Archive for November, 2022

Photos from ten years ago: November 2012

Another instalment in my photos from ten years ago series – this time it is November 2012. Sparks to Sunbury We start the month at Sunbury station, which was in the final days of being a station only served by V/Line trains. Upgraded as part of the Sunbury Electrification Project, the new overhead wires had […]

On the radio talking trains with ABC Ballarat

It happened to me earlier this year and it’s just happened again – a missed call from a radio producer wondering whether I was free to chat on air the next morning on the topic of trains. This time around it was ABC Radio Ballarat, who had seen my recent posts on the Ballarat line […]

Curve easing for faster trains on the Ballarat line

One of the basic rules of railway engineering is that the tighter the radius of a curve, the slower a train has to travel through it to avoid derailing. I’ve written about the history of the Ballarat line a lot recently, including the construction of a deviation to cut the length of the journey between […]

Ballarat trains looping through Bacchus Marsh

One question I’ve seen people ask many a time is why the Ballarat line loops around after passing through Bacchus Marsh, instead of just running in a straight line. But the answer is simple – there is a bloody great big hill in the way. Going for a ride We start on the Melbourne side […]

Wider Network Enhancements and the Metro Tunnel project

One of the marketing lines for Metro Tunnel project is ‘More trains across Melbourne’ – both for the railway lines which will run through the new tunnel under Melbourne, and those which won’t. So how does that work? The PR puff pieces Over on the State Government’s ‘Big Build’ website they give a high level […]