John Thomas, who Thomastown was named after, was actually John Honnibal and he was from Somerset in England. He'd spent some time in debtors prison in England during an economic depression, and when he came to Australia with his family (in 1844) he changed his surname to Thomas in order to disassociate himself from his past. But you're right, he was initially a market gardener. He and his family are buried in the tiny cemetery behind Thomastown Primary School. I really enjoyed the video, love your enthusiasm and hope you continue to create great content. All the best!
@@NewFalconerRecords Thank you for the information about John Thomas, I didn't know that. :) Also what part of the video where you confused about, I don't think I mentioned Lalor much
My parents moved to Thomastown in 1968, there were new estates opening up and part of that was the availability of rail. There was still lines as far as South Morang as I remember, there was a crossing at McDonalds Rd Epping.
Great job! Well researched and thankyou for creating. You can see as you do more of these you are becoming more confident and the videos are becoming better and better. Please keep doing these.
There is infrastructure that still exists, I live next to Middle Gorge Station, the site of the original South Morang station. Up until 2018 on the site of Middle Gorge station there was the frame work of storage sheds which now are unfortunately gone, the Station Masters house is still lived in to this day and some of the original telegraph poles are still standing beside the station. South Morang (Middle Gorge Station) was not a Stopping Place, it was a full size station for the time. Where the current South Morang Station is was a Stopping point. The platform of Yan Yean Station still stands and the Station Masters house at Yan Yean is still lived in and can still be seen from Plenty Road as well more telegraph poles dotted along the track between Mernda Station all the way out to Whittlesea. There are also sections of rail line present if you know where to look. There are also some small trestles still spanning the many creeks. The raised track bed is also visible all the way from Mernda Station to Whittlesea. Just wondering why you didn't covered the stations on the line, the stations on the shared part of the line from Flinders Street to Clifton Hill (shared with Hurstbridge line) and then the stations from Clifton Hill to Lalor? If you did this it would have included the inner circle line junction at the Merri Creek. Besides transporting timber the line also transported rock from the quarries as you mentioned but the Whittlesea line was also used to move Melbourne's milk supplies (60% I believe) prior to the track closure1959.
@@1936Studebaker Clifton Hill to Thomastown was never closed (beside maintenance) so it didn't really fit into the category of being forgotten if their where always trains on them :) I've also seen the Yan Yean station Platform while driving up to Whittlesea, although I didn't get any photos. The Whittlesea line carrying 60% of Melbourne's dairy traffic is actually something I didn't know about
You could make a reasonable argument that it shouldn't happen though. If they extend back to Whittlesea it'll almost certainly be based on mass subdivision for low density suburban development in the area, further promoting Melbourne's urban sprawl problem instead of pushing for more higher density developments in the established urban centre. It's not so much a question of 'do you want a train to Whittlesea?' as it is 'do you want to turn Whittlesea into a suburb of Melbourne?' I think there are a lot of people who will eagerly say yes to the first question but be strongly opposed to the last question. But it is probably inevitable. Developers love their cheap, greenfield developments on the urban fringes and Australians desperately want their detached houses and their own block of land.
Of all closed rail lines this one was the worst decision. Once the line is gone the rebuilding is a lot more expensive. Because of the car is king mentality any new construction has to avoid roads. So it has been put off for way too long. Plenty road has been grossly overloaded for decades. It can't easily be widened. Whittlesea has grown as has the land beyond it. The only other line I can think of that is going to be needed again is the line between Cranbourne and Lang Lang.
John Thomas, who Thomastown was named after, was actually John Honnibal and he was from Somerset in England. He'd spent some time in debtors prison in England during an economic depression, and when he came to Australia with his family (in 1844) he changed his surname to Thomas in order to disassociate himself from his past. But you're right, he was initially a market gardener. He and his family are buried in the tiny cemetery behind Thomastown Primary School. I really enjoyed the video, love your enthusiasm and hope you continue to create great content. All the best!
@@NewFalconerRecords Thank you for the information about John Thomas, I didn't know that. :)
Also what part of the video where you confused about, I don't think I mentioned Lalor much
My parents moved to Thomastown in 1968, there were new estates opening up and part of that was the availability of rail. There was still lines as far as South Morang as I remember, there was a crossing at McDonalds Rd Epping.
9:50 I have a photo of that trip somewhere as I was within the group on platform 1 (2nd from left at 8x zoom)
Great job! Well researched and thankyou for creating. You can see as you do more of these you are becoming more confident and the videos are becoming better and better.
Please keep doing these.
There is infrastructure that still exists, I live next to Middle Gorge Station, the site of the original South Morang station. Up until 2018 on the site of Middle Gorge station there was the frame work of storage sheds which now are unfortunately gone, the Station Masters house is still lived in to this day and some of the original telegraph poles are still standing beside the station. South Morang (Middle Gorge Station) was not a Stopping Place, it was a full size station for the time. Where the current South Morang Station is was a Stopping point.
The platform of Yan Yean Station still stands and the Station Masters house at Yan Yean is still lived in and can still be seen from Plenty Road as well more telegraph poles dotted along the track between Mernda Station all the way out to Whittlesea.
There are also sections of rail line present if you know where to look.
There are also some small trestles still spanning the many creeks.
The raised track bed is also visible all the way from Mernda Station to Whittlesea.
Just wondering why you didn't covered the stations on the line, the stations on the shared part of the line from Flinders Street to Clifton Hill (shared with Hurstbridge line) and then the stations from Clifton Hill to Lalor? If you did this it would have included the inner circle line junction at the Merri Creek. Besides transporting timber the line also transported rock from the quarries as you mentioned but the Whittlesea line was also used to move Melbourne's milk supplies (60% I believe) prior to the track closure1959.
@@1936Studebaker Clifton Hill to Thomastown was never closed (beside maintenance) so it didn't really fit into the category of being forgotten if their where always trains on them :)
I've also seen the Yan Yean station Platform while driving up to Whittlesea, although I didn't get any photos.
The Whittlesea line carrying 60% of Melbourne's dairy traffic is actually something I didn't know about
I imagine if Whittlesea became a Melbourne suburb in the future and became the main terminus
@@ThompsonSteamtrain It will happen soon
You could make a reasonable argument that it shouldn't happen though. If they extend back to Whittlesea it'll almost certainly be based on mass subdivision for low density suburban development in the area, further promoting Melbourne's urban sprawl problem instead of pushing for more higher density developments in the established urban centre.
It's not so much a question of 'do you want a train to Whittlesea?' as it is 'do you want to turn Whittlesea into a suburb of Melbourne?' I think there are a lot of people who will eagerly say yes to the first question but be strongly opposed to the last question.
But it is probably inevitable. Developers love their cheap, greenfield developments on the urban fringes and Australians desperately want their detached houses and their own block of land.
Of all closed rail lines this one was the worst decision. Once the line is gone the rebuilding is a lot more expensive. Because of the car is king mentality any new construction has to avoid roads. So it has been put off for way too long. Plenty road has been grossly overloaded for decades. It can't easily be widened. Whittlesea has grown as has the land beyond it. The only other line I can think of that is going to be needed again is the line between Cranbourne and Lang Lang.
good show. the only suggestion i could make is just keep doing these videos. i enjoy them.
Could you do a video on the Healsville Line? not sure if youve dont that yet.
A few weeks :)
@@VictorianTransportHistory cant wait!!
Great video's - love to see any footage of the old railway gates at craigburn Hume HWY
Please do either the south Geelong-Queenscliff line or the Fyansford line along with APC narrow gauge line at Fyansford
@@trainman9024 I've been meaning to do the Fyansford line for a while now
The whittle sea line needs to open asap and a track speed of 115kmh between Mernda and whittle sea
Brilliant. Now, what about the Red Hill line on the Mornington Peninsula? Not sure if you've already covered that?
Ill put it on the list
Another great video, well done!
Can you please make a video about the Warburton railway line
@@DannyBoi-hy2gx Already on the list :)
Roy Newell
Who?
Can you do history on the Hamilton train line?
@@JaximusJnr96 The Portland, Balmoral, Penshurst or Coleraine line?
@@VictorianTransportHistory all of them please
Thank you
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10:39 Kinglake - not KingSlake. You need to be more accurate...
@@merbertancriwalli8622 Whopps didn't realise their wasn't an S, Sorry about that 😅