Old photos from September and October 2015

So busy at the moment, but here’s another post in my regular series of photos from ten years ago: September and October 2015.

The “New” Spirit of Tasmania at the old dock at Port Melbourne. It’s since moved down to Geelong, in a spot pretty much inaccessible by any means other than car.
(What’s the person in front of the Westgate bridge doing? I’m not sure.)

You don’t see horse drawn carriages heading into the Hoddle Grid since they were banned from there in 2022, and this bike lane now has proper protection to stop other vehicles getting into it.

Nearby, this is the St Kilda Road tram shunt, normally only used during disruptions. I can see the need for it, but the design is poor – trams either have to slow down across the points, or lurch around the curves.

The old South Geelong station, since rebuilt with a second platform.

…I was in Geelong that day, not for this march, but just for an outing. I remember eating a kebab for lunch watching the march go past, led by Janet Rice, then a Greens senator.

…later on I went to catch the train back to Melbourne, and Janet was waiting. We had a chat – I’ve known her since she was a local councillor. Back in 2015 the controversy over Bronwen Bishop catching a tax-payer funded helicopter to Geelong was all over the news, so it seemed worth a selfie.

Speaking of selfies, this is a cropped selfie that I was taking for unknown reasons. I’m only including it here because I inadvertently captured an Armaguard van illegally driving through the Bourke Street Mall. (No, armoured cars do not have exemptions.)

Heading home on the Frankston line.

The low bridge at Patterson, not as famous as Montague Street, but also subject to regular truck strikes.

Z class tram in Hawthorn Road, Brighton East. Still an area mostly served by high floor trams and street stops with no platforms.

Related route 5 tram on Dandenong Road. There are platforms now at most (all?) stops, and quite a few low floor trams on route 5.

The best photo I got of Gardiner station, showing how they built the new line beside the old one when they removed the level crossing.

The nearby Monash Freeway. All the people in all these cars would fit comfortably into one train carriage.

La Trobe Street before they built the tram platform stops and provided low floor trams. It’s progress, even if it’s slow.

These motorists decided it was fine to drive on the tram lane, and in fact they went both right through the tram stop/Safety Zone.

Victoria Parade – traffic sewer. Tram works just started here this week to provide a new tram platform stop further up the street, and an east-west tram track connection across the intersection.

Early works for the Bentleigh/McKinnon/Ormond level crossing removals, completed in 2016. The palm trees are getting ready to go on holiday.

Remember when the Metro web site was a simple list of status colours? It’s more powerful now, showing a lot more information, but I sometimes think it’s also more awkward to navigate.

Platform 14, no longer used. Whenever you read that Flinders Street Station has the longest platform in the country, take it with a grain of salt – it’s only longest if you count sections which are fenced off and not used – and were always given separate numbers.

Flinders Street Station during a train stoppage due to industrial action.

Perhaps the first eBike I saw on a train.

Southern Cross Station. For two decades there were no bins, so people used to try and balance their litter on and around utility cabinets like this. Bins finally returned this year.