As a youngster I lived for a short time from January 1950 to June of the same year close to Rockbank Railway Station in a house owned by Mr. Bill Cockbill. If I remember there were 3 roads through the station, there being the main line with platform, a passing loop and a third road being a goods siding. There was only one platform. I can't be sure that there was a staff exchange mechanism at the platform ends, but I do know that the Station Master had to hand the staff to each driver. I had the opportunity to have the staff and ticket system explained to me by the S.M. A lot of the traffic consisted of coal trains from the Bacchus Marsh coal mines. Naturally all trains were steam hauled.
I forgot to mention that there was an old formation indicating a branch line that ran to an old rock quarry on Cockbill's property. The track was long gone in 1950 but the formation was still there and I can remember the remains of a couple of wooden framed wagons at the quarry.
Very interesting to see the transformation. There has been quite a bit of money put into this Station. Thank you for the video. Great to see the difference. We have Cross rail coming next year in London and we to have had some of our stations updated especially for disabled passengers which is great to see. Cheers Doug
There's lots of $ going into Public Transport. It's very political over here and can win and lose elections. The newer stations while not having alot of the older character are certainly fit for modern purposes. Thanks for having a look.
Rockbank definately needed the upgrade due to rising housing developments near by. I think it was the only station at the time where the 6 carriages were not able to fit on the whole platform.
11:20. the pavers didnt check their levels. nice swimming pool at the bottom of the steps. or it could be a blocked drain where they should have just made the paving fall towards the road.
@@rond6783 Have to confess to being a quiet carriage Nazi lol. They are building standard gauge Velocities for Albury which have extras and a snack bar etc. transport.vic.gov.au/our-transport-future/our-projects/new-and-upgraded-trains-and-trams/new-train-and-tram-orders#VlocityNE
Less money to realign the tracks I suppose. Caroline Springs is manned and an island platform. Difference is CS was a new station built from a single track.
i'm curious to know how much the pandemic has affected passenger numbers for all the lines, as i notice Wendouree station (my local) carpark is never full now, not even close to capacity.
If it's like the trams, passenger numbers are down as more people use cars. I have caught Metro Trains all week and the car park at Essendon Station is very quiet compared to what it used to be.
That's the same as saying "Because reasons." There's more stations and infrastructure to upgrade or renew first, especially when it's serviced by so may DMU's a day.
Wow, that's what I call future-proofing a station on the edge of suburbia that doesn't get many passengers. I would have thought they could have waited for a decade or so before needing to spend all that money, when I suspect it could have been spent on more urgent projects. But it's great that they did the rebuild, especially since it's not in a marginal electorate, so neither political party would feel pressured to do the rebuild as a vote getter.
they just added another line where there was an aching need for one. proper future proofing would have made space for 4 lines and standard gauge for those who live beyond ballarat. there will still be delays caused by having only 2 lines. like when a grain train needs to use the line. and vlocities have to dawdle along as they wait for suburban trains ahead of them stopping at all stations.
@@samuelpartridge7830 , perhaps they might like to future proof that station and put 4 lines in there. and get rid of rail crossings before the line gets surrounded by high density suburbia that makes constructions even more expensive. oh dear, we should be contented that at least some money was diverted away from freeways.
@@Schony747 Just to be clear I was referring to the black text on white background at 1:02 and 2:44 and so on. It looks like some effect is applied like "Drop shadow" or something else I'm not sure which makes it difficult to read. I like watching your videos but the text is hard to read. Thank you.
All that work in *beautifying* this outer regional station and yet it is still unstaffed? Sheeeeee-eeeeeesh! It wasn't worth the effort or the money if the station isn't going to have a full-time staff attached to it.
Wow what a difference with a major project on a branch line can make.
Thanks for the video Brendan.
The whole Ballarat line upgrade has been great for everyone.
Good video. Nice to see for once a decent design with long shelters. Essential in a climate that swings between cold rain and bearing sun.
I would have thought the whole platform should have been covered over. Just my opinion.
@3:48 you gotta love that diesel sound brilliant
Oldies but goodies!
i thought it was a passing steam engine train from a long time ago!
As a youngster I lived for a short time from January 1950 to June of the same year close to Rockbank Railway Station in a house owned by Mr. Bill Cockbill. If I remember there were 3 roads through the station, there being the main line with platform, a passing loop and a third road being a goods siding. There was only one platform. I can't be sure that there was a staff exchange mechanism at the platform ends, but I do know that the Station Master had to hand the staff to each driver. I had the opportunity to have the staff and ticket system explained to me by the S.M.
A lot of the traffic consisted of coal trains from the Bacchus Marsh coal mines. Naturally all trains were steam hauled.
I forgot to mention that there was an old formation indicating a branch line that ran to an old rock quarry on Cockbill's property. The track was long gone in 1950 but the formation was still there and I can remember the remains of a couple of wooden framed wagons at the quarry.
Nice video mate the station looks good with all the renovations. The SSR gran train at the end was nice.
The station looks very good indeed!
Very interesting to see the transformation. There has been quite a bit of money put into this Station. Thank you for the video. Great to see the difference. We have Cross rail coming next year in London and we to have had some of our stations updated especially for disabled passengers which is great to see. Cheers Doug
There's lots of $ going into Public Transport. It's very political over here and can win and lose elections. The newer stations while not having alot of the older character are certainly fit for modern purposes. Thanks for having a look.
Like the update today lot's of detail .Hope there more to come.
I've got a few more to come. I haven't filmed many before and after but I plan to do a few more.
@@Schony747 Ok great new's
Great video Brenden. Lots of info for us.
Thanks 😀😀😀😀
The closest station to Mount Cotterell Bowls Club 🙂
Nice video :)
Greetings from indonesian railways
Thanks for sharing friend :)
Thanks for having a look 😀😀
Thats brilliant!
Thanks 😀😀
Rockbank definately needed the upgrade due to rising housing developments near by. I think it was the only station at the time where the 6 carriages were not able to fit on the whole platform.
6 cars would fit but the whole station would have been swamped in years to come with as you say people
11:20. the pavers didnt check their levels. nice swimming pool at the bottom of the steps. or it could be a blocked drain where they should have just made the paving fall towards the road.
Wouldn't be a Victorian station without it.
Good video!
Thanks 😀😀😀😀
great video! So interesting. Rockbank must be nearly a suburb these days? ex Vic.
Very much so.
The development out west is amazing. Soon Melton will just be another outer suburb!
Where is A66 being used currently?
Confined to shorter legs like Bacchus Marsh or can it b found anywhere on the system
Confined to heritage trains for the preservation groups and any V/Line testing requirements.
@@Schony747
Ok, Not in regular service as such. Thanks
Are the Vlocity's all one class?
One class, but they do have designated "quiet" carriages which sometimes are actually quiet.
@@rond6783 Have to confess to being a quiet carriage Nazi lol. They are building standard gauge Velocities for Albury which have extras and a snack bar etc. transport.vic.gov.au/our-transport-future/our-projects/new-and-upgraded-trains-and-trams/new-train-and-tram-orders#VlocityNE
Interesting to see pass trains running wrong line before the station rebuild, and why not a manned island platform?
Less money to realign the tracks I suppose. Caroline Springs is manned and an island platform. Difference is CS was a new station built from a single track.
i'm curious to know how much the pandemic has affected passenger numbers for all the lines, as i notice Wendouree station (my local) carpark is never full now, not even close to capacity.
If it's like the trams, passenger numbers are down as more people use cars. I have caught Metro Trains all week and the car park at Essendon Station is very quiet compared to what it used to be.
Melton Station which used to to be very hard to find parking before the pandemic, now you are garunteed to get parking.
It deserves overhead wires and needs to be a metro station. Reason: very modern
That's the same as saying "Because reasons." There's more stations and infrastructure to upgrade or renew first, especially when it's serviced by so may DMU's a day.
I give it 10 years and Melton will be electrified!
@@Schony747 Melton has been needed for a long time to take the pressure off Ballarat trains. But a dumbass reason deserves to be pointed out.
Wow, that's what I call future-proofing a station on the edge of suburbia that doesn't get many passengers. I would have thought they could have waited for a decade or so before needing to spend all that money, when I suspect it could have been spent on more urgent projects. But it's great that they did the rebuild, especially since it's not in a marginal electorate, so neither political party would feel pressured to do the rebuild as a vote getter.
problem is “waited for a decade” means postponing it indefinately. A succession of governments would prefer to do nothing and fund road building.
they just added another line where there was an aching need for one. proper future proofing would have made space for 4 lines and standard gauge for those who live beyond ballarat. there will still be delays caused by having only 2 lines. like when a grain train needs to use the line. and vlocities have to dawdle along as they wait for suburban trains ahead of them stopping at all stations.
If they're going to upgrade any station on the ballarat line, it has to be Melton
@@samuelpartridge7830 , perhaps they might like to future proof that station and put 4 lines in there. and get rid of rail crossings before the line gets surrounded by high density suburbia that makes constructions even more expensive. oh dear, we should be contented that at least some money was diverted away from freeways.
The way you make those text annotations is so hard to read. Blurry text is just bad, please don't use blurry text anymore.
It shouldn't be blurry. I'll look at another font which my help.
@@Schony747 Just to be clear I was referring to the black text on white background at 1:02 and 2:44 and so on. It looks like some effect is applied like "Drop shadow" or something else I'm not sure which makes it difficult to read. I like watching your videos but the text is hard to read. Thank you.
All that work in *beautifying* this outer regional station and yet it is still unstaffed? Sheeeeee-eeeeeesh! It wasn't worth the effort or the money if the station isn't going to have a full-time staff attached to it.
Things are done a bit differently down here in Mexico
@@Schony747 Can't call it Mexico anymore.
Mexico is actually a go to destination these days, unlike Victoria and Melbourne.
@@Schony747 Si, Senor! LOL
@Neil Forbes wickham and civic stations were always understaffed
If it works unstaffed, then it really doesn't need to be staffed.
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