Spencer Street Railway Station – a walk down memory lane

Posted on by Bardy Bigglesworth

March 2019 marked 15 years since a former Melbourne institution, the Spencer Street Station building, closed on Friday 12 March 2004 for demolition to make way for the new buildings that we now know as Southern Cross Station.

Opened in 1962 in conjunction with the opening of the Melbourne to Sydney standard gauge rail connection and the launch of its new passenger services, the new terminal building finally provided a suitably grand facility for passengers travelling on flagship interstate trains such as the Spirit of Progress, The Overland and the new Southern Aurora luxury overnight first class sleeper service. Prior to construction of the 1962 terminal, Spencer Street Station had been served by a collection of buildings that had been described as ramshackle, and not befitting a major capital city rail terminus.

Our Archives team has located a wonderful set of photographs taken in 1969 showing the exterior, interior and surrounds of this building, and a colour image taken in 1992. We hope many of our followers will enjoy a trip down memory lane.

Looking south along Spencer Street, we see the main terminal building and further south, the former railway administration offices at 65 Spencer St. Long before the pedestrian bridge that connected Bourke St to the northern ends of the platforms and the Docklands beyond, access to platforms 2 to 14 in the 1960s was via a subway that ran beneath the tracks and ramps that led up to the platforms.
Looking north from the terminal building we see the car park, complete with XP model Falcon taxi (and driver wearing a shirt and tie). The site of the car park is now the coach terminal and the retail outlet that sits above it. In the background we can see the road overbridge.
We see the main hall, nine years before it was adorned with the famous History of Transport mural on the western wall above the entrance to Platform 1. 

Note the upstairs cafeteria, where many a meal was eaten before a major journey. A railway exhibition was being held on the upstairs landing at the time the photo was taken. 

At the southern end of the hall we see ramp leading up past banks of public telephones to the luggage lockers, and the ramp leading down to the subway that connected the hall to Platforms 2 to 14, as well as leading under Spencer Street to stairs in Little Collins St. Platforms 15 and 16 were only introduced after the construction of the current roof and the renaming of the station to Southern Cross.
We see the Train Information board and the enquiries desk. The view of the Departures board from 1969 shows many long-discontinued regional passenger rail services, including Port Fairy, Mansfield and Daylesford trains.
We also see, from the now-demolished overbridge, the Southern Aurora sitting at Platform One. Following the damage and destruction of several of the carriages from this train in the disastrous Violet Town collision in February 1969, carriages that had been built for the forthcoming Indian Pacific train (which was launched in 1970) were temporarily used on the Southern Aurora in their place. These Indian Pacific cars, identifiable by the valances below floor level, make up all but the first and last two of the carriages visible in this frame.

Of interest is the Savoy and Carlyons Hotel on the corner of Bourke and Spencer Streets
A colour view taken from 1992 from the overbridge that shows the building as many of us perhaps best remember it in its later years – adorned with its giant V/Line branding.

In this image we see V/Line N and P class locomotives, each at the head of a set of H type interurban passenger carriages, rebuilt from former blue ‘Harris’ suburban electric trains. Nearly 30 years later, the P class locomotives have only just been withdrawn by V/Line and the N class locomotives and H class carriage sets are still in service

What major journeys in your life do you remember beginning (or completing) at this station building?

Source: Newport Railway Museum

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One thought on “Spencer Street Railway Station – a walk down memory lane”

  1. A return of v/>one rail passenger services from Melbourne to Trentham could easily be achieved by investing in the branch once again from Carlsruhe to Trentham to connect with a future Daylesford service. These towns are now very busy during the weekends and a service from Trentham would be highly utilised. There is no planning get these important projects to the table.

    Imagine if we had a train to Daylesford today how busy it would be.

    Reply

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