Old photos from August 2009

It’s nearly the end of the month, so here’s another in my series of photos from ten years ago.

Yarraville one afternoon. This hasn’t changed much at all.

In Swanston Street, a quirky display of old public benches.

Every few years, the tram/train level crossing at Glen Huntly needs renewal.

Of course during the renewal, buses replace trains. Back then, they ran the buses along the side streets – picking up passengers closer to the stations, but a long slow journey.

Here’s a Moorabbin Transit bus running rail replacement service. This company was owned by Grendas at the time; Grendas was eventually bought by Ventura.

Once the crossing works were finished, trains resumed, crawling across at 20 km/h, as they still do today. The crossing is on the removal list, added during the 2018 election campaign, but no firm timeline yet.

As clear as mud? Trying to document the busy Swanston Street/St Kilda Road tram corridor in one sign. Note the style which also affected the train map of the time, which obscures which way the branches go when they join the trunk route.

Here’s the view on St Kilda Road near the Shrine. As of 2019, a lot of this area is busy with metro tunnel works.

This is the Domain Interchange, before it got completely rebuilt in 2013 at a cost of $10 million. It was subsequently demolished for the metro tunnel. Your taxpayer dollars at work.

Down in my neighbourhood of Bentleigh, the serious crash of a stolen car destroyed some of the shopfronts and killed the driver. Lucky it was early in the morning – nobody else was hurt.

Elsewhere in Bentleigh, spotted this portable building being moved. Not sure where it was going, or why they chose to navigate down that narrow street.

Federation Square, looking towards the river.

…and the view from Flinders Street. The Visitor Centre has now been demolished, and metro tunnel works have taken its place; this will be one of the entrances to Town Hall station.