- Somerville railway station, Melbourne
MelbourneRailwayStation1
NAME=Somerville
CODE=SVE
DISTANCE=55.6 km
LINES=Stony Point
PLATFORMS=1
TRACKS=1
STATUS=Unmanned Station
FACILITIES=
TIMETABLES=
MELWAY=
ZONE=2Somerville is a
railway station inMelbourne , Victoria,Australia , located in the suburb of Somerville, on the Stony Point railway line. Somerville is unmanned and is inMetcard Zone 2.Facilities
Somerville station is located between Frankston-Flinders Road and Station Street, with station access from both.
The station consists of one
side platform , with a semi-large fibro building in the centre. Like all stations on the Stony Point line, the station contains noMetcard machine or validators, with passengers required to pre-purchase tickets and validate them on arrival at Frankston [cite web | title = Stony Point Line - Ticket and validation machines | publisher = Metlink | url = http://www.metlinkmelbourne.com.au/news/media_releases/metropolitan_trains/stony_point_line_ticket_and_validation_machines | accessdate = 2008-04-26 ] .History
Somerville station opened on
September 10 1889 [ [http://www.vicsig.net/index.php?page=infrastructure&name=Somerville VICSIG Infrastructure - Somerville] ] due to rapid growth in the fruit (apple s andpear s) anddairy industries. The dairy industry needed a quick way of sendingmilk andcream tobutter factories.When the railway came to Somerville, the station was a mile or so from the school and hall which at the time was located on Lower Somerville Road. The town centre moved from there to its current site.
Somerville station also operated as a post and
telegraph office in the early years and was a centre where people met as they collected their mail. The investment in special railway sidings servicing new packing sheds and cool stores over a period of six years from 1914 to 1920 created expansion in the apple and pear growing industry. The advent ofice d T wagons made it possible to load chilled fruit for quick transport to Melbourne docks and load directly into refrigerated ships for overseas destinations.Up until the end of
World War 2 a special train ran to the horticultural show at Somerville which was reputed to be one of the biggest of its kind in Australia. The railway also helped the fruit tree nurseries, and family-operated companies such as Brunnings, Shepherds, Unthanks, Coles and Grants. They sent hundreds of thousands of bare-rooted trees all over Australia, to theGoulburn , theMurray Valley andSunraysia in Victoria, theRiverina districts ofNew South Wales and to the granite belt area, centred on Stanthorpe inQueensland . This traffic was seasonal and took place from May to September.The station building that stood on the platform at Somerville was a portable, meaning that it was delivered in sections and bolted together. The building contained an office and a safe working area from which the staff and ticket system was operated. There was a van shed for small goods and parcels, two waiting rooms, one for the ladies and a general waiting room, and toilets. In the station yard there was a general goods shed, a loading ramp and
crane andlivestock loading facility. Later, two sidings were built for the Somerville Co-operative Cool Stores.The station masters house is located at the Frankston-Flinders Rd entrance to the station, which is now a community O.P. shop.
The station was usually staffed by the
station master , but on occasions over the years he was assisted by a lad porter or assistant station master fromBaxter . Somerville station was the banking station for all stations to Stony Point and supplied some of them with stores and stationary. Safe Working was originally the staff and ticketing system but this was varied from time to time until the opening of Long Island sidings when the electric staff system was introduced.References
* [http://www.fallingrain.com/world/AS/7/Somerville.html FallingRain Map - elevation = 1m (Red dots are railways)]
MelbourneStations
Line=Stony Point line
Here=Somerville
Previous=Baxter
Next=Tyabb
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