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Hume Highway Level Crossings - Circa 1960

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      mikesyd Chief Commissioner

    Location: Lurking
    I drove the Hume from just south of Wodonga to Sydney today and with the boredom associated with what is now a trip on a 4 lane road all the way, got thinking about how many Level Crossings I would have passed over if a trip from Melbourne to Sydney (sticking strictly to the then Highway alignment) had been done around 1960 (the earliest my memory allows).

    Removing the suburban area at each end, from Campbellfield to Liverpool, I count 16 - 9 in Vic and 7 in NSW. Not just the Main Line of course, Branches and a few sidings too.

    From South to North:

    Craigieburn (replaced by the first overpass in the early 1960's)
    Kilmore
    Broadford (Mill siding between the town and the overpass of the Main line)
    Tallarook (replaced by an underpass)
    Mangalore (Defence Siding)
    Glenrowan (Quarry Siding)
    Bowser (Beechworth/Bright Branches)
    Wodonga

    Tarcutta (Tumbarumba Branch)
    South Gundagai (Batlow Branch)
    Gundagai (Batlow Branch)
    Coolac (Batlow Branch)
    Yass (Yass Town Branch)
    Berrima (Colliery Branch)
    Narellan (Camden Branch)

    Have I missed any?

    There were of course others that existed earlier (Tatong line at Benalla, Whitfield line at Wangaratta), but these had been closed before 1960.
    Posted: 03 Oct 2013 19:43

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      Rodo Chief Commissioner

    Location: Southern Riverina
    There were of course once 2 crossings of the main line on the up and down ends of Glenrowan but these were gone before 1960.
    Posted: 03 Oct 2013 20:14
      dmgrail Junior Train Controller

    Location: Wangaratta Vic. 3677
    Two additional crossings were eliminated with the Hume Highway Chiltern and Barnawatha by-pass constructed in conjuction with the North East Standard Gauge project. They were located on the Up side of Chiltern near 167 miles and at the Down end of Barnawatha station. The Barnawatha crossing stills exits although since duplication of the Hume Highway is no longer directly connected to the Hume Freeway but exists as a local road.

    Daryl M Gregory
    Posted: 03 Oct 2013 20:31
      dmgrail Junior Train Controller

    Location: Wangaratta Vic. 3677
    Two additional crossings were eliminated with the Hume Highway Chiltern and Barnawatha by-pass constructed in conjuction with the North East Standard Gauge project. They were located on the Up side of Chiltern near 167 miles and at the Down end of Barnawatha station. The Barnawatha crossing stills exits although since duplication of the Hume Highway is no longer directly connected to the Hume Freeway but exists as a local road.

    Daryl M Gregory
    Posted: 03 Oct 2013 20:31
      mikesyd Chief Commissioner

    Location: Lurking
    Now that you mention that, I do remember the "Chiltern Bypass" from the 1960's, which was a two-way road.

    So, that's two more then.
    Posted: 03 Oct 2013 22:44
      stopblock Junior Train Controller

    Location: Planet Earth
    Warwick Farm Racecourse sidings at Warwick Farm (Sydney Suburbs).

    This thread brought back memories of my childhood memories of a family car trip to Canberra in 1962. When you are cramped up in the back seat of a Hillman Imp in between your siblings you have to come up with a lot of games to prevent total war from breaking out.  
    Level Crossings were on our list of things to look out for and count (along with Horse watering troughs - yes they were still around, and other such familiar things around that time.

    regards
    Stopblock
    Posted: 04 Oct 2013 09:15
      Rodo Chief Commissioner

    Location: Southern Riverina
    It took a reminder to make me think of the Chiltern and Barnawatha crossings and the by pass construction in the mid-1960s.
    Posted: 04 Oct 2013 09:30
      mikesyd Chief Commissioner

    Location: Lurking
    Warwick Farm Racecourse sidings at Warwick Farm (Sydney Suburbs).

    This thread brought back memories of my childhood memories of a family car trip to Canberra in 1962. When you are cramped up in the back seat of a Hillman Imp in between your siblings you have to come up with a lot of games to prevent total war from breaking out.  
    Level Crossings were on our list of things to look out for and count (along with Horse watering troughs - yes they were still around, and other such familiar things around that time.

    regards
    Stopblock
    stopblock
    I left Warwick Farm Racecourse (and the Level Crossing that presumably preceded the overpass north of the station too) out, as it was north of Liverpool, though they were probably the only ones on the Hume in Sydney Metro around that time.

    Yes, I have such car trip memories too, remember those old BP "Spotto" Cards - used to drive my parents crazy when we yelled out that we had got a Level Crossing etc.
    Posted: 04 Oct 2013 09:52
      stopblock Junior Train Controller

    Location: Planet Earth
    Mikesyd
    Ooops!
    Sorry for the suburban detail...just re-read that you excluded the burbs!

    Thanks for the reminder on the BP cards...I could not remember what they were called, but yes, they came from BP servos to give the kids something to do 'in the back seat' while driving loong distances on school holidays. I still have a picture of one of those cards in my head  "spotto"...and yes they encouraged us to yell out when we saw something!

    (today we just give the kids portable video players and ipods)

    I hardly think that my kids growing up would have been impressed, but as kids, we were!

    rgds
    Posted: 04 Oct 2013 10:22
      tom9876543 Train Controller

    This isn't really railway related..... but do you remember the Hume Highway before they upgraded it to freeway and dug out the huge cuttings?
    For example, just north of the Wagga Wagga / Sturt Hwy turn off, there is a huge hill cutting.
    What was there before that? Was it a simple 2 lane road with almost no hill cutting at all?
    I would be surprised old trucks (and maybe even cars) could get up such a steep hill.
    Posted: 05 Oct 2013 19:56
      Nightfire Minister for Railways

    Location: Gippsland
    Former fuel siding In Benalla on the former Tatong line
    Posted: 05 Oct 2013 23:03
      mikesyd Chief Commissioner

    Location: Lurking
    Nightfire - the old Fuel siding at Benalla ended on the north side of the Highway. The crossing closed when the Branch did. Mind you, I went to school in Benalla during the 60's and there was much excitement one day, as the shunters got carried away and a loaded tank wagon went through the end and almost crossed the highway - fortunately it stayed upright and there was no spill. In this day and age, there would be mass panic, full emergency response etc, but things were different 50 years ago, they simply squeezed the traffic past on the south side.


    tom9876543 - yes, although off-topic, that big cutting just north of the Sturt Highway junction has been there as long as I can remember, though it has probably got deeper. Prior to the duplication, there was a 3rd (slow) lane for the uphill traffic, but that was probably only added around the 60's. There used to be an even steeper (2 lanes only) one between the Snowy Mountains Highway Junction and Tumblong too. Oh and BTW, 4 lanes might have finally been completed, but I suspect the Holbrook bypass was opened in a rush for Election purposes - as the Northbound lanes were being diverted through the town - as they were putting the hotmix down over the concrete!!!
    Posted: 05 Oct 2013 23:23
      dmgrail Junior Train Controller

    Location: Wangaratta Vic. 3677
    mikesyd

    With regard to the Tatong line crossing at Benalla which definitely was in use when the Hume Highway was known as Sydney Road, I seem to recall that the rails were still intact across the road in Bridge Street in the early 1960's. Correct me if I am wrong. In theory then, it would be technically correct to say that the Hume Highway crossed the closed Tatong line. Also in this regard, the narrow gauge line that ran from Wangaratta to Whitfield crossed Sydney Road until the line was officially closed on 12th October 1953. The rails in Ryley Street (Hume Highway) were not removed until 1972 when the existing single lane road was duplicated.

    Daryl M Gregory
    Posted: 06 Oct 2013 11:49

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