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V/LINE VIDEO Climbing the Summit. This is Heathcote Junction, the highest point of the Railway line between Melbourne and Albury. Here the line reaches a height of 349 metres to cross the Great Dividing Range. Trains travelling in both directions face a gradient of one in 50, testing the skills of train crews. The line opened in 1872 with the station opening in 1885 as Summit, the name later being changed to Heathcote Junction. Although no longer a junction, (the branch line to Bendigo that left from here was closed in 1968) the name has been retained. In 1962 the standard gauge line between Melbourne and Albury opened and dramatically changed rail operations between Melbourne and Sydney.
Tuesday the 20th of March, 1990 - a typical day for rail operations crossing the Great Divide. In the twelve hours of daylight from 6am, 34 freight and passenger trains passed by our cameras. Settle back and watch the variety of traffic "Climbing the Summit". As darkness closed in on Heathcote Junction, and the cameras were packed away, the trains kept rolling with another eight scheduled before midnight. And so, as it has for the last 118 years the Great Dividing Range at Heathcote Junction continues its daily battle with freight and passenger train crews as they "Climb the Summit".