Laburnum railway station is located on the Lilydale and

Belgrave Belgrave may refer to: Places *Belgrave, Cheshire, an English village *Belgrave, Leicester an English district *Belgrave, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia ** Belgrave railway line **Belgrave railway station, Melbourne **Belgrave (Puffing ...

lines 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 eastern

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 ...

suburb of

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

, and opened on 13 July 1958.Laburnum
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History

Laburnum station opened on 13 July 1958, and was named after the locality of

Laburnum ''Laburnum'', sometimes called golden chain or golden rain, is a genus of two species of small trees in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are '' Laburnum anagyroides''—common laburnum and '' Laburnum alpinum''� ...

, itself named after the shrub of the same name. The original station had 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, with a substantial brick building on Platform 1, and a small brick shelter on Platform 2. Also occurring in 1958 was the replacement of hand gates at the former Middleborough Road

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The term a ...

with

boom barrier A boom barrier, also known as a boom gate, is a bar, or pole pivoted to allow the boom to block vehicular or pedestrian access through a controlled point. Typically the tip of a boom gate rises in a vertical arc to a near vertical position. Boo ...

s. The crossing was located in the Up direction of the station. The Middleborough Road grade separation project involved lowering the line eight metres below Middleborough Road. That required the rebuilding of the station, and the removal of the bend in Laburnum Street beneath it. The station buildings were demolished in October 2006, with the new station opening on 29 January 2007. Provision was made for the future installation of a third track.

Toot Toot - Drive Slowly sign

Laburnum was once known for having a sign reading "Toot Toot - drive slowly" under the railway bridge which crosses Laburnum Street. Drivers would often sound their car horns, as instructed by the sign, to warn oncoming, but possibly unseen, traffic that might be approaching the narrow

underpass A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube constr ...

. Infuriated neighbours would frequently attempt to remove the sign by painting over it, but to no avail; the local council would restore the sign every time. When the station was rebuilt following the 2007 grade separation, the road underpass was substantially widened, so the sign was deemed unnecessary and was removed. A plaque commemorating the sign and describing its history was erected, although it too has since been removed.

Platforms and services

Laburnum has two

s. It is served by Lilydale and

line trains. Platform 1: * all stations and limited express services to Flinders Street * all stations and limited express services to Flinders Street Platform 2: * all stations services to Lilydale * all stations services to

Transport links

Kinetic Melbourne Kinetic Melbourne is a bus operator in Melbourne, Australia, operating a fleet of 531 buses on 43 bus routes, as well as seven SmartBus routes. It commenced operations on 31 January 2022, taking over all routes previously operated by Transdev Me ...

operates two bus routes via Laburnum station, under contract to Public Transport Victoria: * : Box Hill station – Ringwood station * : Box Hill station –

Westfield Doncaster Westfield Doncaster (formerly Doncaster Shoppingtown) is a shopping centre 50% owned by Scentre Group and 25% owned by ISPT and 25% owned by Asia Property Fund (as of May 2015) located in Doncaster, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. ...

(deviation)

Gallery

File:The Laburnum Railway Station 'Toot-Toot' sign.jpg, Plaque commemorating the Laburnum Railway Station 'Toot-Toot' sign in January 2008

References

External links

*
Melway map
at street-directory.com.au {{Public Transport Victoria railway stations, Belgrave=y, Lilydale=y, state=collapsed Railway stations in Melbourne Railway stations in Australia opened in 1958 Railway stations in the City of Whitehorse