Laburnum railway station, Melbourne

MelbourneRailwayStation1
NAME=Laburnum
IMAGELINK=New Laburnum station.jpg
CAPTION=The station after rebuilding
CODE=LAB
DISTANCE=16.6 km
LINES=Lilydale,
Belgrave
PLATFORMS=2
TRACKS=2 (room for 3)
STATUS=Unmanned station
FACILITIESLINK=http://www.metlinkmelbourne.com.au/stop/view/19897

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&om=1&z=16&ll=-37.820802,145.140724&spn=0.01256,0.019956 Link]
ZONE=2

Laburnum is an unmanned railway station on the Lilydale and Belgrave lines, located in the eastern Melbourne suburb of Blackburn, Victoria, Australia. It was named after the abundance of Laburnum bushes in the area.

Facilities

The new station is made mostly from steel, built upon stilts either side of the track which is on an embankment. It has minimal facilities including a pair of side platforms with a small undercover shelter on each. It has steel ramps and steps leading from each platform, with access via Hillside Crescent, Thiele Court and Laburnum Street. There is a small gravel carpark off Thiele Court, which is normally full on weekdays. Laburnum has four bicycle lockers near Laburnum Street.

Both platforms extend over Laburnum Street, and parts of the platforms are held up by concrete blocks. The station has a rail bridge over Laburnum Street which used to bend sharply, making it a very slow, narrow and dangerous corner. The bend has since been widened and the curve smoothed as part of the re-construction of Laburnum.

Room has been left between the platforms for a future third track, which will allow the running of regular express services through to Blackburn and beyond. However, no room has been left for a platform to serve this track.

History

The station was opened in 1958 when residential development came to the area. It was re-built during January 2007 as part of the Middleborough Road Grade Separation Project.

The original Laburnum station had two platforms with a substantial brick building on the citybound platform, and a small brick shelter on the outbound platform. It had four bicycle lockers on the city-bound platform. A Telstra payphone was located on the outbound platform, however this was removed after repeated vandalism well before the station was closed for the grade separation project (see below). The station was fully wheelchair accessible, as access to both platforms was primarily by ramps. Like most suburban stations in Melbourne during the late eighties, the station was a target for graffiti. The station has not been staffed since the 1990s.

Grade separation

The Middleborough Road Grade Separation Project involved lowering the Belgrave/Lilydale line eight metres below Middleborough Road. A side effect was the rebuilding of Laburnum station, and the removal of the bend in Laburnum Street beneath it. The station buildings were demolished starting from October 28, 2006. Part of Laburnum Street was closed from mid December, Temporary undercover areas were installed and the platforms themselves remained until the start of the four week shut down from January 1 to 29 2007. [cite web
url=http://webadmin.johnholland.com.au/sites/jhweb/Project.asp?Action=Project&PID=28
title=Middleborough Road Rail Separation
publisher=John Holland
accessdate=2008-08-06] Laburnum Street was reopened in mid February 2007.

During the shut down period (finalised on January 28th 2007), buses replaced trains from Box Hill to Blackburn. Travellers wanting to travel from the vicinity of Laburnum Station to the city needed to catch a bus from Laburnum to Blackburn, and then change to the Box Hill bus and vice versa. The grade separation project was completed at a total cost of $72.5 million - 30% above the original estimate. [cite web
url=http://www.whitehorseleader.com.au/article/2007/12/17/27172_whv_news.html
work=Whitehorse Leader
author=David Stockman
date=December 17, 07
title= Project costs out by $16m
publisher=www.whitehorseleader.com.au
accessdate=2008-08-06]

Toot Toot - Drive Slowly sign

Laburnum Station was once known for having a sign reading 'Toot Toot - drive slowly' under the railway bridge, which crosses Laburnum Street. Locals would often toot their horns in acknowledgement of the sign as a warning to oncoming traffic approaching the narrow underpass. Infuriated neighbours would frequently attempt to remove this sign by spraying over it- but to no avail; the local council would restore this sign every time. [cite web
url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/carbone--money/look-up-in-the-sky-its-a-blimp/2006/10/23/1161455664224.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
title=Carbone & Money - Opinion
authors=Lawrence Money and Suzanne Carbone
date=October 24, 2006
work=The Age
publisher=theage.com.au
accessdate=2008-08-06] [cite web
url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/gone-up-in-a-puff-of-smoke/2006/10/05/1159641461956.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
title=Gone up in a puff of smoke
author=Suzanne Carbone and Lawrence Money
date=October 6, 2006
publisher=theage.com.au
accessdate=2008-08-06]

This was until early 2007 when the rail-line was refurbished, the road underpass substantially widened and the sign finally removed. Locals to this day are at war over the sign, with acts of spray-painting and painting on the area once home to the sign a common occurrence. The only official remnant of the sign is a small informational plaque erected at the former site. [cite web
url=http://www.middleboroughroad.com.au/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=22
title=Middleborough Road Alliance: Laburnum
publisher=www.middleboroughroad.com.au
accessdate=2008-08-06]

Gallery

References

External links

* [http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/Home/RoadsAndProjects/RoadProjects/CompletedRoadsProjects/MiddleboroughRoadRailSeparationProject.htm VicRoads: Middleborough Road Grade Separation Project]
* [http://middleboroughroad.com.au/ Middleborough Road Alliance]
* [http://www.vicsig.net/index.php?page=infrastructure&project=mrp VICSIG: Middleborough Road Project]
* [http://www.vicsig.net/index.php?page=infrastructure&name=Laburnum VICSIG: Laburnum station] - Contains photos of the old and new stations, and construction work.

MelbourneStations
Line=Lilydale & Belgrave lines
Previous=Box Hill
Next=Blackburn