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Brooklyn Line
Line: Geelong
Distance from Melbourne: 10.479km
Track Diagram: View
Google Map: View
Opened: Monday, 17 January 1859
The Newport to Sunshine line via Brooklyn was opened on September 24, 1887. It was intended to provided quicker access from the north of Victoria to the then important port of Williamstown, avoiding the need to run around at Melbourne Yard. In later years a link was provided from Tottenham to Brooklyn, which along with opening of the Bunbury Street tunnel under Footscray and the associated goods lines in 1928 made the line useful as a route for freight trains to and from Melbourne and the Geelong line to avoid suburban traffic.
Numerous sidings were also provided along the line, serving a variety of industries. Between Newport and Brooklyn two bidirectional tracks were provided to allow shunting operations to be carried out without blocking though trains. A yard at Brooklyn allowed the reorganisation of wagons from the area. At the Spotswood end the Victorian Railways had their Stores Branch sidings, as well as the Amalgamated Workshops complex.
In the mid 1990s the East Line was converted to dual gauge as part of the Western standard gauge line works. Today the only connected sidings are some though sidings at Brooklyn, those for the United Goninan locomotive maintenance facility opened in the 1990s on the site of the VR Spotswood workshops, and the former Stores Branch sidings used by various way and works operators, including John Holland.
Events
Line Opened
| Saturday, 3 October 1857 | Temporary Greenwich terminal and stub line closed. Geelong line now connected to the partially completed Williamstown line. A ferry complete the journey from Williamstown to Melbourne |
| Monday, 17 January 1859 | Williamstown line finally completed to Melbourne. Geelong trains can now operate direct to Spencer Street Station |
Track Amplified
| (Wednesday, 19 January 1887) | Line duplicated Spotswood to Newport |