Jolimont Workshops was a railway workshop operated by the Victorian Railways beside Jolimont Yard, near the Melbourne CBD, Australia. Opened in 1917 and dedicated to the maintenance and repair of electric multiple units and locomotives, it was the first part of the yard to be closed and relocated, with demolition completed in 1994. The site is now part of the Melbourne Park tennis complex.
Built as part of the electrification of the Melbourne suburban network, it was the main storage, servicing and maintenance depot for the new fleet of suburban trains. [1] The workshops was erected to the south along Batman Avenues, with the storage sidings located between the running lines. The site had been home to the Princes Bridge locomotive depot built in 1888. This depot had replaced a small engine shed located east of the station of the same name and built in 1859 by the Melbourne and Suburban Railway Company. [2]
In addition to the maintenance of the suburban multiple unit fleet, the E class suburban freight locomotives were housed there from their introduction, as steam locomotives were housed at the North Melbourne Locomotive Depot. The L class mainline electrics followed on their introduction in the 1950s, but were moved with the diesel fleet to the new South Dynon Locomotive Depot in 1964, and the entire E class fleet followed in June 1968. [3]
Until relocated to Spencer Street, the Victorian Railways housed their railmotors fleet at the depot. By the 1950s they included the AEC, Leyland, Dodge, petrol electric, and 102hp, 153hp and 280hp Walker railmotors. [4]
The workshops had a whistle that signalled the start of the workday, which could be heard in the city and surrounding suburbs. Rumored to be a WW2 air raid siren, it was the last industrial whistle in central Melbourne. After the opening of the adjacent Tennis Centre officials asked for the whistle to be silenced, which was eventually done. [4]
The workshops had a main carshed, with tracks leading into it at both the east (Richmond) and west (Flinders Street) ends. The brick car shed was 109 metres wide, 122 to 183 metres long depending on the section, and was designed to be expanded to a uniform width of 305 metres. The car shed was divided into three separate sections: [5]
A 21 m (69 ft) turntable was provided for reversing the cabs of motor cars and driving trailers into the required direction. [5] A carriage wash was also located at the workshops for cleaning the exterior of trains.
The workshops were assigned a variety of different shunting locomotives for use in the yard:
By the mid-1980s the Metropolitan Transit Authority (successor to the Victorian Railways) drew up plans for the closure and decentralisation of the Jolimont Workshops, with new railway facilities to be built around suburban Melbourne. The original plan included: [9]
Of the proposals, the Nunawading facility was dropped due to protests by local residents. Epping Workshops was the first main facility to open, entering service in 1990. [10] Further expansion of workshop facilities did not happen until the rationalisation of Jolimont Yard itself in 1997, with a smaller facility built at Bayswater to replace the abandoned Nunawading facility, while a second was built at Westall instead of that at Oakleigh. [11] Macaulay also gained a light maintenance facility beside the existing stabling yard in 1993. [12] A replacement washing plant and stabling sidings were made operational in Melbourne Yard in May 1995. [13]
The workshops finally closed in April 1993. [12] Track and overhead was removed by November 1993, with demolition of the workshops approved in May 1994, [14] and the inspection and paint shops demolished by August 1994. [15] The land was used to expand the Melbourne Park tennis centre, with the opening of additional outside courts to the north of Rod Laver Arena.
Burnley railway station is a commuter railway station and the junction point for the Lilydale, Belgrave, Alamein and Glen Waverley lines, part of the Melbourne railway network. It serves the inner-eastern Melbourne suburb of Burnley in Victoria, Australia. Burnley is a ground level premium station, featuring four platforms, two island platforms with two faces connected by an accessible underground concourse. It opened on 1 May 1880.
Mordialloc railway station is a commuter railway station on the Frankston line, which is part of the Melbourne railway network. It serves the south-eastern suburb of Mordialloc, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Mordialloc station is a ground level unstaffed station, featuring two side platforms. It opened on 19 December 1881.
Westall railway station is a commuter railway station on the Pakenham and Cranbourne lines, which are part of the Melbourne railway network. It serves the south-eastern suburb of Clayton South, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Westall station is a ground-level unstaffed station, featuring two side platforms. It opened on 6 February 1951, with the current station provided in 2010.
St Albans railway station is a commuter railway station on the Sunbury line, which is part of the Melbourne railway network. It serves the western suburb of St Albans, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. St Albans station is a below ground premium station, featuring two side platforms. It opened on 1 February 1887, with the current station provided in 2016.
Broadmeadows railway station is a commuter, regional and inter-city railway station on the suburban Craigieburn line, the regional Seymour and Albury lines, and the inter-city Southern line. It serves the northern suburb of Broadmeadows, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Broadmeadows is a ground level premium station featuring three side platforms. Platforms 1 and 2 are used for broad gauge Metro and V/Line services, while Platform 3 is used for standard gauge V/Line and NSW TrainLink services. The station opened on 1 February 1873, with the current station provided in 1990.
North Melbourne railway station is a commuter and regional railway station on the suburban Craigieburn, Flemington Racecourse, Sunbury, Upfield, Werribee and Williamstown lines; and the regional Seymour line, part of the Melbourne and Victorian railway networks. It serves the inner north-western suburb of West Melbourne, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. North Melbourne is a ground level premium station and major junction, featuring six platforms: two side platforms, and two island platforms with two faces each. It opened on 6 October 1859, with the current station provided in 2009.
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Epping railway station is a commuter railway station on the Mernda line, which is part of the Melbourne railway network, and serves the northern suburb of the same name in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It opened on 23 December 1889 and, since 2011, it has been a below-ground, premium station, with an island platform.
St Kilda station is a current tram stop and former railway station, located in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, Australia, and was the terminus of the St Kilda railway line in the Melbourne suburban rail system. It is one of the oldest surviving railway station buildings in Victoria. The building is currently used as retail premises, while the platform serves as stop 132 on tram route 96.
The 4D was a prototype double deck electric multiple unit built for the Public Transport Corporation in Victoria, Australia, for operation on the Melbourne railway system. It remains the only double deck train to have ever operated in Melbourne. The train's name stood for "Double Deck Development and Demonstration."
Princes Bridge was a Melbourne railway station built in 1859 and was the terminus for all trains on what are now the Mernda and Hurstbridge lines. The station was named after the adjacent Princes Bridge, which crosses the Yarra River. Originally Princes Bridge station was isolated from Flinders Street station, even though it was adjacent to it, sited just on the opposite side of Swanston Street. Some years later the railway tracks were extended under the street to join the two stations, and Princes Bridge slowly became amalgamated into the larger Flinders Street station. This process was completed in May 1997.
Montague Street is a light rail station and former railway station, on the former Port Melbourne railway line in the inner Melbourne suburb of South Melbourne, Australia. The station was located to the south of the Montague Street road underpass, between Woodgate Street and Gladstone Lane, with a large goods shed located on the Melbourne side of the station. The station buildings and platforms have been demolished, and there are now a pair of low-level platforms forming a tram stop on route 109.
Benalla railway station is located on the North East line in Victoria, Australia. It serves the town of Benalla, and it opened on 18 August 1873.
Ararat railway station is located on the Ararat and Western standard gauge lines in Victoria, Australia. It serves the town of Ararat, and opened on 7 April 1875.
Swing Door trains, commonly known as "Dogboxes" or "Doggies", were wooden-bodied electric multiple unit (EMU) trains that operated on the suburban railway network of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
The Victorian Railways L class was a class of electric locomotives built by English Electric and operated by the Victorian Railways and later V/Line from 1953 until 1987 primarily on the Gippsland line. They were the only class of main line electric locomotive operated in Victoria.
The Mont Park railway is a former branch line from the Hurstbridge line in Melbourne, Australia. The main line connection was at the up (Melbourne) end of Macleod station, with the line operating between 1911 and 1964.
Ballarat North Workshops is a railway engineering facility owned by Alstom in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. It occupies 5.5 hectares of land beside the junction of the Mildura and Serviceton railway lines.
Jolimont Yard was an array of railway lines and carriage sidings on the edge of the central business district of Melbourne, Australia. Located between Flinders Street station, Richmond Junction, the Yarra River and Flinders Street they were often criticised for cutting off the city from the river, being the site of many redevelopment proposals. The Princes Gate Towers were built over part of the yard in the 1960s, which themselves were replaced by Federation Square in the 2000s. The rail sidings themselves were progressively removed from the 1980s to the 1990s with only running lines today, but the area continues to be referred to as the 'Jolimont railyards' by Melburnians.
The Victorian Railways E class was a class of electric locomotive that ran on the Victorian Railways (VR) from 1923 until 1984. Introduced shortly after the electrification of the suburban rail system in Melbourne, Australia, and based on the same electrical and traction equipment as Melbourne's early suburban electric multiple unit fleet, they provided power for suburban goods services and shunting for six decades.