Railways - Mildura line 2

I'm re-posting the Mildura line, as I've added some more information and photos of stops. This one does not replace the original post from November, but I've swapped some photos added new ones of current views.

Mildura/Yelta (Ballarat to Ouyen) Line The line was opened between Ballarat and Maryborough by 1875, and extended to St Arnaud in December 1878, Donald in February 1882, and Ouyen by 1903. 

Emu station in 1971 (from "VR stations & stopping places")

Local stations - Emu was named after the nearby Emu Creek, it is still an important crossing loop, and the basic facilities replaced a station in the same style as that of Bealiba and Cope Cope. 

Emu today

Carapooee a lone peppercorn tree marks the site of the station.

The railway reached St Arnaud in December 1878, while the station was built  in 1879, the building was reflecting the gold mining heritage. Made of brick with cast iron verandah supports, the station master’s residence was incorporated into the design. No passenger trains have called here since 1993, the yard still sees use for freight. It is on the register of heritage buildings, as well as the unusual  hemispherical water tower, the last of this design remaining.

The St Arnaud turntable with the water tank behind & station building behind that

Sutherland the silos are all that remain of Sutherland which also boasted a school and church. 

Trees stand behind the Sutherland platform mound

Swanwater

Swanwater silos

Cope Cope  opened in January 1882, when the line was extended from St Arnaud to Donald in April 1882. A large wooden station containing offices, and a station master’s residence was erected on the site of the original state school, railway engineers moved the building aside to lay the rails. The station and goods buildings were demolished some time after 1986. Now only a raised mound of earth marks the spot.
Talking with an ex-railwayman, he believes there was also a siding named Laen, south of Donald.
The line reached Donald in February1882, during the summer drought of 1881-82, so the railway was needed to cart water to the town (nearly 2 million gallons of water were delivered to the town before the drought broke). The line opened for passengers and mail in April 1882.

Chute of the Cope Cope silo looking across the platform mound to a railway house

Donald Freezing Company Siding this complex deserves its own post. On the outskirts of the Donald township, straddling its own track, are the rusting remains of the Donald Inland Freezing Company's buildings. Covering 10 acres most of the buildings are abandoned or converted to other uses. The freezing section was turned into a yabby (freshwater crayfish) production plant 'Oz Crays' during the 1980s (now derelict), and the north-most section is home to 'Kooka's Country Cookies' (established in 1990s). Only the portion of the rail-line to the grain silos is utilised.

Freezer works on the left of the line, and the slaughterhouse on the right

Donald was the line’s terminus, until 1893 when the tracks pushed northwards. A 50' turntable was constructed. In 1914 the 4 locomotive engine shed was destroyed by fire, volunteers manually pulled a large DD engine from the shed while the other 3 could not be reached. A million bushel silo was erected in 1963. Passenger services ceased in 1993, and the Queen Anne style brick station building and passenger platform are no longer in use, but the station remains an active freight centre with a sizable yard and the large corrugated iron goods shed. 

Donald station building, with the silos looming behind

Donald was a changeover point for drivers and a large crew of railway workers were based in the town, a large contingent lived in Donald, and it saw the construction of a Railways Institute in 1963, across from the station yard. The building and grounds are now derelict since the rationalisations of the 1970s and 80s saw most of the job positions disappear.

The V.R. institute & bowling green

Donald marks the southern boundary of the 'Mallee', and as the line proceeded northwards it traversed wide plains of marginal farming land. During droughts week-long dust storms caused sand drift to accumulate on the tracks, derailling some trains.
Buloke is only mentioned on some maps. The siding was on a crossing of the Sunraysia Highway near the southern shore of Lake Buloke.

Litchfield was a wooden portable building and platform at the wheat siding. By January 1990 the platform had been removed, now only the silos and a small goods platform remain.

The decaying platform at Litchfield

From the level-crossing at Massey

Massey
Watchem was opened in 1893 (it was goods only in 1892), when the line reached Birchip. A grain shed was erected in 1894, the concrete silos were built in 1939, with the steel bins added later. The Oat Growers Shed was erected in 1959. Bunkers were created in 1982. The stockyards were demolished in the late 1960s. The long demountable station building had an extra roof attached to the present roof, to form greater protection, and a verandah for passengers, prior to 1912. Passenger services ended in May 1990. The building was removed to High Street during 1991 to become a residence, only the long wide platform now remains.

Morton Plains was established in 1893 when the line was extending from Donald to Birchip. Passenger traffic peaked in 1923/4 then declined to the point it ceased in October 1966. Stock yards were erected in 1900. The silo opened in 1941.

Morton Plains, looking remarkably like a reverse of the Massey photo

A Bulldog goods train at Birchip in the late 1910s (V.R.S. photo)

Birchip was the line's terminus from March 1893 until September 1899, when the track extended to Woomelang. The  Queen Anne station building with terracotta roof is used by the local electrician, and the nearby silos for grain.

Birchip station, the same design as at Donald

Karyrie (station no. 204) alternate suggested names were 'Woodlands' and 'Towma', but Railway Commissioners stuck with local homestead 'Karyrie'. It boasted a gangers residence until 1953 when the passenger service ended. Stock facilities existed from 1907 till 1953. Wheat was only stacked at Karyrie in bags. The station closed in January 1954.

The line reached Kinnabulla (station no. 205) in 1899 and passengers, stock and grain used the station until 1973 when the buildings, platform and facilities were removed or demolished, and Kinnabulla remained solely for grain transportation. Talking with the daughter of one of the Kinnabulla gangers last week, she reminisced about her time when there were 3 ganger family houses and a stationmaster.

Sheepyards at Kinnabulla with the fences made from railway sleepers

Curyo, Curyo is the Aboriginal word for a kind of small kangaroo. It was the name chosen for Hugh Mann and James Falconer’s pastoral station north of Birchip, which was taken up in 1847. The Curyo railway station was a 24 hour manned small demountable structure, on an important loop which survives as a block point. A town and community grew around the railway, but in April 1976 the station was de-staffed and the residence demolished, the changeover loop dismantled in August 1988, and the platform leveled in July 1989.

Curyo weighbridge & silos

Watchupga was officially opened in September 1899. Passenger services and stock handling  finished in 1966. It was de-staffed in February 1970.

Woomelang remained a terminus from 1899 until 1903, when the line was finally put right through to Mildura. A large standard wooden building was erected with several large tanks, a pumping plant, turnable and engine sheds. The station closed in 1993, when passenger services were discontinued on the Mildura line. The boarded-over station building, two passenger platforms and a goods shed (loosing its roof) remain.

Entrance to the Woomelang Station

 Lascelles probably opened in 1911 as a staffed station.

Gama

Torpey's Siding There were 3 Torpey families amongst the original settlers to the area in 1901.

The railway crossing at Torpey's Rd

The rail-line was built through thick Mallee scrub from Woomelang to Nowingi in 1902-03. Turriff was named after the manager of the Corrong pastoral station - John Turriff.

Turriff

Speed had a typical Victorian Railway portable  station building, which like Watchem, had the added roof and verandah added to the original roof. In 1989 the structure was removed to the Speed field day site for use as their office. Only the the platform, grain siding and silos remain.

Steps to nowhere - the remains of the platform at Speed

At Tempy the rail-line is bordered by the silos on one side and a roadside park on the other, roughly where the station yard once was. In the park are a number of human-powered, non-mechanical playground toys (like the rocking horse opposite). They were originally at Monash in South Australia which had a large range of non-mechanical playground/fun-park equipment: spring-loaded see-saws, flying foxes, giant slides...Public liability forced the park to tame down the collection and remove the more 'dangerous' toys.

Further information and photographs at

 Victorian Railway Stations and When there were Stations and Neville Gee's "VR stations and stopping places" and John Sargent's "Country railway stations Victoria" series and Mark Bau's VR.net site.