Old photos from May and June 2014

So busy recently that I didn’t get around to posting my usual ten year old photos last month, so here’s May and June 2014 combined into one post.

The then-newish tram platform stops in Northcote on route 86. Quite narrow, I guess by necessity, but hopefully they do the job.

Punt Road traffic. Always bad, especially at peak hours.

The angel wings at the building next to McKinnon station. They’re still there, perhaps a little faded these days.

You know it’s all gone badly wrong when they put up apologetic posters. And it had gone badly wrong – the major train delays on 29/4/2014 were known as Trainageddon.

People may have forgotten, but for years the Siemens trains were in a terrible state inside. The walls and seats were often filthy. Eventually a new cleaning/maintenance contract came into effect and like magic, the problem was gone. I’d like to think a fair amount of advocacy on the issue helped that happen.

The old Flinders Street clock moved at Southern Cross, where it still stands. Back then the video screens showed railway history. These days they show a lot of ads.

It’s a rhino tram, but not as you know it.

Here’s the modern day 2024 version:

Back to 2014. The Bayside Rail Upgrade program was on, bringing in a bunch of upgrades (many of which got torn down when lines got rebuilt for level crossing removals a few years later). Back then the bus replacements ran along the side streets, taking ages. In this example they didn’t even bother allocating a proper bus stop free of cars.

I don’t remember what the exact occasion was, but on this day I found an RTBU protest outside the then HQ of Yarra Trams.

The 2014 election was only a few months away, and both the Coalition government and the Labor opposition were campaigning hard for the support of train users.

At Malvern, the PSO booth (aka Baillieu Box) was under construction. Unlike some, this wasn’t demolished later for level crossing removals.

Thoughtful and on-topic advertising for the Wheeler Centre.

Finally, a little tale. We used to have relatives in the country, a long way from any towns, and the last bit of the trip was a 15-ish minute drive along a mix of narrow sealed and unsealed roads.

So the last thing I expected to encounter one day was a traffic light in the middle of nowhere.

It was to facilitate safe conditions for road workers up ahead. They were as surprised to see any traffic as we were to see them.

It made for a good tale to our farm-dwelling rellies over lunch.