The Outer Circle Railway was opened in stages in 1890 and 1891, as a
steam-era suburban
railway line
Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United Sta ...
, in
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 ...
,
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 ...
. It traversed much of the modern
City of Boroondara
The City of Boroondara () is a local government area in Victoria, Australia. It is located in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. It was formed in June 1994 from the amalgamation of the Cities of Kew, Camberwell and Hawthorn.
It has an area of . ...
, including the
suburb
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...
s of (from north to south)
Kew East
Kew East is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 8 km east from Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Boroondara Local government areas of Victori ...
,
Camberwell
Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross.
Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This e ...
,
Burwood,
Ashburton, and
Malvern East
Malvern East is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 13 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Stonnington local government area. Malvern East recorded a population of 22,296 at the 2021 c ...
. At its longest, it ran from
Fairfield station, on what is today the
Hurstbridge line, to
Oakleigh station, on the current
Pakenham and
Cranbourne lines.
History
The Outer Circle railway was first advocated in 1867, by a group known as the Upper Yarra Railway League, who suggested that the
Gippsland Railway
The Gippsland V/Line rail service or Bairnsdale Line is a passenger service operated by V/Line in Victoria, Australia between Melbourne and the Gippsland region including the regional cities of Moe, Morwell, Traralgon, Sale and Bairnsdale. It ...
could be brought into Melbourne via the outer suburbs. However, the term itself was coined in 1873 by Engineer-in-Chief of 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 ...
,
Thomas Higinbotham
Thomas Higinbotham (1819 – 5 September 1880), was an Irish-born civil engineer and civil servant, particularly associated with the development of railway projects in England and Australia.
Education and training
Higinbotham was born in Dublin ...
, who suggested an "outer circle route".
Construction of the Gippsland line was authorised in 1873, but the line, which was to be operated by the Victorian Railways, could not be brought into Melbourne by the direct route used today because the privately owned
Melbourne and Hobson's Bay United Railway Company
The Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway Company was a railway company in Victoria, Australia. The company was incorporated on 20 January 1853 to build the line from Melbourne to the port of Sandridge, now Port Melbourne.
The proposal met ...
(M&HBUR) controlled the line from
Flinders Street to
South Yarra
South Yarra is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Melbourne and Stonnington local government areas. South Yarra recorded a popul ...
, and there was no connection between the privately run Flinders Street station and the Victorian Railways station at
Spencer Street
Spencer Street is a major street and thoroughfare in the Melbourne central business district, central business district of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria. The street was gazetted in 1837 as the westernmost boundary of the Hoddle Grid. ...
. That problem was solved when the M&HBUR was purchased by the government in 1878, and the direct rail line from South Yarra to Oakleigh was opened the next year.
Agitation for the Outer Circle line was then taken over by politicians and land speculators. It was included in the 1882 Railway Construction Act, and was authorised by the
1884 Railway Construction Act, passed on 12 December 1884. The act also authorised the construction of a viaduct connecting Flinders Street and Spencer Street stations. By 1885, two of the parliamentarians who had helped gain approval for the line,
F.E. Beaver and
James Munro, had purchased half the land adjoining the new railway.
Construction commenced in 1888 and was completed in 1891. The Outer Circle connected
Camberwell station (on the modern
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 ...
and
Lilydale lines) with Oakleigh station to the south, via
Riversdale on what is now the
Alamein line
The Alamein railway line is a commuter railway line operating between Flinders Street railway station, Flinders Street in the Melbourne central business district and Ashburton, Victoria, Ashburton through Melbourne's eastern suburbs including R ...
. The northern section ran from
Riversdale to
Fairfield station (then called Fairfield Park).
There was also a branch line from the closed
Waverley Road station (near the modern
East Malvern station) to
Darling and
Burnley
Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...
. That was the first section of what later became the
Glen Waverley line
The Glen Waverley railway line is a suburban electric railway in Melbourne, Australia, operated by Metro Trains Melbourne. It branches from the Lilydale, Belgrave and Alamein lines at Burnley station. It has 12 stations in PTV ticketing z ...
, and was opened a few weeks before the Outer Circle.
When opened the line was in length, and had 11 stations, all provided with twin platforms and crossing loops. Provision was made for double track, and heavier-duty per yard rails were used. Despite that, the line never carried Gippsland traffic, and the severe economic depression of the early 1890s meant that suburban development along the line ceased.
Services
![Melbourne rail map with former lines and planned extensions](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Melbourne_rail_map_with_former_lines_and_planned_extensions.svg)
The first section of the Outer Circle opened was on 24 March 1890, from Oakleigh to Waverley Road, and on to Burnley. It was followed by the line from Waverley Road to Camberwell on 24 March 1890, and the Riversdale to Fairfield Park section on 24 March 1891.
From this time the line was operated as three different passenger services:
* Oakleigh to Burnley, change at Waverley Road for,
* Waverly Road to Camberwell, change at Riversdale for,
* Riversdale to Fairfield Park.
Lack of passengers led to service cuts, and the Riversdale to Fairfield Park section was closed completely from 12 April 1893, being replaced by a horse bus service. The Oakleigh to Ashburton and Darling section closed on 9 December 1895, and the last section, from Camberwell to Ashburton, closed on 1 May 1897. Camberwell to Ashburton was reopened 4 July 1898,
operated by a steam locomotive and single carriage. The northern section, from Riversdale to Deepdene, was reopened on 14 May 1900, with a steam train, known locally as the ''Deepdene Dasher'', running between Ashburton and Deepdene at about 90-minute intervals, connecting at East Camberwell on the lower platform. The Deepdene Dasher was the last passenger steam train in suburban Melbourne.
Electrification of the Melbourne suburban rail network commenced in the 1920s. In 1923, the Railway Commissioners decided not to electrify the line from Deepdene through Riversdale to Ashburton, due to insufficient traffic levels, but would keep the issue under review.
Their position was partly reversed, with the Camberwell to Ashburton section later being included in the project. The last steam train ran to Ashburton on 29 October 1924 and electric train services commenced three days later, in the form of shuttle trains from Camberwell to Ashburton, running every 40 minutes.
On 15 August 1926, the last steam hauled ''Deepdene Dasher'' ran, and was replaced by a pair of
AEC railmotor
The AEC railmotor was the first generally successful railmotor built for the Victorian Railways. 19 vehicles were constructed from 1922 to 1925, along with 24 trailer vehicles built to a similar design.
Design
Four different internal layouts ...
s coupled back to back. The Commissioners intended to electrify the line if the volume of traffic increased, but that did not occur, and the service was replaced by road bus on 10 October 1927.
The electrified suburban service remains as today's
Alamein line
The Alamein railway line is a commuter railway line operating between Flinders Street railway station, Flinders Street in the Melbourne central business district and Ashburton, Victoria, Ashburton through Melbourne's eastern suburbs including R ...
.
Goods services also operated on the line, initially to Ashburton and some to Deepdene, but were extended to East Kew on 11 February 1925. Those services lasted until 6 September 1943.
Today
![Fulham-Grange](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Fulham-Grange.jpg)
Today, the southern section of the line from Camberwell to Alamein is part of the
Melbourne suburban railway network as the
Alamein line
The Alamein railway line is a commuter railway line operating between Flinders Street railway station, Flinders Street in the Melbourne central business district and Ashburton, Victoria, Ashburton through Melbourne's eastern suburbs including R ...
. The northern section of the line, starting at East Camberwell, has been converted into the
Outer Circle Trail
__NOTOC__
The Outer Circle Trail, also known as the Anniversary Trail, Anniversary Outer Circle Trail, or even the Outer Circle Anniversary Trail, is a shared use path for cyclists and pedestrians, which partly follows the Alamein Line throu ...
, a
walking
Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined by an 'inverted pendulum' gait in which the body vaults o ...
and
bicycle
A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist.
Bic ...
path. All of the closed stations have since been demolished, as has the railway infrastructure of the line, but some road overbridges and underbridges remain. The rail
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
over the
Yarra River
The Yarra River or historically, the Yarra Yarra River, (Kulin languages: ''Berrern'', ''Birr-arrung'', ''Bay-ray-rung'', ''Birarang'', ''Birrarung'', and ''Wongete'') is a perennial river in south-central Victoria, Australia.
The lower stre ...
was converted into a
road
A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation.
There are many types of ...
bridge as part of the
Chandler Highway
The Chandler Highway is a short road in the inner eastern suburbs of Melbourne. It runs from Heidelberg Road in Alphington, crosses the Yarra River, then continues across the Eastern Freeway, then terminates at an intersection with Princess St ...
sometime after 1919.
The track between Fairfield station and the northern bank of the
Yarra River
The Yarra River or historically, the Yarra Yarra River, (Kulin languages: ''Berrern'', ''Birr-arrung'', ''Bay-ray-rung'', ''Birarang'', ''Birrarung'', and ''Wongete'') is a perennial river in south-central Victoria, Australia.
The lower stre ...
came into use from 1919 as the
APM Siding
The APM Siding was a long private railway siding in the suburb of Alphington, Melbourne, Australia, that served the Australian Paper Manufacturers paper mill (later becoming the Amcor Fibre Packaging, before being closed in 2012). The sidin ...
,
serving a paper mill built on the site.
Proposals for re-opening the line are regularly canvassed online.
Media
In 2014, a
documentary, ''Melbourne's Forgotten Railway - The Outer Circle'', was produced by a Melbourne-based media production team, led by Ron Killeen and Andrew McColm. It documented the line and included "historians, an urban planning expert, as well as people who actually remember seeing and riding on the train". A discussion on the development of the documentary, including information about some inaccuracies, is also available.
Line Guide
See also
*
Inner Circle railway line
The Inner Circle Line was a steam era suburban railway line (later electrified) in Melbourne, Australia. It served the inner-northern suburbs of Parkville, Carlton North, Fitzroy North, and Fitzroy. At its closure, it ran from Roy ...
*
Outer Circle Bicycle PathMelbourne's Forgotten Railway DiscussionThe Outer Circle Line documentary (in production)
References
Sources
*
{{Victorian Railway Lines, selected=melbourne
Closed Melbourne railway lines
Railway lines opened in 1890
Rail trails in Victoria (Australia)
5 ft 3 in gauge railways in Australia
1891 establishments in Australia