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Power Station and Oil Lines
Line: Geelong
Distance from Melbourne: 9.230km
Track Diagram: View
Google Map: View
Opened: Monday, 22 December 1913
The Power Station and Oil Lines served two uses - supplying coal and briquettes to the Victorian Railways and State Electricity Commission power station, and fuel and oil products to various terminals in the Spotswood area.
The line
The line was opened to serve the Newport power station on July 5, 1914. After World War II the line was upgraded in conjunction with the expansion of the power station, with power signalling commissioned on December 17, 1948 and electrification commissioned on September 13, 1954. This was to permit trains hauled by L class locomotives to run from the briquette factories at Yallourn and Morwell in the Latrobe Valley to run through to the power station, where the briquettes fired the boilers. On January 20, 1971 overhead wiring and some signalling was decommissioned, probably in conjunction with the closure of the power station.
When dark or foggy only one engine was permitted on the entire line from Spotswood, the oil lines being restricted to one engine at all times. The line itself snaked though the oil terminals. The line branched into two at the up side of Hall Street, the oil lines running to the left, power station lines to right. The oil lines served a variety of oil terminals in the area. The longest branch was the oil wharf line, first running east to the shoreline, then north along the river and under the Westgate bridge, to an oil terminal in Yarraville on the other side of Stony Creek.
The main power station line had three sidings on the Newport side of the line, located between Hall Street and Douglas Parade. They were 1040 ft, 935 ft, and 1020 ft long, with scotch blocks at the up end and catchpoints at down end. A balloon loop and numerous other sidings existed at the power station, with 2 or more 20-ton I trucks with auto couplers not allowed around loop due to the tight curves.
On January 26, 1954 flashing lights added at Douglas Street on the power station line. In 1979 lever crossings on the line with flashing lights were at Hall Street, and Burleigh Street (on the Caltex siding). The Douglass Street crossing with the oil wharf line was unprotected.
Power stations
Newport A Power station was built at the mouth of the Yarra at Newport between 1913 and 1918, to supply electricity for the suburban railways which were being electrified at the time. It also supplied power to Melbourne consumers until the SEC opened their main power station at Yallourn in the Latrobe Valley in 1924.
A second power station, Newport B, was built alongside by the SEC after World War II. Both stations operated together, along with Newport C which was opened in 1950. Newport A was transferred to the SEC in 1951.
A coal dump to serve the station was built at Paisley in 1949, served by the SEC Siding. The SEC stopped using the dump in the early 1970s. The now elderly power stations at Newport were closed and demolished, and after protests from local residents the current gas powered generator was built to the north of the former stations. The former site is now public park, and part of the coal sidings at the north end are vacant land.
Oil terminals
Shell expanded into a new bulk handling facility when the company purchased 15 acres at Newport, close to both water transport, where the Port Of Melbourne Authority constructed a wharf and railway sidings. The company purchased the land in 1914. The first three storage tanks were built here by 1916. Tankers berthed at nearby wharves and the products were pumped to the storage tanks. Four gallon tins and the cases to pack them in were manufactured here and the products were distributed by horse-drawn tankers from the facility.
Up to five separate sidings existed:
- Sleigh siding
- Shell Company siding
- Mobil Oil siding
- Oil Wharf line
- Caltex Company siding
From the oil line, the Sleigh siding was beside the power station line towards Douglas Parade, and was a dead end loaded after a loop siding. The Shell sidings were beside the main oil line at the Hall Street end, and comprised a number of sidings and crossovers.
Another branch went slightly northwards, the Caltex siding crossed Burleigh Street between Drake Street and Douglas Parade before entering their terminal. A branch of this went to the east, branching off again to the Ampol (now Mobil) siding which continued to the east, and the oil wharf lines turn to the north again to the Holden Oil Dock.
Placemarks
Google Maps overlay of the area (.kml file only) (will update at some point)
See also http://www.railpage.com.au/f-p792771.htm
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 |