by the Manildra Group and New South […]