The Lost Springvale Cemetery Railway Line
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- Опубликовано: 6 ноя 2020
- Serving Melbourne For 47 Years, The Springvale Cemetery Line Has Been Closed 69 Years, What Is Left Of It Today?
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Well Done Again Nice To See You Paying Respects To The Dear Departed! A Workmate Of Mine Has Been Asking About This Line The Springvale Cemetery For Quite A While!🙂🛤️🚇⚰️
Brilliant work mate,very informative indeed.it's great to see someone of your age with such a passion for not only trains but the history that comes with them.your doing an outstanding job!!!
Thank you 😊
I am so happy to hear you enjoyed it so much, I love learning about the history, and presenting it to you guys!
Wow I'm so intrigued!! I did.not know that random track was a proposed Springvale Cemetery Station! How many years ago when living in Sandown Park heading between Springvale and Noble Park daily, Ive always wondered why there were random tracks around the are 😮.
Not just proposed, but built and operated for around forty years.
2.13k subscribers! Your growing so fast!
These videos are very interesting. Keep up the good work :)
Thanks mate, great to hear you enjoyed it, and found it interesting :)
Wow! I found this video via a Facebook link. Fascinating! I lived in Springvale from the age of 4 until I was 15 in 1975. We lived within a five minute walk to the station and I know the area around the old engineering works really well. Played there a lot as a kid. Where the new housing estate is were a number of factories. Bonds had a factory next to my old High School there. There was another engineering company at what is now the entry to the new housing estate and around the corner heading towards the racecourse was a factory owned by Rocla/Humes Concrete Pipes.
The old train line was still visible in the pipe storage area in front of Rocla...I know because that was our main playground in the area. The whole area was full of tiger snakes, rabbits and rats.
Where the Mile Creek (now no more than a large open concrete drain) ends at Corrigan Road there are the remnants of the crossover used to take the trains across the Mile Creek holding pond.
I am really impressed that such a young man is interested in all this history. I have subscribed because of your enthusiasm which is rare in someone so young these days. Good on you, young fella!
Love your videos! Such an important part of Melbourne’s history!!
Thank you Adam, glad you enjoyed, such a hidden, yet crucial part of history!
I have just pointed people to this on 3AW radio. Hopefully it will give you some more deserved views.
Favourable comments on your work from the radio hosts.
Good stuff man! Never knew about this line, really interesting! Keep the videos coming!
Thanks a lot Will, great to see you enjoyed 😊
My great-grandfather is buried at Springvale Cemetery, unfortunately though, he arrived from Greece about 30 years after the railway line was dismantled and died shortly after. The worst part was, his body never got to be on board the Springvale railway line.
Wow I had no idea that a line like this existed in Melbourne, next time I'm at the cemetery I'm sure to check it out
There is a lot of history on the pakenham and Cranbourne train line
You’re right
That building of B D Johnson was original a power station ( rotary converters, 3 phase AC motors driving DC generators to power the trains), the line to the right to went ROCLA pipes. I lived in Springvale in the 50's.
Thanks for this extra information, I was unsure of the building's purpose, this clears things up.
The Rocla siding is an interesting one, I wish I could go back in time and see how they used the siding!
You are a very gifted railway historian and documentary maker. I foresee a very bright future for you!
Thank you very much, that means a lot 😊
Love the videos covering the historical lines like this. While I hate that lines get ripped up (Even when it's understandable, it's still sad) it is quite fun to try and trace where the lines once were and to find the little remnants of it. I've had a lot of fun figuring out where the old Buninyong line was and finding old culverts, cuttings, etc. Thank you for the video!
Thank you yet again :) You can see why this line was closed, however like you said, it is always sad to see a piece of rail history fade into the past.
Who knows, maybe one day I will visit Buninyong, and make a video on the old line there, thanks again!
One thing not mentioned was the railway bridge over Dandenong Rd built with the line. May be visible a bit in the 1945 shots from the air. Rare to find photos online of the bridge but I recall one or two with the bridge just showing in the background. Will send links when I re find them. Concentrate on your exams for now. Wish you well with them.
Was that a railway bridge, Roughly where was it, near the racecourse bridge. I know that the Racecourse was originally going to be a housing estate but was just too wet. I remember driving my mum nuts coming home covered in mud trying to explore that area, even in summer.
@@beagle7622 the rail bridge was further down near corrigan road intersection
Do you remember the 2 mounds of red dirt that were used to build the racecourse bridge approaches , we used to slide down them on Masonite I think. They were building a lot of houses then so it was easy to find bits of wood. That whole area was very wet in the low parts , I sank up to my knees& further a few times. . I sort have tracked the track from the spur to the cemetery. I never heard anybody explain what it was for. It was a great playground for young kids.
Beautiful, did a tour there at Springfield Cemetery and they touched upon the train line, didn't know how extensive it was. Thankyou for sharing, loved the crossover map bits!
Great video. Always nice to hear a little of our forgotten history
another fantastic and interesting look into our railway past. I never realised how much has been hacked up and changed.
Oh wow, the whole lot is gone. I only visited that siding once around 2006 and still remember it well.
Fascinating. I had no idea this existed. Great that you were able to find some remnants of the old line.
Thank you very much, glad I could teach you something :)
Springvale Is my Hometown right now and it is amazing to see that there was a Second Line near me
Another awesome video! I know of the cemetary trains that ran to Fawkner, and now it's a passenger line, which freaks me out a little 😂
Thank you for making and posting this video. It was very interesting to hear about this. My husband has worked for the railways for many years and we had often talked about the fact that this line had existed but, did not know much about it.
Awesome video man, you have just gained another subscriber.
Living in the western suburbs all my life it's great to see and learn about this old history from the other side of Melbourne.
Once again, the train man is enormous here! Well done as always.
Thank you very much, glad you think I'm enormous, haha!
Another excellent video.
Thanks mate !!!
Another great video, Max - the quirkier and more obscure the better!
Another excellent video. Very enjoyable
Thanks very much Martin, I'm happy to hear you enjoyed it so much 😊
Wow never new about this line, and I lived in that area for a few years . You learn something new every day . Very informative! Thanks for posting mate ! 👍
Thanks mate, I appreciate the support, and I'm glad you learnt something!
This is a nice video mate! All your videos are so interesting! :)
Thank you, glad you found this one interesting, loving the regular viewings from you :)
Thanks, I enjoyed watching your videos to. Can’t wait till you upload again. :)
Fascinating Train Man. Great job. I loved it.
Thanks Phil, I'm happy you enjoyed it :)
I love your videos man they are teaching me so much about trains and everything YOU NEED TO KNOW about train. please keep uploading.have a great life and enjoy😀
Thank you 😊. So happy to hear you enjoy my videos, I'll keep them coming soon!
Found your channel a little while ago. really interesting hearing about all the different lines, stations etc. You sure know your stuff! Looking forward to hopefully a video on the Melton line :)
Thanks very much Greg, hopefully I get the chance to visit Melton shortly!
Another great video there mate! Absolutely crushing it.
Glad you think so :)
I hope we can grow as a community, spreading the cool information around the city!
Well done young man, so pleasing to see the youth of today being interested in our past.
If you like this topic it's worth a follow up on the line that existed in Sydney. The purpose built Mortuary Station adjacent to the Regent Street side of Sydney Central was the starting point of a line that ran through to the Rookwood Cemetery in the wesstern suburbs. Some excellent videos on YT.
Thanks very much Frank, I appreciate the support 😊
One day, I hope to do videos like these in all cities across Australia, and potentially the world, and I won't forget to give the Rookwood Cemetery!
Good work! Keep going!!! Love it
Cheers man, thanks for the support 🙌
Another excellent add on. Keep up the good work. 👍👍👍👍👍👍
Thank you very much, I'm happy to be out and about again!
What a wonderful video! Well done and nice research Max!
Thanks very much Alex, glad you enjoyed!
Interesting stuff, well done young fella 😊👌
thanks for your informative video
I love your work man, cheers.
Thank you Lawrence, much appreciated 😊
Awesome video!
Good on ya mate. Great vids.
Top video mate 👍👍👍
Cheers Warren, thanks for watching!
I walked down that line as a kid a lot in the early 1970’s . It was there in those day down to the car park of the Racecourse. I am not sure whether you are aware but there I’d a lot of underground water in the area of the racecourse . I knew it was the cemetery track but has no idea where it went. The pipe company Rocla which is now covered in houses used to bring trains in to load concrete pipes.Good Story, my old high school is gone too. Well done excellent research.
Wow, how interesting, thank you for sharing your experiences with the line. I am glad that you think I did the line justice, I didn't know much about Rocla, just that the Springvale siding was named 'Rocla Siding' in some photos I saw, so thank you for that information, I'm always wanting to learn more :)
Another good video Max. Before motor transport this was the only way to go to the cemetery for the living and the dead ! Rook wood and Sandgate in NSW are two that you can still see remains of infrastructure. The signalling for the junction was still in place when I visited in 1957. Cheers.
Lots of horse drawn hearses served the other cemeteries without railway connections before motor vehicles. Still a preference for royalty to use horses in funerals.
Nice to see you again online 👍 Your videos about the history of Melbourne trains are good 😉
Thank you Mr Germany :)
I'm happy to get some great videos out for you to watch over the next couple of months!
@@thetrainman548 Yes now as the lockdown has a end you can go to all the places you want😉
The BD Johnson building was the original substation housing rotary converters to produce 1500V DC until replaced by the yellow brick substations at Noble Park and Westall in the 1950s.
I had no idea about this. Thanks and well done!!!
Thanks Roger, glad I could help you learn about the line :)
On the way into Sandown racecourse you would cross the old train line. I recall the rails of the old train line crossing Dandenong Road / Princes highway decades ago.
a rail bridge was built for the train (remembering the Hwy was single lane) but was dismantled in 1950's
Do you recall a bridge or a level crossing?
@@johnd8892 definitely a bridge, photos on line
@@snoball5638 yes I was aware of the bridge as in my earlier comments, but Alan seemed to imply rails in the roadway which surprised me.
The rail bridge photos are pretty rare. Lost the ones I had seen. Any chance of a link?
@@johnd8892 I found it in a book Springvale Necropolis , City of the Dead..I'll put it on my fb page
Liked (awesome video) and subscribed (keep up the good work mate). Love your videos!
Legend Andrew, thank you!
Very good indeed, in an intriguing manner of presentation.
Another informative video, keep up the good work
Thank you Steve, it feels good to be back out there filming :)
Another great little video, well researched and informative. The lkne has a lot of parallels with the Brookwood Necropolis line here in the UK. Thanks for your efforts Max!
Thanks very much Barney, great to hear from you on this video. Would love to visit the equivalent line in the UK one day, how interesting!
Awesome video! It's great that you brought some light to a somewhat forgettable old line. Also I love that shot where you show the old satellite view and the new one together
1945.melbourne/ The Satellite shot is from this website, a very cool one!
Thanks again for watching, great to hear you enjoyed, I'm happy to be back!
@@thetrainman548 this is all aerial photography from planes. No satellites in 1945 and even now little close up detailed satellite photography is in the public domain, as it is made for defence purposes.
Meant to tell you about that site but no need now. A pity it did not extend into what was then countryside but is now suburbia, thanks largely to suburban trains.
Another story for you, up until 2013, the Hurstbridge Line still used a Staff System due to parts of the line onl;y being a Single Track
Great video as always!
Thanks mate, happy to hear from you again
So enjoyed this video. I've seen the remnants of this line many a time. My mum's in that cemetery and it would have been great to still have this branch in stead of me getting out at Sandown and riding up on my mountain bike to mum. Anyway well done mate.
Love love love,!!,! I absolutely love your content thank you for this video,!!
Love, love, love the enthusiasm haha, thank you Jazmine!
good job,i did not know about this line!
great video, just what I was looking for...accurate as well, thanks
Thanks heaps Fred, glad you enjoyed :)
Very nice video
Thanks very much Bailey, I appreciate it :)
fascinating indeed young man.
Very informative bro 👌
Sad I’m gonna be out during the stream, but when I’m back I’ll be watching straight away! Should be interesting since I don’t know much about the Springvale Cemetery line! 😁
What time would suit you for future premieres?
Probably 6pm when I’m home and having dinner so I can put it on the tv for the family to watch while eating
Well put together as always. Springvale funeral branch has a lot of history. I hope you do a video on Fawkner too one day. Not many people know that Fawkner line had funeral wagons added to one train a day from Platform 10 east at Flinders St. I think one wagon could hold up to 20 coffins, and a wagon has been restored and is/was on display at Fawkner station. Families, as well as the deceased could even travel to the "Mortuary platform" on the same train in the early 1900's up until the second world war. Some ran after 1939 until the early 1950's. There is some info on the net about these wagons. And in Queensland, the Westlander train to Charleville, which now only runs twice a week, can still have "coffin chambers" in one of the luggage vans if required. Occasionally funeral directors in Toowoomba, (and even Brisbane on rare occasions) will send a coffin by train to Charleville. Health requirements have to be met of course, it's not as simple as just placing the deceased into a coffin. Some people think all the small ventilated doors that were at the end of the guards van are for animals, and indeed some are, but two of those doors have rollers installed to run the coffins into small "chambers" the van , (coffins are covered of course with thick cardboard), they roll in with ease and are "locked" into place, similar to a hearse. What silly trivia I hear you say, but the Westlander is the only train in Australia that has this facility these days, but rarely used now. Years ago it was a common thing on many country trains in most states. I have a very old Melbourne suburban timetable somewhere that has the trains to Fawkner highlighted that would have a funeral carriage attached. There were also exclusive funeral trains at times, but they had to be hired specifically.
interesting info. thanks for posting.
The coffin car is still on display to is day
@@terryjacobson7325 Indeed it is. A company I was Co Director of back in the day donated some of the fittings.
I well remember the remnants of that spur track which remained there for many years as I used to do ‘night school’ at the Springvale High School and park around there. Before they built that infill housing.
How interesting! I wish there was footage of the line back then, it'd do wonders when it comes to visualising what it would've looked like.
Another awesome video! :D
Thank you! I appreciate the long lasting support :)
I'VE TAKEN A FEW BODIES TO SPRINGVALE CEMETERY FOR SERVICES NICE PLACE
Good work - pls do one on the VRI especially at Lilydale
Super interesting video on a super interesting line!
Cheers Adam, happy you found it interesting 🙌
i really thought this was the Ross town railway video
Hey Max! Another great vid! I think there’s a similar preserved carriage in Elsternwick.
Didn't know about this Peter, whereabouts in Elsternwick do you think the carriage is? Glad you enjoyed the video!
You should do a video about the 2 IEVs
Wake up, new train man video 😍🥰
Get back to studying 😉
YES ! New Train Man 😃
Yay, how good!
Mah Man! Great video!
Thanks very much :). Great to hear you enjoyed again!
Love watching your videos so informative ; are you thinking about doing a video of the alamein line
Thanks Paul! Alamein video has been done, have a look through my videos on the channel, and it was posted around 10 months ago :)
Another great video never knew about the line. Cemetery line in London also shut in WWII enjoy the freedom of more than 25km travel.
Thanks Lindsay, I'm loving the freedom and filming again! Glad you enjoyed, and who knows, I may visit the cemetery line in London one day!
Good video keep it up
Thanks again Jake, great to hear from you again :)
hi matey great vid... keep them coming
Thanks Bradley, I knew you were waiting for this one, glad you enjoyed :)
@@thetrainman548 hey ... is the mornington line next ?
Not yet, it is a big video, looking to do it over the summer break 👍
@@thetrainman548 NO WORRIES. MATEY. STAU SAFE.
Thanks for that excellent history, I live in this area and I knew some of what you showed but the extra detail was so great. Can you tell us where you got the old maps of Springvale and Sandown?
Sydney had similar called the Mortuary Siding not far from platform-1 at Central, funeral train would run to Rookwood Cemetery. Mortuary Siding and building still there, have you checked it out yet young Max? Thank you, good video with plenty of detail.
Another great video TTM. Thanks for bringing us this piece of forgotten history. It deserves to be remembered. Cheers.
BTW: What was that swipey website you used?
1945.melbourne/ website, going to do a description for this vid soon.
Glad you enjoyed, this line is a very much hidden piece of history, very cool indeed!
congrates on 2.12 subs
Thanks Eddy, you are one of the best :)
Springvale Station was My Childhood i miss watching trains passing the level crossing can you do history of Noble Park
Always wanted to know more since i go to Springvale every so often
Hopefully you learn something from the video 😊, thank you!
new vid nice
I'm waiting 23 to go.
Good video again Max there certainly has been some changes over the years to Vic railways.
And i would be none the wiser if it wasn't for your videos..
Thanks again John, I am sure many train fans wouldn't know much about this one! My goal is to teach people about the history, and the future of our beloved system, and I'm happy to see you getting that benefit out of my videos!
@@thetrainman548 Absolutely Max i am getting plenty from you my friend, i always look forward to your videos mate.. Your parents must be proud of you, you could be doing worse things with your life but you aren't.. 🙂
have you looked at the sandridge line there are some videos on both st kilda line an port melb it you go down to the casino across the road is where the light rail splits into the two lines when the casino was being bulit they must have got rid of a lot of soil and they took away an overhead bridge across clarendon st it would be great to see you explore the line before and after it changed to light rail
I dig trains man.
My Mum, one of my sisters, Grandma, Grandpa, and one of my uncles is buried at Springvale Cemetery
cool hat you wore while you recorded the vid!
I love a good bucket hat 😍
brought back memories. Line ran through to Rocla Pipes and Cemetery. The land was sold to the Sandown race track. I think it crossed the princes highway. Pity as it could have served Rowville. The long promised line from Oakleigh to Rowville. We could see the cremation smoke from Springvale High School. Would not be hard to restore it but politics in the way.
Fantastic to hear the video brought back memories Bill :)
It certainly could've played a part in a line to Rowville, it'll be interesting what they eventually do over the next couple of decades.
Such a shame the line was ultimately closed because of Sandown Racecourse, I wish I could've gotten the chance to see it.
Thanks again
I’ve seen that Boulder with the plaque on it quite a few times on my visits to the cemetery but I’ve never noticed the footings for the old over head stanchion there. I’ll have to have a look next time I visit the cemetery. Just checking though, is it the footing for a stanchion or a signal post?
Another interesting video - well done. I was going to ask if you'd been to Faulkner to see the restored 'Hearse' carriage, which of course you have.
Fun fact about the driveway leading into the Faulkner cemetery crossing the Upfield line. Up until the mid 1950s when the AEC railmotor - 'The Beetle' - was running from Faulkner to Somerton, the crossing of the driveway and railway was the only one in Victoria where road traffic actually had right of way. The AEC would depart Faulkner, roll up slowly to the crossing and stop. After making sure there were no cars in sight, the AEC would then proceed over the crossing, sounding its shrill tin whistle. It would do the same on the return journey.
I also couldn't help notice the T-shirt you were wearing - it looked like a diagram schematic for a steam loco of some sort. Where do you get them from?
By the way, have you had a look at 'The Substation' at Newport? Quite an interesting old building. I think it was shut for a few months due to covid, but I think it may be opening again in the new year at least. In the meantime, you can do a 'virtual' walk through. It's pretty cool.
thesubstation.org.au/whats-on/virtual-tour/
Anyway, all the best and looking forward to the next mini-doco.
Good video and forget history
Well done. I admire your work.
Thank you very much, I'm very happy you enjoyed 😊