Upfield Line Melbourne 1994
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- Опубліковано 18 вер 2024
- 12 Minutes. This covers the section from Fawkner Cemetery to Coburg station with 2 scenes further south at Brunswick. Emphasis was on level crossings, especially the manually operated ones now automatic. Look out for the 'real happy' gateman.
Love those old McKenzie & Holland teardrop crossing bells and the Westinghouse Hybrid bells!
Fantastic! I travelled on the Upfield line back in 1982 but can't remember much of it.Times have changed, and no more grumpy gatemen!!
Thanks for the upload, I lived in Brunswick when the gate operators where still in their little huts operating the gates by hand, or by wheel if in the signalbox. I think you'd need a bit of patience to do a job like that, it was pretty common for them to stand there and let through a late car before they closed the gates off, and after the train came through the gates would be flung back across the tracks, wobbling about as they locked into place. It is still pretty unbelievable that this was still happening in the nineties, but when it all went automatic they also closed off quite a few streets as well. The lasting manual crossing in New St Brighton was still operating well into the 2000s before it too faded into history.
+gregga1973
I think there was a veggie garden at one crossing so that would help pas the time.. Depends where the trains crossed whether you would have a long break.
I remember going through some of those now closed off gates when I first got my Licence. Shame theyve gone but not surprising
😊. I think Upfield is finished now.
I grew up in Campbellfield from age 1, catching Upfield to the City for everything.
Thanks for this clip. I love the memory of how it used to look and work back then. :)
I’m pleased it brings you happy memories.
This is really valuable historical material. Now that I see these videos, I can remember what it used to be like. Grumpy gate atttendants and all.
😄😆
Cant believe there was only one platform at Coburg for so many years. Incredible changes on this line since
Just another quirk of Melbourne, I guess!
Amazed that these still had to be operated manually until so late.
Just a few years earlier there were very definite plans to take the trams out of Sydney Road and use the train line for trams instead. So for years the crossings were in limbo. With the growth in housing up north, it’s lucky that the trains remain. And of course the crossings were automated.
Great video.
I lived in West Brunswick from 1990-1993, Moreland was my local station.
Thanks for sharing.
I went to O’Hea St in the holidays to film a train. I’m happy there is no angry gate keeper anymore lol
Ha ha! I thought the whole thing was funny. What was he trying to hide from me??
Boom gates might not have the same character as the manual ones, but they certainly aren't as abusive. 😆
Still love the old livery of the Comengs.
😄🤣 Yes, Boom Gates are rather dumb!
On the odd diesel trip from Somerton, we'd ALWAYS hit the platform at Coburg. We expected it.
Good old VR 😊
That level crossing gatekeeper was very thick. I'm not sure about the Australian railway's, but being a crossing gate keeper in Ireland is a good number. All most have to do is open and close the gates and set the signal to the train that the gate is closed. They get paid good money also. The only thing is that it can be boring sitting in a hut all day and it would be annoying getting wet, but other than that, it's an alright job.
Mr.D1980 He probably thought that I was spying on him to report him for this or that.
A couple of these crossing were later closed but the rest are all automatic now.
Not a job I would like to do unless I had something to do between trains.
@@tressteleg1That's true. Manual level crossings are getting rare here in Ireland also. They are being replaced automatic gates and flashing lights. There are still a few left. It would be a boring job if you didn't have a television or a computer to look at between the time trains pass, especially here in Ireland, where there could only be a train passing by once an hour or maybe an hour and a half.
Mr.D1980 I’m surprised that any remain there in Ireland. You may enjoy this story 😊. www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/gates-of-wrath-20110130-1a9qm.html
I didn't realise Coburg Platform 2 was built so late. Do you have any footage of the Munro Street crossing?
+cnwb
If I did I would have included it with the original video. Sorry.
This is one of my favourite videos! The upfield line used to have some really good the crossings . The old signals at bell street looked pretty cool and the new cantilever signals just dint match that . Cool to see the old comengs in the met livery and sémaphores as well . Do you have any other videos from this time of other lines in Melbourne ?
Applehead 137 I’m pleased that you enjoyed it. There is also a more recent Driver’s View video of that line. Unfortunately I never covered any other line in detail and all my vintage movie and video from Melbourne is already on UA-cam. Check my Playlists to find them more easily.
People always tell me not to film when I film too! Well you and I can film whenever we want!
+Rahul Bhatia
That’s largely true. Anyone standing on public land - streets, parks etc. - can photograph whatever they like which is normally visible from there. Holding a camera up over a 6’ paling fence may be asking for trouble!
And I can film crossings whenever I want too!
Those sledgers who reckon that we cannot film or take photos of rail infrastructure while they are doing their jobs can go to hell. We live in a free society, and we have got every right to to this. Don't stand for anyone who abuses you, swears at you, and tells you that you cannot.
See my earlier reply about freedom to film from public land.
I used to get off at Batman to go to trade school. Used to walk along the tracks and jump the fence to get into Batman TAFE. I miss the quieter times of old. The guy opening and closing the gates no longer has a job. All automation now. Same as the conductors, signal operators, ticket sales. Sad.
Unfortunately they don’t seem to like people doing things like that these days, even though people never got run over by trains.
I remember that the Upfield Line was slated for closure for years so the manually operated gates were retained and upgraded relatively recently. Also the Upfield Line stopped at 7pm for years and years due to cost cutting by a succession of governments. There was no KFC in the CBD so I would get the train to Coburg for some KFC. Once I got caught out by the 7pm closure and had to get the tram.
Not so much closure but conversion to Light Rail, and taking the trams out of the parallel Sydney Road. I started work at Brunswick tram depot late 1987 and the conversion was all the talk then. It’s probably a good thing that the proposed conversion never took place for many reasons including the big increase in train passengers.
Why they persisted with the single Coburg platform I would never know.
Nice video. Gotta love those real sounding level crossing bells (especially the McK&H one at Coburg). I'm honestly getting sick of Metro replacing them with crap electronic bells. There's only one McK&H bell left in the whole of Melbourne (that being in Ivanhoe).
+TrickyMario7654
I did not realise they were changing them. In Qld where I now live unless there is a pedestrian crossing there too, crossings are silent. Ped crossings just have a little buzzer type thing.
I've heard all about QLD crossings not having bells. But yeah, there's less than fifty crossings in Melbourne with m-bells. Boundary Road (one of the crossings seen in the video) still has them, for now that is...
TrickyMario7654 I'm pretty in-between noble park and yarraman there's a original McK&H one? Correct me if I'm wrong.
+dynamics threeonesevenfour
My Melbourne contact had this to say. He will keep his ears open for any more.
"Beyond noticing that some bells sounded electronic, I hadn't taken any notice at all!
I am certain, however, that the ones at Yarraman aren't the only traditional bells left in Melbourne. Whether the others are McK&H or some other manufacturer I wouldn't know.
I'll bear it in mind and see what I can turn up."
One of my work colleagues used to catch trains from Gowrie station on the upfield line when he was younger. His name is Jeremy Stuart
😊👍
shame about the grumpy gate keeper! I remember back then when I walked over the O'Hea Street rail crossing there was a lady gate keeper, she was really nice & would always say "hello" to me and everyone who passed by.
Kathrine Ashton Maybe he thought that I was some spy for head office or something like that. He didn’t worry me.
@@tressteleg1 Thanks for capturing the old Upfield line, brings back fond memories!
Kathrine Ashton 😊👍
Funny how Coburg was always a single platform for decades.
Would you happen to have any footage of Camberwell station during the 90s at all?
As always, excellent videos!
+planetx15
Thanks, but unfortunately I very much doubt whether I have anything on Camber, but if something turns up I will include it somewhere suitable.
@connextro Thankyou, I have seen that, I was wondering if Tress had any of his own videos of Camberwell during that time.
I can’t be certain but I think you will see Camberwell station here. It’s probably spotted on trips to and from the Ringwood area as well. Driver's View Camberwell to Alamein and Return (Melbourne )
The good old Upfield line. So glad it survived and now is thriving. I recall the neglect by so many state governments, especially when the Caine government proposed to change it to light rail, then the Kennett government considered the same to save costs, however the CityLink project and the options to build CityLink with retaining the Upfield line in full ended up being excellent, even though it was more expensive. That Liberal government could have destroyed the line as the voters in those areas were all safe Labor, yet they let it go. We had crap service, three cars only, 7pm last train and no Sunday for so many years. It was always a highlight seeing the old gates in action. A few times one of the gate keepers got caught out in the toilet and the train wouldn’t move as the gates wouldn’t be opened with the station master from the other side having to sprint down. Good memories. Thanks for the upload, plus also special mention to the community members who worked tirelessly to save the line in the late 80s and 90s. One last shame closing off some of the streets with crossings like Tinning, Barkly and Phoenix street,they were good shortcuts to get around.
I was at Brunswick tram depot from late 1987 and removing trams from crowded Sydney Rd and putting them on the rail line near the end of Royal Pde was the idea. This would have been a great disadvantage to shoppers in Sydney Rd, so the next idea was trams on both. Fortunately the idea was scrapped and gatekeepers replaced with automatic gates, or closed altogether as you said. The extension south of Skyrail to Brunswick Rd should see those streets reopened. The reason you got back your trains nights and Sundays was because the buses were sold off so instead of hiring the buses from a private company, the trams returned. Same with Footscray - Moonee ponds. Anyway lucky the trains remained as a lot of the time I don’t think the trams could have coped with rail patronage increase.
I'm surprised that there were still manually-operated gates until relatively recently. These gatekeepers were probably not well paid, and public safety depended on them being physically able, awake (and sober). The job would have been unpleasant in bad weather. I suppose the conversion to automatic gates was dependent on money and priorities.
The upfield line was complex. In 1987 it was firmly intended to convert to light rail by removing Route 19 trams from the nearby Sydney Road and converting the rail line. There were a lot of objections to this and the idea was eventually dropped, and this was lucky as since then with the growth of Melbourne, trains are now carrying good loadings. So the manual gates remained in place while decisions were being made. As for the gatekeepers, if you live outside Australia you would not know that laws determine the minimum wages that anybody can be paid. While not a high wage, the gatekeepers would have been paid adequately and it was probably a job in keeping with their mental abilities. They would have paid extra money for starting early in the morning. Also, for many years, the line was replaced by the 19 tram and an extension bus nights and much of the weekend.
Remember those old black and white boom gates growing up. They don't exist anymore
It is alway nice to be reminded of nice things from our younger days.
1:17 You can see the house I grew up in! In fact i'll be back there again tomorrow, folks still live there :) It's the bigger of the two red roofed houses.
+EvilEldrin I suppose you mean train departure time screens on the stations. I have no idea where the design came from.
Awesome stuff mate, how come the upfield line ran as 3 car
In those days hardly anyone rode those trains at most times so 3 cars was more than enough. I expect that some other lines also had short trains. I can’t remember now.
I used to live near Jewel station and in 94 we had Peter Hitchener do a special on the upfield line, Edna who was a gatekeeper on Barkly st was interviewed too. Can't find anything about it on Google. Thanks for sharing this, I walked that bike track for years and played in the band just below the Phoenix st foot bridge you' were standing on. I remember the J running that day as a 15yo.
😊👍. Unfortunately in general anything that happened before the Internet really took off ‘does not exist.’
what's with Fawkner Cemetery? It's Fawkner - Fawkner is a suburb
What was that gateman's problem? Obviously in the days before every man and his dog was taking photos and shooting video.
+Crosshead1
Sadly your last sentence is so true. Fortunately I started early with video in 1984 otherwise things like the Harris trains would have essentially been missed. In those days if someone had a big camera, like my one, it was usually a TV station. I still don't know what the gatekeeper was worried about.
Crosshead1 That mentality is actually still very prevalent up here in Brisbane. Every compilation I have of Brisbane trains has been met with at least one person having a go at me because they're afraid I was "filming them" (which is why I've now stopped filming trains in Brisbane, because it's just a hassle).
Filming down in Sydney however (and I assume Melbourne nowadays in 2018 would be the same), no one even battered an eye at me, not even the station staff.
@@iwenttobunnings7868 Your right about that, filming is perfectly fine in Sydney, London Underground, National Rail UK etc which actually are massive network's and yet up here in piddly old Brisbane your technically not meant to film on railway property. Queensland Rail say on their website we're an operating railway and its unsafe to film what a load of utter crap when other larger networks are fine with it, they need to understand there are people who actually are interested in trains and the railway and let them freely film. QR are an embarrassment though compared to Sydney Trains/NSW Trainlink.
Blaaarrdy poofta loll
Can you please do a upfield line video in the present time (early 2021)
A lot of things have changed
More video is in the post coming to me at present from my Melbourne driver but he has not been able to video the upfield line works yet so it will be sometime before I can present it to you, but he certainly knows I am keen to get it. Of course he has to first be rostered to work that line.
@@tressteleg1 I just want to know if there's an update with the current upfield video?
Hopefully I can get to Melbourne in December when I will catch up with our driver and see what he has for us. It looks like no more crossings are to be removed from that line so hopefully he has been up there this year and will have new raw video for us.
@@tressteleg1 awesome, thanks
How did you get the footage though?
I was off work recovering from a broken leg after a stupid motorist knocked me off my motorbike, and towards the end of my recovery I got on my bicycle to ride to the line, and took those scenes myself. It was a Saturday afternoon from memory.
Ooohhh ok, but do u remember that glen huntly vid u taped?
What was it called? I don’t remember Glenhuntly being used in any title.
Imagine being that gate guy
Just another job that has passed into history. In the Kate 1980s, it eventually became a matter of ‘automate the gates, or close the line’.
Oh, I got it mixed up😅!
wow was it you who said to the gate keeper do your JOB! just wondering
cjem86tv Yes that was me calling out. I don’t know why he was so sensitive about being videoed. Maybe he thought I was from head office spying on him. Who knows?
nice video
Tomorrow I will be filming the Boundary rd, Hadfield railway crossing
Max Grawe I trust you got some good scenes there.
Well I have uploaded it now!
Max Grawe Hi Max, I watched Boundary Rd and Murray Rd. Boundary had a nice double cross. Well done! But if I may make a comment, it is best to go for Quality above Quantity. It would have been better to edit out all the cars at the beginning except for a few second before the gates start to operate. Most viewers have a VERY SHORT attention span and would abandon your video before the trains came.
But on a different tack, you obviously live up north. I lived at Glenroy when I drove trams at South Melbourne. My Upfield line video did show a number of rail crossings which today are now automatic and look much different. Maybe you would like to go to the same crossings as I showed, stand in much the same place, and get video of trains passing the same way. I would give you permission to use the relevant scene from my video to produce some ‘Before and After’ videos of each location. HOWEVER this would be on the strict condition that you made it clear that the Before scene was taken by tressteleg1. What do you think?
I will see about how much time I have. I do have work and school in the way but next time I get a chance I might go out and film them. but however I cannot promise anything. And also I might be moving up to Queensland next year but I will try and get as many videos of these crossings as possible before that happens
It was only an idea for something which you might like to do. The idea would be to just do one crossing at a time, much like your present format. Maybe the combination of Before and After could make your crossing videos a bit more interesting and help build your viewer numbers. We all have other things to do besides just UA-cam. It’s a hobby just for fun. Interesting that you may move to Queensland. I’m on the Gold Coast but visit Melbourne once or twice per year.
HOW DID YOU GET 11K SUBS BECAUSE the train man once ran vs a train and won then he did a video that he started at spotswood and used his bike to Luna park and he lost just by doing a sponcer in the middle of the video 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
and btw sorry for questioning you
On UA-cam you only get subscribers because people like what they saw and clicked the Subscribe button. I’ve got no idea what you are raving on about with the train man. Nothing to do with me.
No. Click on that read more button and then youl see why I didn’t know you do many on your channel because I just watch videos not check what else you do in this channel
My topics don’t just cover Australia. A video I made from a friend’s move is film has had over 100,000 views and it deals with Glasgow trams in 1959. Lately I have been getting a lot of views from the USA following my New York subway video from 1976 to 1990. So some of my subscribers are overseas as well. I don’t do anything to boost the numbers. They just happen. But very few of my subscribers watch all of my videos.
That’s just sad for me I lost 7 subscribers I once got 16 but now 9
I had a look at your channel and I am amazed you have any subscribers as you have no videos at all.
My subscribers do not love me. It is my videos that they like/love.
Soon some of these crossings will be gone
It’s amazing to think that until around 1990, this line was shut most of the weekend replaced by buses meeting each North Coburg tram.
Furthermore, 1980s there was talk of closing the line altogether and and most certainly there were plans to put the North Coburg tram onto the railway alignment instead of trains, and initially taking trams right out of Sydney Road. I think it a good thing that none of that happened and the line has been getting improvements ever since.
Grabbing the cameras & heading for my car!
1 year later, these crossings are gone and two new stations are currently being built above ground.
Over Moreland Rd, Bell St and maybe a few other little streets...
@@tressteleg1 Munro and Reynard Street in between Moreland and Bell
only 3 car trains too, try offering that now.
Just imagine if the plans from the late 1980s to change the Upfield line to light rail, replacing the trams in Sydney Road, had’ve gone ahead!
@@tressteleg1 *shudder*
Hi I’m going to feature some of these in a video if your fine with that
Yes fine. Send me a link when finished.
@@tressteleg1 thanks
😊
I forgot to say that if you show me exactly the clips you need, I can send the originals which will look better than what you can download from UA-cam. This is what I do with others who ask for my scenes. ITV which made ‘Inside Central Station’ got 3 such clips from me showing red single deck trains, while another company wanted a scene of a Harris coming into Brighton Beach for use in their project.
@@tressteleg1 it’s ok I only need 1
Oh really I have been watching inside Central Station
Offersley he didn't like been on camera lol
😊😀
"Just do your job." lmao
😆😆
Hi, is there a way to reach you directly about your footage - I'm independently making a doco about the Aussie music scene of the 1990's and some of this footage could be useful. If you'd prefer not to publicly state an email address here, you can contact me via my website: www.bendehoedt.com
Hi. Your website locked me out saying my internet connection was insecure! You can email me using
tressteleg(at)icloud.com
Use the normal symbol instead of (at)
@@tressteleg1 Strange - but thanks, I will be in touch - you can remove your email comment now for privacy if you need to. Cheers.
OK. However to date I have had no nuisance emails using this method.
God that gatekeeper was a w⚓
Yes, it’s as though he had something to hide.