Jolimont Workshops was a

railway workshop Railway workshops are railway facilities in which rolling stock is repaired. While often colocated with engine sheds to perform routine tasks as well as major repairs, in some countries separated concepts exist with ''railway workshops'' being ...

operated by 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 ...

beside

Jolimont Yard 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 of ...

, near the

Melbourne CBD The Melbourne central business district (also known colloquially as simply "The City" or "The CBD") is the city centre and main urban area of the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, centred on the Hoddle Grid, the oldest part of the city la ...

, Australia. Opened in 1917 and dedicated to the maintenance and repair of electric multiple units and

locomotives A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the ...

, 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 Melbourne Park is a sports venue in the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Since 1988 Australia's bicentenary, Melbourne Park has been home of the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament played ...

tennis complex.

History

Built as part of the

electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic histor ...

of the Melbourne suburban network, it was the main storage, servicing and maintenance depot for the new fleet of suburban trains. 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 The Melbourne and Suburban Railway Company was a railway company in Victoria, Australia. The company opened a line from Princes Bridge railway station in Melbourne, Australia to Punt Road (Richmond) and over the Yarra River to South Yarra (then ...

. 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 North Melbourne Locomotive Depot was the main location for maintenance of the Victorian Railways steam locomotive fleet based in Melbourne. Located in the middle of the Melbourne Yard precinct in the suburb West Melbourne, Victoria, West Melbourn ...

. 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 South Dynon Locomotive Depot is an Australian locomotive depot in Melbourne, purpose built for the servicing of diesel and electric locomotives by the Victorian Railways opening in July 1961. It was built adjacent to the Freight railways in Melb ...

in 1964, and the entire E class fleet followed in June 1968. Until relocated to

Spencer Street Spencer Street is a major street and thoroughfare in the central business district of Melbourne, Victoria. The street was gazetted in 1837 as the westernmost boundary of the Hoddle Grid. Spencer Street is named for John Spencer, 3rd Earl Spenc ...

, 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. The workshops had a whistle that signalled the start of the workday, which could 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.

Facilities

The workshops had a main carshed, with tracks leading into it at both the east (

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

) 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: * The workshop and fitting bays were each 183 by 18 metres in size, with four tracks and three inspection pits. For the handling of bogies under overhaul there were 24 short traverse tracks and pits. Two 25 tonne cranes were installed in the lifting bay, and two 15 tonne electric cranes were provided in the workshop bay. * The inspection and running bay was 122 by 37 metres in size, and had nine tracks all with inspection pits. * The painting and varnishing bay was 122 by 32 metres in size, and had five tracks, all equipped with overhead platform level with car floors for the use of workers. A

turntable A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

was provided for reversing the cabs of motor cars and driving trailers into the required direction. A carriage wash was also located at the workshops for cleaning the exterior of trains.

Shunters

The workshops were assigned a variety of different shunting locomotives for use in the yard: * Two

Swing Door A door is a hinged or otherwise movable barrier that allows ingress (entry) into and egress (exit) from an enclosure. The created opening in the wall is a ''doorway'' or ''portal''. A door's essential and primary purpose is to provide security ...

motor carriages, numbered 113M (single ended) and 156M (double ended) and modified with dual pantographs. 113M was used as shunter from at least 1926 and 156M was used as a temporary parcels coach from 1923, both cars continuing in this use until about 1990. * A V class diesel hydraulic locomotive, numbered V 56 and used for hauling suburban trains though the carriage wash.

Demise

By the mid-1980s the Metropolitan Transit Authority (successor to the

) drew up plans for the closure and decentralisation of the Jolimont Workshops, with new railway facilities to be built around suburban

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. The original plan included: * Epping Workshops: :* maintenance and repair area for 6 three car sets :* lifting jacks for a 3 car set :* acid wash and steam cleaning pit :* depot for 120 train crew :* stabling for 13 three car trains, in single train sidings *

Nunawading Nunawading is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 18 km (11 miles) east of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Whitehorse, Whitehorse Local g ...

: :* maintenance area for 10 three car sets :* lifting, washing and steam cleaning pit :* depot for 83 train crew :* stabling for 12 six car trains, in single train sidings * Oakleigh :* inspection and repair facilities :* lifting, washing and steam cleaning pit :* depot for 65 train crew :* stabling for 15 three car trains, in single train sidings *

Newport Workshops The Newport Railway Workshops is a facility in the Melbourne suburb of Newport, Australia, that builds, maintains and refurbishes railway rollingstock. It is located between the Williamstown and Werribee railway lines. History Plans for a wo ...

:* repair facilities for 7 three car sets :* lifting, washing and steam cleaning pit :* depot for 132 train crew :* stabling for 15 six car trains, in double ended two train long sidings *

Carrum Carrum is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Melbourne city centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Kingston Local Government Areas of Victoria, local government ar ...

:* Extend and reconstruct existing sidings :* depot for 26 train crew *

Mordialloc Mordialloc is a beachside suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 24 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Kingston local government area. Mordialloc recorded a population of 8,886 at the . ...

:* Construction of an additional 100m long siding :* depot for 18 train crew * Macaulay :* new main line crossover :* depot for 50 train crew 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. Further expansion of workshop facilities did not happen until the rationalisation of

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. Macaulay also gained a light maintenance facility beside the existing stabling yard in 1993. A replacement washing plant and stabling sidings were made operational in

Melbourne Yard The rail network of Melbourne, Australia, has a significant number of railway lines and yards serving freight traffic. Rail transport in Victoria is heavily focused on Melbourne, and, as a consequence, much of the state's rail freight passes t ...

in May 1995. The workshops finally closed in April 1993. Track and overhead was removed by November 1993, with demolition of the workshops approved in May 1994, and the inspection and paint shops demolished by August 1994. The land was used to expand the

tennis centre, with the opening of additional outside courts to the north of

Rod Laver Arena Rod Laver Arena is a multipurpose arena located within Melbourne Park, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The arena is the main venue for the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tennis tournament of the calendar year. History Replacing ...

References

External links

Museum Victoria: Jolimont Workshops

Overview of the workshops and yard
{{coord, -37.8196, 144.9772, type:landmark_region:AU, display=title Demolished buildings and structures in Melbourne Railway workshops in Victoria (Australia) Industrial buildings in Melbourne 1917 establishments in Australia Buildings and structures demolished in 1994 Buildings and structures completed in 1917 1993 disestablishments in Australia