Seymour railway station

Seymour
Station building and yard viewed from Station Street
Station statistics
Coordinates	37°01′28″S 145°08′18″E / 37.0245°S 145.1384°E / -37.0245; 145.1384Coordinates: 37°01′28″S 145°08′18″E / 37.0245°S 145.1384°E / -37.0245; 145.1384
Platforms	3 (2 BG, 1 SG)
Other information
Opened	20 November 1872
Station code	SEY
Owned by	VicTrack
Station status	Staffed Station
Website	Link
Services
Preceding station   V/Line   Following station Tallarook toward Melbourne (Southern Cross) Seymour line Terminus Seymour line (Shepparton) Nagambie toward Shepparton Broadmeadows toward Melbourne (Southern Cross) Albury-Wodonga line Avenel toward Albury Preceding station   NSW TrainLink   Following station Broadmeadows towards Melbourne NSW TrainLink Southern Melbourne XPT Benalla towards Sydney

Seymour is a railway station on the North East line in the town of Seymour, Victoria, Australia. Seymour is a staffed station and was once the home of a railway refreshment room, which now operates as a café. A locomotive depot was once located at the country end of the station, today the home of the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre and to stable V/Line trains. The station also had a goods yard opposite the main passenger platform.

The station serves V/Line passengers on the Albury-Wodonga and Shepparton lines, being located at the junction between them, and is the terminus of interurban Seymour line services. Interstate services operated by NSW TrainLink between Melbourne and Sydney also stop on request to pick up & set down passengers traveling further north.

History

The railway line to Seymour was officially opened on 20 November 1872. The line from Essendon station had opened on 18 April the same year, but finished to the south at a temporary terminus at School House Lane,^[1] due to the bridge over the Goulburn River not being finished.

Mangalore Station was located north of Seymour at the junction of the North East and Shepparton lines. School House Lane / Dysart Sidings / Goulburn Junction was located between Tallarook and Seymour.

Station building and platforms

When the station opened only a single platform was provided, with temporary timber station buildings and three tracks.^[2] A brick building was erected in 1874-75, with extensions and alterations made in 1883-84 including a new street facade.^[3] In 1886 the subway was provided to the platform from Station Street, and in 1887 the street entrance to the station removed to permit the opening of the back platform. A level crossing was provided to access the station, and after more alterations in 1926 the station took the form it is today.

To support the station, a number of Departmental Residences were erected by the Victorian Railways to house railway employees and their families. Around the start of the 20th century, there were 29, increasing to 82 by the 1960s. Today they have since been sold to private owners.^[4]

While the stations looks like one large building from Station Street, it is made up of numerous smaller buildings behind a common facade. The refreshment room is a grand two storey building, while the ticket office and waiting room is a collection of smaller buildings. A platform was not provided on the standard gauge line until 1974, but is only one carriage long and has not been used for regular services.^[5] The station was altered to the current interior layout in 1997, when a general refurbishment was carried out and the parcels office was converted into a waiting room and toilets.^[6]

In 2008 the station underwent a $1.5 million upgrade of the coach interchange,^[7] with the access subway to the station being rebuilt on a shallower grade to provide for wheelchair access. These works were done in preparation for the North East Rail Revitalisation Project, where all V/Line trains north of Seymour were replaced by buses, while the gauge conversion of the line is undertaken.

As part of the North East Rail Revitalisation Project a new broad gauge platform will be provided at Seymour on the western side of the yard, with standard gauge access provided to the eastern platform, permitting V/Line services to Albury-Wodonga to operate on the dual track standard gauge line northwards.^[8] The first stage occurred in November 2008 when broad gauge line north to Albury was baulked at the down end of the yard, preventing the progress of any trains along the line.^[9]

In August 2009 the line north to Tocumwal was slewed onto the former North East line alignment, allowing V/Line trains to and from Shepparton to use both platforms 1 and 2 at Seymour. Before this time only platform 2 could be used.^[10] Meanwhile work commenced on the western side of the yard, with the removal of a number of little used sidings opposite platform 2, to permit the construction of a third platform on the town side of the station, for use by broad gauge trains.

The new third platform was first used by V/Line passenger trains in November 2009, with new signalling also provided. At the same time as the opening of platform 3, platform 1 was taken out of service, the track through it will be converted to standard gauge to allow these trains to also stop at Seymour. Between platforms 2 and 3 is a single dead end siding, with access from the Melbourne end. In addition provision has been made at the down end of the broad gauge platforms for a future stabling yard for V/Line trains. Access has been retained to the locomotive depot and the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre depot.^[11]

Refreshment room

A railway refreshment room was opened at Seymour station in 1873, replacing the one at Kilmore East.^[12] It later became the largest country refreshment rooms in the state.

By 1875 the room was serving at least six trains per day, with 15 minutes permitted for passengers to eat. In 1884 the rooms were expanded with new buffet and dining rooms. Buffet patrons ordered and collected their food from a counter and ate elsewhere, while dining room patrons sat down and received table service.^[13] They were originally managed by a leasee, but were taken over by the Victorian Railways in 1919 in preparation for the creation of their Refreshment Services Branch in 1920.^[14]

The rooms catered for 150 standing in the buffet, and 112 seated in the dining room, and was staffed at its peak by 34 employees who lived in a cottage complex near the station.^[14] By 1976 the rooms were in decline, serving light refreshments only by a staff of only 11. The rooms closed on 8 October 1981 when on-train catering was rolled out to all trains passing though the station.^[15] The buffet room was refurbished in 1993-1995 for community uses, but the dining room is used for storage.^[16]

The refreshment rooms reopened as a cafe in November 2008, to cater for V/Line Albury/Wodonga line passengers who use Seymour Station to transfer from coach to train while the line is being upgraded to standard gauge.^[17]

Loco depot

The loco depot at Seymour existed from the opening of the station until 1993.^[18] It was the home of the S class 4-6-2 Pacifics as used on the Spirit of Progress for the whole of their working lives.

The depot was originally located just to the north of the station, with a two loco shed and a 42 ft turntable. It was moved to the current location in 1889 where a new 9 track roundhouse-style shed was erected in timer and corrugated iron, along with a coal stage and brick offices. In 1902 it was extended to 13 bays, and in 1910 to twenty bays that almost made a complete circle. The original 40 ft turntable was replaced in 1890 by a 50 ft version, and by a 70 ft in 1907. In the 1930s an electric turntable was provided, until replaced by a more modern version in 1954.

At the peak of operation in June 1950, 245 railway men worked at Seymour Loco Depot, made up of 60 drivers, 57 firemen, 41 cleaners, 14 mechanics, 53 shed staff, 9 rail motor staff, and 11 train examiners.^[19] By 1958 the number of staff had declined to 181 with the arrival of diesel locomotives, the last steam locomotive housed there withdrawn in 1966.

Much of the roundhouse was removed in 1961 in conjunction with construction of the standard gauge line alongside, with the rest of the roundhouse removed in May 1971 leaving just workshop buildings. By 1976 only 125 were employed at the depot, and by the 1980s locomotives were no longer based at the depot. It was officially closed on 8 April 1993.^[20] Today it used to stable V/Line trains, as well as being the home of the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre.

Goods shed

A goods shed was provided at Seymour in September 1873, of the same though track rounded roof style seen at Kilmore East, Tallarook, Avenel, and Euroa.^[21] In 1885 the yard was extended from 3 to 9 tracks, and a new but smaller goods shed was provided. It was lengthened in 1909 and again in 1930.^[21]

Until the 1960s the main outbound traffic was agricultural produce, wool, firewood, timber; along with incoming supplies for town. By the 1970s small consignments of goods were only handled by a number of larger stations, with road transport used the rest of the way. The Seymour Freight Centre opened on 8 February 1978 to serve the local area, and remained in used until 27 April 1985.^[22]

Gallery

• 

  Standard Gauge platform at Seymour (now removed)

• 

  The now disused goods shed

• 

  View of Seymour Freight Centre in 1989, with the Goods Shed visible behind V/Line N class locomotive N 474

• 

  The new coach shelters at Seymour station

• 

  View of Platform 2 with LNER Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman passing along the Standard Gauge line, 1989

References

• Victorian Station Histories: Seymour station
• John C. Jennings and Robert K. Whitehead (July 2005). Seymour - A Railway Town. Seymour and District Historical Society. ISBN 0-9751658-0-1.