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Flinders Street Viaduct
The Flinders Street Viaduct is a railway bridge in Melbourne, Australia. Made up of six tracks of varying ages, it links Flinders Street station to Southern Cross station and forms the main link between the eastern and western parts of the Victorian rail network. The viaduct takes a twisted path, passing behind the former Victorian Railways headquarters at 67 Spencer Street, taking a sharp 90 degree turn east from Spencer Street, swinging southward around the back of the former Fish Market (now Northbank Place and Rebecca Walk) beside Batman Park, then north-east to avoid the swinging basin on the Yarra River, then crossing over the Banana Alley Vaults before entering Flinders Street. Background The first railway in Melbourne was opened in 1854 and ran from what is now Flinders Street, to Sandridge (now Port Melbourne) and was later known as the Port Melbourne line. Railways continued to be built from Flinders Street, and the adjacent Princes Bridge station. At the same time, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flinders Street, Melbourne
Flinders Street is a street in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Running roughly parallel to the Yarra River, Flinders Street forms the southern edge of the Hoddle Grid. It is exactly 1 mi (1.609 km) in length and one and a half chains (99 ft, 30 m) in width. It is named for the explorer Matthew Flinders, erroneously credited with discovering Port Phillip at the time of its naming. It extends eastwards as far as Spring Street and the Treasury Gardens and westwards past Batman's Hill to the Melbourne Docklands. As the closest street to the river, Flinders Street serviced Melbourne's original river port. Customs House, now the site for Victoria's Immigration Museum, is on Flinders Street. The street is home to Flinders Street station, the central station in Melbourne's suburban rail network. Tram routes 70 and 75, as well as the City Circle route, run along Flinders Street, and the Flinders Street Viaduct runs parallel to the street, linking the city's two major ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victorian Railways
The Victorian Railways (VR), trading from 1974 as VicRail, was the state-owned operator of most rail transport in the Australian state of Victoria from 1859 to 1983. The first railways in Victoria were private companies, but when these companies failed or defaulted, the Victorian Railways was established to take over their operations. Most of the lines operated by the Victorian Railways were of . However, the railways also operated up to five narrow gauge lines between 1898 and 1962, and a line between Albury and Melbourne from 1961. History Formation A Department of Railways was created in 1856 with the first appointment of staff. British engineer, George Christian Darbyshire was made first Engineer-in-Chief in 1857, and steered all railway construction work until his replacement by Thomas Higginbotham in 1860. In late 1876, New York consulting engineer Walton Evans arranged the supply of two 4-4-0 locomotives manufactured by the Rogers Locomotive Works of New Jersey, US ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Single Track (rail)
A single-track railway is a railway where trains traveling in both directions share the same track. Single track is usually found on lesser-used rail lines, often branch lines, where the level of traffic is not high enough to justify the cost of constructing and maintaining a second track. Advantages and disadvantages Single track is significantly cheaper to build and maintain, but has operational and safety disadvantages. For example, a single-track line that takes 15 minutes to travel through would have capacity for only two trains per hour in each direction safely. By contrast, a double track with signal boxes four minutes apart can allow up to 15 trains per hour in each direction safely, provided all the trains travel at the same speed. This hindrance on the capacity of a single track may be partly overcome by making the track one-way on alternate days, if the single track is not used for public passenger transit. Long freight trains are a problem if the passing s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Double Track
A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track. Overview In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most lines were built as double-track because of the difficulty of co-ordinating operations before the invention of the telegraph. The lines also tended to be busy enough to be beyond the capacity of a single track. In the early days the Board of Trade did not consider any single-track railway line to be complete. In the earliest days of railways in the United States most lines were built as single-track for reasons of cost, and very inefficient timetable working systems were used to prevent head-on collisions on single lines. This improved with the development of the telegraph and the train order system. Operation Handedness In any given country, rail traffic generally runs to one side of a double-track line, not always the same side a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Octopus Act
The Victorian Government's Act No. 821, the Railway Construction Act 1884, authorised the construction of 59 new railway lines in the colony, plus additional infrastructure. Organised by the Minister for Railways, Thomas Bent, and passed on 12 December 1884, it became notorious for the large number of railway lines it authorised, and was dubbed the "Octopus Act". It was accompanied by the Railway Loan Act, No. 760, which permitted the raising of a loan of £600,000 for construction of the various lines. The act, "to authorize the Construction of certain Lines of Railway by the State and for other purposes", listed 51 "country lines", 8 "suburban lines", 4 short connections and bridges, and 2 "railway or sidings", specifying 65 pieces of new infrastructure in total. It also provided for additional platforms, buildings, sidings, road approaches, drains, bridge widenings and modifications to existing infrastructure as necessary. It allowed for an average expenditure of £3,960 per mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Level Crossing
A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, overpass or tunnel. The term also applies when a light rail line with separate Right-of-way (railroad), right-of-way or reserved track crosses a road in the same fashion. Other names include railway level crossing, railway crossing (chiefly international), grade crossing or railroad crossing (chiefly American), road through railroad, criss-cross, train crossing, and RXR (abbreviated). There are more than 100,000 level crossings in Europe and more than 200,000 in North America. History The history of level crossings depends on the location, but often early level crossings had a Flagman (rail), flagman in a nearby booth who would, on the approach of a train, wave a red flag or lantern to stop all traffic and clear the tracks. Gated crossings bec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Newsrail
''Newsrail'' is a monthly railway magazine covering the railways and tramways of Victoria, Australia. It was launched in January 1973 by the Australian Railway Historical Society The Australian Railway Historical Society (ARHS) aims to foster an interest in the railways, and record and preserve many facets of railway operations. It had divisions in every state and the Australian Capital Territory, although the ACT divis ...'s Victorian Division, superseding the ''Divisional Diary'' title that had been published by the society since November 1957. Since May 2020, it has been published by Victorian Rail Publishing Inc. Details * Issue December 2019 is Vol 47 No. 12. * Period = monthly * Size = 245 mm (H) by 170 mm (W) (to Dec 1991), A4 (from Jan 1992) References External linksOfficial website Magazines established in 1973 Magazines published in Melbourne Monthly magazines published in Australia Rail transport magazines published in Australia 1973 establishments in Au ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southern Cross Station
Southern Cross railway station (until 2005 known as Spencer Street station) is a major railway station in Docklands, Melbourne. It is on Spencer Street, between Collins and La Trobe Streets, at the western edge of the Melbourne central business district. The Docklands Stadium sports arena is 500 metres north-west of the station. The station is owned, operated and maintained by Civic Nexus, a subsidiary of IFM Investors and operating as Southern Cross Station Pty Ltd, under a 30-year lease to 2036 from the Victorian State Government, as part of a public-private partnership. Southern Cross Station Pty Ltd contracts Infranexus Management Pty Ltd (Infranexus) for management services. Infranexus is also wholly owned by IFM. The station is the terminus of the state's regional railway network operated by V/Line, ''The Overland'' rail service to Adelaide, and NSW TrainLink XPT services to Sydney. It is also served by suburban rail services operated by Metro Trains, being one of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Princes Bridge Railway Station
Princes Bridge was a Melbourne railway station built in 1859 and was the terminus for all Epping line and Hurstbridge line trains. 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. History Originally known as Prince's Bridge (as was the bridge itself), the station was opened as the city terminus of the Melbourne and Suburban Railway Company line to Punt Road (Richmond) in 1859. Extended to Prahran in 1859 and Windsor in 1860, it formed today's Sandringham line. A small engine shed was built east of the station in 1859 by the company. A locomotive depot later rep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Port Melbourne Railway Line
The Port Melbourne railway line is a former railway line in Melbourne, Australia, opened in September 1854, that is now a light rail line. It was instigated by the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway Company to carry passengers arriving in Victoria at Station Pier and to alleviate the high cost of shipping goods using small vessels up the Yarra River to Melbourne. The line's conversion to light rail occurred in 1987; it is now served by tram route 109. Construction Work began on laying the railway in March 1853 under the supervision of the company's Engineer-in-Chief James Moore. Four locomotives, together with rolling stock, were ordered from Robert Stephenson and Company, of the United Kingdom, but because of manufacturing delays the first locomotive had to built locally. Robertson, Martin & Smith, a local foundry and engineering company, built a small makeshift locomotive to the design of the railway company's engineer in ten weeks at a cost of £2,700. Its trial run wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Port Melbourne Railway Station
Port Melbourne is a railway station in the Melbourne suburb of the same name located on the former Port Melbourne line, the first significant railway in Australia. The station was opened in 1854 to carry passengers arriving at Station Pier to Flinders Street station. The railway line was closed in 1987 to be converted to light rail, currently route 109. The station building is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register The Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) lists places deemed to be of cultural heritage significance to the State of Victoria, Australia. It has statutory weight under the Heritage Act 2017. The Minister for Planning is the responsible Minister. H ... and is located north of Beach Street and to the east of Canberra Parade, having since been converted into a medical centre and cafe to serve the recent residential developments in the area. References * *Victorian Railways Port Melbourne Line Rail Diagram Bridge Street to Piers 1919 [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Banana Alley, Melbourne
The Banana Alley Vaults are near the Flinders Street station in Melbourne, Australia and extend onto the North Bank of the Yarra River. Built in 1891–92, they were originally known as the Viaduct Buildings, and were built in conjunction with the tracks of the Flinders Street Viaduct that run overhead. The vaults were originally used by produce agents and fruiterers to store their wares before market. The name "Banana Alley" stems from bananas being stored and ripened here (using ethylene gas) before being sold. The vaults are divided up into 33 separate spaces, with first tenants being recorded in 1893. With the construction of the Spencer Street Bridge in 1930, Queens Wharf was rendered inaccessible to cargo ships, and the vaults fell into disuse. A café was opened in one of the vaults in 1936, being joined by the "Pieteria" café selling pies 24 hours a day from the 1950s. Hearns Hobbies also occupied a vault from 1946 until they moved into the basement of Flinders Street st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
