Macleod railway station explained

Macleod
Type:PTV commuter rail station
Style:Melbourne
Address:Birdwood Avenue,
Macleod, Victoria 3085
Borough:City of Banyule
Country:Australia
Coordinates:-37.726°N 145.0693°W
Distance:17.71 kilometres from
Southern Cross
Other: Bus
Structure:Ground
Platform:3 (1 island and 1 side)
Tracks:3
Parking:102
Bicycle:Yes
Rebuilt:11 August 1979
Electrified:April 1923 (1500 V DC overhead)
Accessible:Yes—step free access
Code:MCD
Owned:VicTrack
Operator:Metro Trains
Zone:Myki Zone 2
Status:Operational, premium station
Other Services Header:Former services
Other Services Collapsible:yes
Website:Public Transport Victoria
Map State:expanded

Macleod railway station is a commuter railway station on the Hurstbridge line, which is part of the Melbourne railway network. It serves the north-eastern suburb of Macleod, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Macleod station is a ground level premium station, featuring three platforms, an island platform with two faces and one side platform. It opened on 1 March 1911, with the current station provided in 1979.[1]

History

Macleod station was completed by November 1910,[2] and was opened to traffic on 1 March 1911.[1]

The station is named after Malcolm Anderson Macleod, a prominent local resident, whose wife Edith Jessie Macleod purchased land in the area.[3] The press of the time credited Edith Macleod's husband with owning the land but this was not the case.[4] A thin strip of Macleod's land measuring 31.51 hectares was sold to the State Government to enable the construction of a branch line for the Mont Park Psychiatric Hospital. The timing and methods by which the strip of land was acquired for the railway line was likely corrupt.[5] The land transfer was examined as part of the 1909 Royal Commission on the Acquisition of Certain Estates by Sir Thomas Bent[6] which found that the Crown had paid too much for it.

After the land acquisition, engineers discovered that the acquired land was too steep to accommodate the proposed railway line, so a land swap had to be arranged between Edith Macleod and the Crown for some of her remaining land holdings nearby. The land swap was enabled by the Mont Park Land Act 1910 (Vic.),[7] which finally enabled the construction of the freight-only Mont Park branch line from Macleod station to the asylum in a north-westerly direction. From 1911 to 1964, Macleod was the junction of the Mont Park branch line.

Newspaper articles from the time claim that Malcolm Macleod conceived of the idea of the railway station at Macleod by stipulating that it had to be built at that location and under his name in return for the land transfer,[8] however a reservation for the railway station had been in place since the Board of Land and Works had acquired land for a railway line in 1894[9] and it has been demonstrated that the railway station was not his idea.[5] The original proposal was to name the station "Mont Park".[10]

In 1979, the present day Platform 3 was provided on a alignment near the former branch line alignment, as were three stabling sidings immediately to the south of the station, both coinciding with the duplication of the railway line between Macleod and Greensborough.[1] A number of train services terminate at Macleod, before proceeding to the sidings to stable.

In 2001, Macleod was upgraded to a premium station.[11]

On 25 October 2022, the Level Crossing Removal Project announced that the Ruthven Street level crossing, located nearby in the up direction of the station, will be grade separated by 2027, with the railway line to be rebuilt over the road.[12] [13]

Facilities, platforms and services

Macleod has one island platform with two faces and one side platform. Platform 1 has an enclosed waiting area, ticket facilities and toilets.

It is serviced by Metro Trains' Hurstbridge line services.[14]

Platform 1:

Platform 2:

Platform 3:

Transport links

Dysons operates one route via Macleod station, under contract to Public Transport Victoria:

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Macleod. vicsig.net. 1 February 2023. 24 October 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20221024050342/https://vicsig.net/infrastructure/location/Macleod. live.
  2. News: NORTH HEIDELBERG . The Age (Melbourne) . 17 Nov 1910 . 10.
  3. Argus, 19 February 1910, p. 20
  4. Refer to Victorian Certificate of Titles vol. 3321 fol. 664092 and vol. 3321 fol. 664093
  5. Book: Dimech, Adam . 2023 . A History of the Dunvegan Estate, Macleod . Melbourne . Adam Dimech . 9780645724707.
  6. Royal Commission on the Acquisition of Certain Estates by Sir Thomas Bent, as a Minister of the Crown https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/papers/govpub/VPARL1909-2ndSessionNo22.pdf Access date 5 November 2023
  7. Mont Park Land Act 1910 https://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdb/au/legis/vic/hist_act/mpla1910148/ Access date: 5 November 2023
  8. Argus, 19 February 1910, p.20
  9. Land Titles Office Victoria, Certificate of Title vol. 2529, fol. 505601
  10. Argus, 13 January 1911, p.9
  11. July 2001. Works. Newsrail. Australian Railway Historical Society. 223.
  12. Web site: Build . Victoria’s Big . 2022-10-25 . Making Macleod level crossing-free . 2022-10-31 . Victoria’s Big Build . en . 25 October 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221025061053/https://bigbuild.vic.gov.au/news/level-crossing-removal-project/making-macleod-level-crossing-free . live .
  13. Web site: Build . Victoria’s Big . 2022-10-25 . Ruthven Street, Macleod . 2022-10-31 . Victoria’s Big Build . en . 25 March 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230325073754/https://bigbuild.vic.gov.au/projects/level-crossing-removal-project/projects/ruthven-street-macleod . live .
  14. train.