Little River Railway Station
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Little River railway station is located on the Warrnambool line in
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. It serves the town of
Little River Little River may refer to several places: Australia Streams New South Wales *Little River (Dubbo), source in the Dubbo region, a tributary of the Macquarie River * Little River (Oberon), source in the Oberon Shire, a tributary of Coxs River (Haw ...
, and it opened on 1 January 1857.Little River
Vicsig
Little River Station
Rail Geelong
It was renamed Bulban on 2 May 1910, and was renamed Little River 9 December 1912.


History

When the
Geelong and Melbourne Railway Company The Geelong and Melbourne Railway Company was a railway company in Victoria, Australia. Alexander Thomson, a member of the Victorian Legislative Council, introduced and mentored a bill to incorporate the Geelong and Melbourne Railway Company ...
constructed the line, it proposed that the station be built on the northern side of
Little River Little River may refer to several places: Australia Streams New South Wales *Little River (Dubbo), source in the Dubbo region, a tributary of the Macquarie River * Little River (Oberon), source in the Oberon Shire, a tributary of Coxs River (Haw ...
. However, the company had trouble negotiating with the relevant land owner, so the first station was located on the south side of the river. The former platform mound of that station was finally removed in 1994, when the
Western standard gauge line The Western standard gauge railway line is a standard-gauge railway line in western Victoria, Australia. Completed in 1995, it forms part of the Melbourne–Adelaide rail corridor and serves as the principal interstate rail link between Vict ...
was being constructed. The buildings and adjoining
goods shed A goods shed is a railway building designed for storing goods before or after carriage in a train. A typical goods shed will have a track running through it to allow goods wagons to be unloaded under cover, although sometimes they were built ...
of the current station, on the north side of the river, are some of the earliest station buildings in Victoria. They are constructed of
bluestone Bluestone is a cultural or commercial name for a number of dimension or building stone varieties, including: * basalt in Victoria, Australia, and in New Zealand * dolerites in Tasmania, Australia; and in Britain (including Stonehenge) * fe ...
, to an original design by
Frederick Kawerau Frederick (German: Friedrich) Ferdinand Kawerau was a German-born architect and surveyor, who worked in Geelong, Victoria, Australia between about 1849 and 1854. Kawerau was born on 1 October 1817 in Bolesławiec, in Lower Silesia, and was prob ...
, for the Geelong and Melbourne Railway Company, and were completed 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 ...
in 1864. Features of note include the basement holding cells and the Victorian Railways plaques on the station gables. The buildings layouts have changed over the years, as shown in the
State Library A national library is established by the government of a nation to serve as the pre-eminent repository of information for that country. Unlike public libraries, they rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuab ...
Drawings (see external links below), and they are 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. ...
.Little River Railway Station & Goods Yard
Heritage Victoria
On 25 October 1970, the newly duplicated the line from
Werribee Werribee is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Melbourne City Centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Wyndham Local government areas of Victoria, local government a ...
to Little River was opened, and the goods siding closed. In 1972, a
crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Albums and songs * ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album) * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album) * ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album) * ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...
at the Up end of the station was abolished. On 4 June 1981, the newly duplicated line to
Lara Lara may refer to: Places * Lara (state), a state in Venezuela *Electoral district of Lara, an electoral district in Victoria, Australia * Lara, Antalya, an urban district in Turkey * Lara, Victoria, a township in Australia * Lara de los In ...
was opened, and a second platform (Platform 1) was provided. In 1995, the Western standard gauge line opened, passing to the north and west of the station. The line is primarily used by freight trains, as well as ''
The Overland ''The Overland'' is an Australian passenger train service between the state capitals of Melbourne and Adelaide, a distance of 828 km (515 mi). It first ran in 1887 as the ''Adelaide Express'', known by South Australians as the ''Melb ...
'' passenger service to and from
Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
. However, it does not stop at the station. In 2010, the goods shed had started to crumble. Infrastructure owner
VicTrack VicTrack, the trading name of Victorian Rail Track Corporation, is a Victorian Government state-owned enterprise which owns all railway and tram lines, associated rail lands and other rail-related infrastructure in the state of Victoria, Austr ...
conducted an inspection of the shed, which revealed its doors and windows had been forced open, and, in liaison with the lessee
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 Cros ...
, VicTrack undertook work to ensure the shed was secured as quickly as possible from further damage. Disused station Werribee Racecourse is located between Little River and Werribee, as was the now-demolished station Manor.


In music

Little River Band Little River Band (LRB) are a Rock music, rock band originally formed in Melbourne, Australia, in March 1975. The band achieved commercial success in both Australia and the United States. They have sold more than 30 million records; six studi ...
included some scenes shot at Little River station in the music video for their 1978 single, ''
Shut Down Turn Off "Shut Down Turn Off" is a song by Australian band Little River Band, released in March 1978 as the lead single from the group's fourth studio album, ''Sleeper Catcher ''Sleeper Catcher'' is the fourth studio album by the Little River Band, re ...
''.


Platforms and services

Little River has two
side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platform ...
s. It is serviced by
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 Cros ...
Geelong line and selected Warrnambool line services.Geelong - Melbourne timetable
Public Transport Victoria
Platform 1: * services to
Southern Cross Crux () is a constellation of the southern sky that is centred on four bright stars in a cross-shaped asterism commonly known as the Southern Cross. It lies on the southern end of the Milky Way's visible band. The name ''Crux'' is Latin for ...
Platform 2: * services to Geelong, South Geelong,
Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an i ...
and
Waurn Ponds Waurn Ponds is a mainly residential southern suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The suburb is bounded by Rossack Drive, Princes Highway, the Geelong to Warrnambool railway, Reservoir Road, Draytons Road, Pigdons Road, Deakin University and ...
* one weekend morning service to
Warrnambool Warrnambool ( Maar: ''Peetoop'' or ''Wheringkernitch'' or ''Warrnambool'') is a city on the south-western coast of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Warrnambool had a population of 35,743. Situated on the Princes Highway, Warrnambool (A ...


References


External links


Victorian Railway Stations galleryMelway map
at street-directory.com.au *State Library Drawings: https://viewer.slv.vic.gov.au/?entity=IE7598153&mode=browse *State Library Drawings
https://viewer.slv.vic.gov.au/?entity=IE7597082&mode=browse
{{Public Transport Victoria railway stations, South Western=y, state=collapsed Railway stations in Australia opened in 1857 Regional railway stations in Victoria (Australia) Railway stations in the City of Wyndham Listed railway stations in Australia Heritage-listed buildings in Melbourne