Geelong Racecourse (also known as Breakwater) is a disused railway station on the Geelong-Warrnambool railway line, in the

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

suburb of

Breakwater Breakwater may refer to: * Breakwater (structure), a structure for protecting a beach or harbour Places * Breakwater, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia * Breakwater Island Breakwater Island () is a small island in the Palme ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The station was located on a loop siding off the main line and was only used for special events at the nearby

Geelong Racecourse The Geelong Racecourse is a major regional horse racing venue in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The current racecourse dates to 1908. The annual Geelong Cup is held at the course every October, as well as a number of other race meets through the ...

. In 1910, the Geelong Racing Club, the Geelong Agricultural Society and the Hibernian Society together paid the

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 companie ...

£1000 to have the station built. It was first used for the race meeting held on Wednesday 14 December of that year. The new station replaced one on the

Queenscliff railway line Queenscliff may refer to: * Queenscliff, New South Wales * Queenscliff, Victoria Queenscliff is a small town on the Bellarine Peninsula in southern Victoria, Australia, south of Swan Bay at the entrance to Port Phillip. It is the administrativ ...

, which was further from the racecourse. When it first opened, it was known as Geelong Showgrounds. It was renamed Geelong Racecourse in March 1915. By the start of 1918, an electric staff instrument was provided. In 1942, a dead-end extension at the Down end of the station was abolished, and in 1956, the electric staff instrument and a switching facility was abolished. In 1962, all

signals In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...

at the station were abolished. By December 2001, the loop was booked out of service, and was only booked back in service once a year, for the

Geelong Cup The Geelong Cup is a Geelong Racing Club Group 3 Thoroughbred horse race, held under handicap conditions over a distance of 2400 metres at the Geelong Racecourse, Geelong, Victoria, Australia on a Wednesday in late October. The prize money for ...

. The last

V/Line V/Line is a statutory authority that operates regional passenger train and coach services in Victoria, Australia. It provides passenger train services on five commuter lines and eight long-distance routes from its major hub at Southern Cross ...

service to stop there was for the 2005 Geelong Cup. In 2005, the points from the main line were spiked, preventing trains from accessing the platform. In May 2007, a small timber hut, which was the only building on the platform, was demolished. In February 2011, the loop siding was disconnected from the main line, in conjunction with the re-sleepering of the main line. On 1 March of that year, the loop siding was abolished, effectively closing the station.

References

Railway stations in Geelong Disused railway stations in Victoria (Australia) {{VictoriaAU-railstation-stub