Rail Geelong

• Station building
• Locomotive depot
• Goods yard
• Nearby roads
• Signalling
• Locality diagram
• Events
• Diagrams
• Photos
• Related Locations
• Sources

Geelong Station is the main station for Geelong, with a large brick station building adjacent to platform 1, an island platform linked by an overhead footbridge, and an iron train shed over it all. Inside the building is a booking office, large waiting room, luggage desk, lockers, and a privately operated kiosk. It is a busy station off-peak, but sees less usage by commuters due to the the lack of car parking and the difficult access to it.

There are two carparks at the station, the large one to the west with one exit onto Latrobe Terrace, and access via the Gordon Avenue or Brougham Street underpasses. A smaller carpark is to the east, where there is also the main station entry forecourt, drop off point, and bus interchange.

Geelong was the original terminus of the Geelong to Melbourne Railway. The present station building dates back to the 1880s. It was originally surrounded by a loco depot and goods yards that have been progressively relocated. However V/Line does use the sidings to the west for stabling of their carriage fleet.

Station building

The first Geelong Station was a dead ended terminus located somewhere near the present Law Courts Complex. The station consisted of three high roof structures that covered four tracks.

In 1876 the railway was extended south to Colac via a new tunnel at the down end of the station. It is assumed some kind of modification was carried out to the station to allow the tracks to exit. At this time there was a locomotive depot located to the Latrobe Terrace side (now the station car park) of the station, carriage sidings to the west, and a goods yard to the east.

The present station was built in stages from 1877 to 1881. It consisted of two side by side train sheds, with station buildings to one side. Three platform faces were provided with a total of five tracks running underneath the roof. A footbridge provided access to the island platform. A Car Dock also existed at the Melbourne end of platform 1 until the 1970s, and Horse Dock also existed at the other end of platform 1 between 1922 and 1976. Both of these platform faces are still visible today, even though the track over through both has been removed.

The station building housed originally waiting rooms, a ticket office, and a large Railway Refreshment Room. The station building was altered to the current layout in the early 1990s, with much of the building at the Melbourne end being used for V/Line offices and train crew quarters.

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Locomotive depot

The original locomotive depot was provided on the western side of the station. A turntable, roundhouse, and coal stage were provided. By 1917 the facility was insufficient for the growing traffic, and a new locomotive depot was opened on a new site closer to Church Street. The former sidings remained until the 1970s before being taken up by car park expansions.

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Goods yard

The initial goods sidings were provided on the Latrobe Terrace side of the station, but were relocated to the other side sometime before the 1890s. A number of dead ended sidings ran from near Latrobe Terrace towards Johnstone Park. In 1952 the goods shed burnt down and cost £38,894 to replace.

The goods yard remained until 1990 when the V/Line Freightgate was relocated to North Geelong. The former yard is now occupied by the Geelong Law Courts and Police Station, which were built soon after.

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Nearby roads

In the early days there were level crossings at Latrobe Terrace and Gordon Avenue.

In 1917 the Gordon Avenue level crossing was replaced by an underpass, and a new crossing provided at Maitland Street (on the Melbourne side of Latrobe Terrace). It is believed that the underpasses at Brougham Street and Roy Street were also provided at this time.

1981 saw Latrobe Terrace upgraded as a bypass of the Geelong city centre, with the interlocked gates replaced with an an overpass. The footbridge at O'Connell Street was also provided at this time, and the Maitland Street gates abolished.

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Signalling

Interlocked signalling was provided in 1884 with the opening of signal boxes Geelong A near Latrobe Terrace, Geelong B at Gordon Avenue, and Geelong C beside the platforms. (the signal box 'C' in the middle was known as 'B' box between 1884 and 1898, and vice versa.)

1909 saw the signal box at the centre of the platforms closed, and control of the entire Melbourne end of the station transferred to Geelong A. Further changes happened in late 1920 when the runaround road for platform 3 was removed, and the next year saw the entire approach to the station from Melbourne redesigned to allow for more flexible arrivals and departures from any platform.

In 1985 the Melbourne end of the station was simplified to cut down on point work maintenance. In late 1989 the centre platform road in the station was replaced by a panel provided at Geelong A to control the area. Also at this time the signalling on the short distance of line between Geelong and South Geelong was altered to be under the control of Geelong.

The final round of changes occurred with the Regional Fast Rail project, with Geelong A box and the remaining mechanical signalling abolished, and the entire area being controlled from the Geelong Signal Control Centre along with the rest of the Geelong line.

The bus terminus in the forecourt was rebuilt in the mid 2000s. In May 2008 the platforms were resurfaced, and the edges levelled. Purple Viclink signage was also installed from this time, being completed by August. In December the same year a new bike cage was provided at the up end of platform 1 for cycling commuters, under the exceedingly lame "Parkiteer" name. In July 2009 platforms 2 and 3 were extended by about 10 metres at the up end,to permit the operation of 7-car long VLocity trains on the Geelong line.

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Locality diagram

Key:

Red is main lines.

Dark grey is removed sidings.

Light grey is remain sidings.

1. Carriage Wash
2. Carriage Sidings
3. Former Locomotive Depot
4. Station Building
5. Former Goods Yard
6. Cunningham Pier branch

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Events

Line Opened

Track Amplified

Safeworking

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Diagrams

NOTE: Diagrams are not to scale.

• 1886
• 1906
• 1909
• 1917
• 1941
• 1976
• 1985
• 1989
• 2005

1886

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1906

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1909

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1917

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1941

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1976

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1985

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1989

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2005

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Photos

Nine of 84 images found displayed. Click them to enlarge.

Marquee at Geelong station, serving as a temporary socially distanced train crew meal room December 25, 2021	Footbridge over the railway links the two halves of Gordon TAFE December 25, 2021	Plenty of illegally parked cars blocking the roadways at Geelong station May 4, 2021
New DDA compliant footbridge to platforms 2 and 3 November 4, 2019	Station building on platform 1 November 4, 2019	Original footbridge to platforms 2 and 3 November 4, 2019
New pedestrian bridge towers over the Gordon Avenue underpass November 4, 2019	Cars parked in the western car park April 8, 2018	Down end of the station platform and carriage yard January 4, 2017

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Related Locations

• Geelong City Council Ballast Siding
• Geelong Racecourse Station
• Geelong Tunnel
• Geelong B Signal Box
• Geelong C Signal Box
• Geelong Signal Control Centre Signal Box
• Geelong A Signal Box
• Geelong Locomotive Depot
• Geelong Plaster Mills Siding
• Geelong Gas Company
• Geelong Freightgate
• Geelong Grammar Siding
• Geelong Showgrounds Station

Sources

• http://www.vrhistory.com/ - Andrew Waugh