Unused abandoned rail line in Ballarat

[@kellyswoodyard]

I was a fireman at Ballarat East Loco, in the early '70's. The line you have there went to the cattle yards, and a heap of industries in Alfredton. Joe White Malt Mill, Firth Cleveland, a fuel depot, and way back, the gun cotton works in WW2. It was a very busy line in its day. Usually a couple of shunting runs out there each day.

[@johnd8892]

The 1997 Edition 3 of the VicRoads Country Street Directory of Victoria still has the line recorded in the detailed Ballarat maps 254 and 256, but the Railways by then kept closure dates more secret from easy public access if it was being used. Labelled as the Ballarat Cattle Yards Branch Railway. Likely the lines official title.

[@gellibrandrail-australia4038]

thanks

[@LiliaArmoury]

i think i remember going over the cattleyard end of the line in the 90s i think the tracks were still in the road but i was only a kid back then

[@johnd8892]

At 9:30 to quote you : " They all look like standard gauge" Well the standard broad gauge for Victoria of 1600 mm. No 1435mm within about 50 Km of Ballarat except for the trams. Interesting video so thanks. I think the saleyards branch when livestock moved by rail in big numbers in the regulated era

[@gellibrandrail-australia4038]

thanks for this info,

[@turnpiketed6383]

Recall gates across one of the streets as it entered the sale yards. My recollection goes back to the mid 80's.

[@bushranger51]

I think I can add to that, by my recollection there were also gates across the old Western Hwy, near the Arch in the Avenue of Honour, and it went up through the Golf Course and behind Lakeside Hospital, and merged somewhere near the old Signal Box near the Timken plant. Of course that was in the '60's when I was a teenager, things get a little blurry with age, but I do remember the rail line behind the Golf Course when I used to sometimes caddy for my dad when he played pennant Golf there.

[@nampomusic6378]

I recall this line when i was a kid, but never remember seeing it in use. Good to see what it looks like now

[@aapi1253]

Rail-road lines and postal roads make for interesting discovery's they go well with re-sets

[@petersabolewsky4983]

At around the 10:00 mark, you were talking about the three tracks. The left tack had two branches, the Redan line and the Skipton line. The centre track was the Melbourne-Adelaide rail line, now Melbourne-Ararat line and the line to the right ran into Timken Bearings. Hope this helps

[@Parky427]

It’s the old Redan line. My brother has it built as a model railway. It’s from Ballarat Station to the rear of Bendix Mintex.

[@senyaw53]

That siding went to the Delacombe industrial area probably called Redan at the time, there was one branch that went to the livestock loading ramps at the sale yards on the North side of Latrobe St. The other branch went to the wartime munitions factory, several fuel depots and the Malt works on the South side. There was a siding that went to the Victorian Inland Meat Authority meat works. I have lived here for about 30 years, i can remember trains crossing the golf course.

[@timallardyce1216]

This is the old Ballarat Cattleyards line. A shorrt branchline that went to the cattleyards. It's on the VR map from the 1940s

[@johnd8892]

Edition 3 of the VicRoads Country Street Directory of Victoria from about 1997 still has the line recorded in the detailed Ballarat maps 254 and 256, but the Railways by then kept closure dates more secret from easy public access if it was being used. Labelled as the Ballarat Cattle Yards Branch Railway. Likely the lines official title.

[@nampomusic6378]

I can see some old rails still in that yard, looks like it's been abandoned for ages

[@gellibrandrail-australia4038]

thanks, i'll dig up that map again,

[@matthewhaywood7411]

That's the old sale yard line. Used to also go to joe white malting, there's still track there

[@darylcheshire1618]

I travelled on this line on an AREA special, I remember going past the golf course. I recall the trains were called the Redan goods.

[@gellibrandrail-australia4038]

thanks for the info. How long ago was the area special?

[@darylcheshire1618]

@@gellibrandrail-australia4038 I think mid ‘80s.

[@xr6lad]

I think it went to the cattle yards which were further down below Victoria Park on your map (bottom). The sale yards themselves are partial there still but closed and awaiting development. The sale yards have moved north of your map out to Miners Rest and next to the Western Freeway/ Ballarat bypass.

[@railtrolley]

Great find! Now, to imagine a K class Consolidation, pushing a rake of M cattle wagons along this siding/branch.

[@gellibrandrail-australia4038]

thanks

[@kellyswoodyard]

I've done just that, but in a W class shunting loco, in the early '70's.

[@bryce3907]

The line was used for both Freght and stockyards with fright still using this line till 1997 taking freight from around the area including where the branch line finished in Bendix breaks in Redan.

[@gellibrandrail-australia4038]

thanks Bryce

[@smitajky]

This fed two different cattle yards branch lines. They are all clearly marked on my 1930 rail map of victoria and was even an insert onto maps in the 1960s and 1970s. If you continued South of Victoria park the line curved to the East. Until recently that station area was easily recognised but in the last few years building has commenced on the site. You can still notice where that was by the lay of the roads on both sides of the "station".

[@gellibrandrail-australia4038]

thanks

[@vincentweatherly9991]

It was for the old stocj yards and industries at redan

[@gellibrandrail-australia4038]

thanks

[@rodneydrew9117]

I live in qld it's same up here they lay tracks back in days then dont use them and abandoned

[@tambogang]

Towards the end of the video is the old buildings. This was the meat works and known in the 70s as the VIMA. I can remember train tracks between the buildings.

[@petersabolewsky4983]

And VIMA stood for “Victorian Inland Meat Authority”

[@robmcfarlane3602]

It's the Redan line to the stockyards

[@bradleytrevaskiss9843]

CAN YOU DO THE OLD MORNINGTO RAIL WAY LINE.

[@gellibrandrail-australia4038]

yep, its on the list, but maybe a towards the end of the year. In the interim the amazing ppl at Fogarty Avenue and Urban Ariel explorers have done great videos of that line, not sure if you have seen them yet.

[@hhgttg69]

runs behind the old Lakeside lunatic asylum, which is now Lake Gardens housing estate

[@klhaldane]

Hope you're keeping an eye out for snakes and wearing good boots.

[@gellibrandrail-australia4038]

yep, jeans and boots, there's a few brown snakes around here apparently

[@lastnightsmusic6067]

does anyone know when this line was last used?

[@johnd8892]

The VR Annual Reports used to record such closures, but in the past 30 years less information is released to the public by Government. Edition 3 of the VicRoads Country Street Directory of Victoria from about 1997 still has the line recorded in the detailed Ballarat maps 254 and 256, but the Railways kept things more secret from easy public access if it was being used.

[@johnrogers1423]

I remember scouts being transported to the Cattleyards platform and walking north along Gilles Street to the Ballarat Jamboree in Victoria Park in, I believe, 1992.

[@gellibrandrail-australia4038]

thanks all for this info

[@IanSinclair-nx6rw]

it was used to service the long time closed abattoirs as well as the sale yards whilst the meat processing plant was operational as well as other industries in that area i think ... i have lived in Ballarat since 1978 and can remember a level crossing in Cuthberts Rd and the old western highway ( avenue of honour )but cannot recall ever seeing a train use the line .. i think it also ran through the old Ballarat golf course before crossing the old western highway