Mileposts in various states.

awsgc24 · Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2003 3:02 pm

What shape and colour are mileposts in various states and territories?
Also half and quarter kilometres posts. (whoops. I apologise for saying "milepost"). Is the zero kilometre post always at the capital city, and where is it not? Are km-posts mounted on the up or down sides. Give examples of unusual km-posts, such as the one at St Leonards with the drink bubbler attached.

Nexas · Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2003 9:30 pm

someone here has a milepost in his avatar, it looks victorian, i think it was DavidB but i'm not sure

Views expressed by me are strictly my own, not of my friends, employer, or anyone else, unless otherwise stated.
*Back at RP for a limited time only*

John of Melbourne · Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2003 11:12 pm

awsgc24 · Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2003 6:40 am

New South Wales mileposts and kilometre posts are white with black letters and are numbered in duplicate so that the numbers are visible on the approach and departure sides. The posts are located on the down side.

Half kilometre posts are of a simpler design consisting of a plate with a 45 degree angle. Quarter and three-quarter mile posts were discontinued with metrication.

Mileposts and kilometre posts are measured from the buffer stops of the country platforms at Central station.

Overhead wiring structures used to be numbered in hundreds of feet, thus MH100+00, but with metrication this changed to thousands of metres MH3+048 (not all OHWS have been repainted).

Automatic signals were and mostly still are measured in Miles with 1 or 2 decimal places, even for signalling works built after metrication was mostly finished, such as Gosford-Newcastle electrification. Exceptions would include the ESR, Airport line, and possibly Unanderra to Kiama. Some automatic signals within or adjacent to power signal boxes such as Sydney and Strathfield are numbered as if they were controlled signals.

It used to be the case that all controlled signals had mileage plates, but since about 1968 and the power boxes at Broken Hill and Campbelltown, controlled signals display the signal number of the lever used to control it. This is much more sensible policy.

Major structures such as bridges, platforms and tunnels are also painted with the kilometrage.

Because NSW has a number of loops in its network, it is often necessary to quote the kilometrage of key junctions via different routes, for example Hornsby via Strathfield and via Chatswood.

Kilometrages may or may not take account of deviations which shorten or lengthen the line.

mjja · Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2003 8:39 am

On the Bellarine Peninsula Railway distances are measured from the Zero milepost at Queenscliffe. The post also says exactly how far it is from Melbourne.

Is the Portland line measured from Melbourne or Portland? I know Portland is treated as the centre for train directions ie Portland-bound trains are called Up.

Happy Gunzelling and remember, "Go by rail!"

Michael Angelico
President, Smart Passengers Inc
(My opinions are my own unless specifically stated.)

awsgc24 · Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2003 2:40 pm

A few NSW sections have mileposts that behave badly, and this is because UP and DOWN directions get muddled up by triangles.

Hamilton to Newcastle is an UP line, but the mileages increase as if it where a DOWN lines.

Marrickville to Botany is and UP lines, but again the mileages increase as if it where a DOWN line.

They are the example that I am sure of, but there are some others which I am not sure of:

Wardell Road Junctions to Balmain Road, Darling Island, etc.
East Maitland to Morpeth (close 195x).
Kooragang Island?
Morandoo.

With balloon loops, are mileages measured in the normal direction of travel, or say always clockwise?

In NSW, all signal route-set signal boxes since Campbelltown of 1968, all signals are number odd in one direction usually Down, and even in the other direction Up.

The main exceptions include:
Campbelltown - odds for Up.
Cabramatta - odds for Up.
Ashfield - one down signal has an odd number by mistake (56?)
Botany - odds for Up, but note above that Up and Down are a bit confused.
Triangles - the neat odd/even split falls apart at triangles, since Up must become Down at at least one apex. No easy solution.

awsgc24 · Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2003 8:39 am

The standard gauge line from Border Loop to Brisbane was built by Queensland and is owned by Queensland, but in most respects looks and feels like a NSW line:
- the mileposts are measured from Sydney.
- the line is recorded in the NSW curve and gradient book.
- speedboards, etc. are recorded in NSW "Local Appendixes" and "Instruction Pages".
- the locos are from NSW
- the signals use NSW indications (except on the dual gauge South Brisbane to Roma Street), though some of the signal boxes are Queensland ones.
- people working on the line (drivers and signallers, etc) are QR employees transferred to the NSW payroll.

Strangely, given that NSW trains run accross the border through to Melbourne, that there is no similar incorporation of VR details into say the NSW Curve and Gradient Book.

REX KINGHAM · Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2003 10:42 pm

In Victoria, there was always a blue painted sign with white writing, attached to the railway fence, stating "xx miles to Griffith Bros. teas", the xx being the number of miles from Melb.
The signs were quite common in metro and country areas.

Rex K

awsgc24 · Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2003 7:34 am

Sydney and NSW also had "xx miles to Griffith Bros Teas" signs.