Macleod railway station

Macleod
PTV commuter rail station
Southbound view in May 2014
General information
Location	Birdwood Avenue, Macleod, Victoria 3085 City of Banyule Australia
Coordinates	37°43′34″S145°04′09″E / 37.7260°S 145.0693°E / -37.7260; 145.0693
Owned by	VicTrack
Operated by	Metro Trains
Line(s)	Hurstbridge
Distance	17.71 kilometres from Southern Cross
Platforms	3 (1 island and 1 side)
Tracks	3
Connections	Bus
Construction
Structure type	Ground
Parking	102
Bicycle facilities	Yes
Accessible	Yes—step free access
Other information
Status	Operational, premium station
Station code	MCD
Fare zone	Myki Zone 2
Website	Public Transport Victoria
History
Opened	1 March 1911;112 years ago (1911-03-01)
Rebuilt	11 August 1979
Electrified	April 1923 (1500 V DC overhead)
Passengers
2005–2006	418,132 [1]

Preceding station	Metro Trains			Following station
Rosanna towards Flinders Street		Hurstbridge line		Watsonia towards Hurstbridge

Former services
Preceding station   Disused railways   Following station Junction   Mont Park branch   Mont Park   List of closed railway stations in Melbourne

Track layout
Legend to Rosanna Ruthven Street (Removing by 2027) 1 2 3 to Watsonia

Macleod railway station is located on the Hurstbridge line in Victoria, Australia. It serves the north-eastern Melbourne suburb of Macleod, and it opened on 1 March 1911. ^[5]

History

Macleod station was completed by November 1910, ^[6] and was opened to traffic on 1 March 1911. ^[5]

The station is named after Malcolm Anderson Macleod, a prominent local resident, whose wife Edith Jessie Macleod purchased land in the area. ^[7] The press of the time credited Edith Macleod's husband with owning the land but this was not the case. ^[8] A thin strip of Macleod's land measuring 31.51 hectares was sold to the State Government to enable the construction of a branch line for the Mont Park Psychiatric Hospital. The timing and methods by which the strip of land was acquired for the railway line was likely corrupt. ^[9] The land transfer was examined as part of the 1909 Royal Commission on the Acquisition of Certain Estates by Sir Thomas Bent ^[10] which found that the Crown had paid too much for it.

After the land acquisition, engineers discovered that the acquired land was too steep to accommodate the proposed railway line, so a land swap had to be arranged between Edith Macleod and the Crown for some of her remaining land holdings nearby. The land swap was enabled by the Mont Park Land Act 1910 (Vic.) ^[11] , which finally enabled the construction of the freight-only Mont Park branch line from Macleod station to the asylum in a north-westerly direction. From 1911 to 1964, Macleod was the junction of the Mont Park branch line.

Newspaper articles from the time claim that Malcolm Macleod conceived of the idea of the railway station at Macleod by stipulating that it had to be built at that location and under his name in return for the land transfer, ^[12] however a reservation for the railway station had been in place since the Board of Land and Works had acquired land for a railway line in 1894 ^[13] and it has been demonstrated that the railway station was not his idea. ^[14] The original proposal was to name the station "Mont Park". ^[15]

In 1979, the present day Platform 3 was provided on a alignment near the former branch line alignment, as were three stabling sidings immediately to the south of the station, both coinciding with the duplication of the railway line between Macleod and Greensborough. ^[5] A number of train services terminate at Macleod, before proceeding to the sidings to stable.

In 2001, Macleod was upgraded to a premium station. ^[16]

On 25 October 2022, the Level Crossing Removal Project announced that the Ruthven Street level crossing, located nearby in the up direction of the station, will be grade separated by 2027, with the railway line to be rebuilt over the road. ^{[17] [18]}

Facilities, platforms and services

Macleod has one island platform with two faces and one side platform. Platform 1 has an enclosed waiting area, ticket facilities and toilets.

It is serviced by Metro Trains' Hurstbridge line services. ^[19]

Platform 1:

•   Hurstbridge line   all stations and limited express services to Flinders Street

Platform 2:

•   Hurstbridge line   all stations services to Greensborough, Eltham and Hurstbridge

Platform 3:

•   Hurstbridge line   terminating services to and from Flinders Street

Transport links

Dysons operates one route via Macleod station, under contract to Public Transport Victoria:

•  561 : Macleod – Pascoe Vale station ^[20]

References

1. Estimated Annual Patronage by Network Segment Financial Year 2005-2006 to 2018-19 Archived 17 April 2022 at the Wayback Machine Department of Transport
2. "Train Station Patronage FY2008-2014". Public Transport Victoria. 14 May 2015. Archived from the original (XLS) on 30 March 2016. Retrieved 1 November 2016. (access from Archived 3 November 2016 at the Wayback Machine )
3. Station patronage in Victoria for 2013-2018 Archived 5 April 2022 at the Wayback Machine Philip Mallis
4. Annual metropolitan train station patronage (station entries) Archived 6 March 2023 at the Wayback Machine Data Vic
5. "Macleod". vicsig.net. Archived from the original on 24 October 2022. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
6. "NORTH HEIDELBERG". The Age (Melbourne). 17 November 1910. p. 10.
7. Argus, 19 February 1910, p. 20
8. Refer to Victorian Certificate of Titles vol. 3321 fol. 664092 and vol. 3321 fol. 664093
9. Dimech, Adam (2023). A History of the Dunvegan Estate, Macleod. Melbourne: Adam Dimech. ISBN   9780645724707.
10. Royal Commission on the Acquisition of Certain Estates by Sir Thomas Bent, as a Minister of the Crown https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/papers/govpub/VPARL1909-2ndSessionNo22.pdf Access date 5 November 2023
11. Mont Park Land Act 1910 https://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdb/au/legis/vic/hist_act/mpla1910148/ Access date: 5 November 2023
12. Argus, 19 February 1910, p.20
13. Land Titles Office Victoria, Certificate of Title vol. 2529, fol. 505601
14. Dimech, Adam (2023). A History of the Dunvegan Estate, Macleod. Melbourne: Adam Dimech. ISBN   9780645724707.
15. Argus, 13 January 1911, p.9
16. "Works". Newsrail . Australian Railway Historical Society. July 2001. p. 223.
17. Build, Victoria’s Big (25 October 2022). "Making Macleod level crossing-free". Victoria’s Big Build. Archived from the original on 25 October 2022. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
18. Build, Victoria’s Big (25 October 2022). "Ruthven Street, Macleod". Victoria’s Big Build. Archived from the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
19. "Hurstbridge Line". Public Transport Victoria.
20. "561 Macleod - Pascoe Vale via La Trobe University". Public Transport Victoria.

External links

• Melway map