History
The railway to Bacchus Marsh opened from Melbourne in 1887, the line being extended to Ballan station in 1889, which completed the "direct line" between Melbourne and Ballarat. The first railway link between these two cities was made in 1862, with the opening of the Geelong–Ballarat railway.
The contract for the construction of the station building was awarded in 1889 for £1809/8/11. A 45 lever interlocking frame in a signal box was brought into use in 1890, by this time the station had a main platform with a dock platform at the Melbourne end, a main line and crossing loop, turntable, and a number of sidings. The station was provided with a 53' long turntable from opening, in 1957 it was replaced by a 70' long one.
In the late 1940s, brown coal mined at nearby Maddingley began to be transported in large quantities by rail, dedicated trains running between Bacchus Marsh and the APM Siding in the Melbourne suburb of Fairfield. The coal was used to fire the boilers at the Australian Paper Manufacturers paper mill, with 400 tonnes (440 short tons) of coal per day was transferred in two trains per day. This traffic continued until the late 1970s when the boilers were converted to natural gas firing.
Control of trains on the single track was controlled with the Electric Staff system until 1967, when the Automatic and Track Control (ATC) system was provided. At the same time remote control of the signals Bank Box Loop was provided, the same being done to the track towards Parwan Loop in 1987. Control of the signals at Rockbank station were moved into the signal box in 1990.
As part of the Regional Fast Rail project the control of signals was relocated to Ballarat station, and the platform was extended towards Melbourne in order to increase the speed of trains passing through the curve at the Ballarat end of the station. In addition, the curves over the Parwan Creek valley were realigned for higher speeds. In 2008, 160 additional car parks were opened at the station for the use of rail commuters.
The closed Parwan station was located between Melton and Bacchus Marsh station. The closed Rowsley and Ingliston stations were located between Bacchus Marsh and Ballan stations.
Read more about this topic: Bacchus Marsh Railway Station
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