A lot of local shops don't make enough to cover costs (double time, insurance, taxes. Then there the Sunday law.) and be open on a Sunday, they don't Usualy want to work 7 day's a week as they have family's too. Princess fwy was named that because of the planned visit to Australia by the Prince of Wales (later to become king Edward VIII and, after abdicating, the Duke of Windsor) in 1920. The white "wall" is there because Victorian level crossing project has begun and construction vehicles still need to move up and down. No bike paths? 🤔 what about the whole of barley St, cross St, Geelong road and Ballarat road's? 🤔 Zanes coffee shop location is where a lot of shops are located with those station layouts, they used to all be ticket boxes, newsagent's and snack shops all in one. And for a pop-up suburb in an industrial area do you expect them to run v-lines and freight trains through the middle of unbuilt suburb project? 🤔
When Williams Landing was built, the idea was to demolish Aircraft Station but there was a big outcry. Interesting that you mentioned the car park, a US/Canadian YT I forget who, lamented the recent practice of building stations in the middle of a huge carpark instead of a shopping village as is the practice in Europe.
did you see the reaction of Americans to the Taylor Swift concert at the MCG - they asked "where did they park their cars"! Part of the problem with Williams Landing is that there still is a RAAF base next to it. It used to be an flying base RAAF Laverton but now is a training base RAAF Williams.
@@darylcheshire1618the MCG does not use their carpark if a crowd of over 15,000 is expected. They will eventually close RAAF Williams but they don't appear to be in any hurry.
Oh ok I guess I'm one of your two members 😛 (more to join us soon I hope!). I remember driving past Williams Landing when I was in Melbourne and thinking...wow, that really is the worst location for a station ever. Thanks for shedding some light on it. (That's the Princes Freeway btw, not the Western Freeway)
Williams landing is even weirder than you thought, that target is the target headquarters, not a store, and the busses are timetabled to leave before the train arrives. I’ve resorted to riding my scooter over the footbridge rather than the bus
William's Landing was put in in a very deliberate spot to cater for all the onslaught of cars from Point Cook trying to get onto the freeway at the same point; not selected for proximity to houses. I'm surprised you missed another item at Wattle Glen; despite how quiet the station is, it actually has platform brushes for helping wheelchairs get on/off trains without the need for the driver to put down the wheelchair ramps. This was actually a smart move, because when they were installed there, there was a regular commuter from/to Wattle Glen in a wheelchair every weekday.
The Target building next to Williams Landing is actually their Australian HQ. As for the strip of big box shops across the freeway, you can (in theory) cross that road, but it’s scary. I love the design of the footbridge but yeah, the area is a concrete desert
The Target you mention at williams landing is their Corporate office not a store. The railway line was here long before the station as it skirted the former Air Force Base. The military airfield RAAF Williams was decommissioned and was developed into the suburb - Williams Landing. The Railway station was added as that was where the line was, even though the suburb is not really adjacent. The "Lake" you mention is part of stormwater management.
What makes the Sunbury line's off peak frequency even worse is unlike Wattle Glen/the Hustbridge line, the entire line is double track. Also, speaking as a Werribee line commuter, WAY more people use William's Landing than you'd think.
Also, the construction itself might be pretty strange but having lived here since they built it and how fast the suburb around it was developed, its sorta understandable. More and more stuff is going up in that dead area very quickly and I think they have been zoning it as high value as it will eventually be right in the middle of new williams landing and next to the train station
Normally I’m the only person at Wattle Glen station in the mornings Also, I agree with the guy writing about the pedestrian crossing, it’s so annoying having to wait 5 minutes to cross the road just to the get to the station
@@gregmichael8473 yeah which is why it makes it unusual, the more frequent trains to the city are set down only. Whenever i go to sunshine from city i instead just catch a train to ardeer/deer park and then another train or bus back to sunshine. If you just missed a metro service it can be quicker to do this
YES! I've been waiting for someone that makes these kinds of videos to talk about Williams Landing! I went there recently to pick up something off of FB Marketplace and had to enter through the massive footbridge and thought it was SO strange, if my train was even 3 mins away I'd of had to RUN to get my train hahaha
6:55 It is open on weekday mornings. Another fun fact - Middle Gorge was originally meant to be called Marymeade, after the adjacent school. However, someone somewhere intervened, but not before it was allocated the location code MMR.
Another fun fact. It's on the site of the original South Morang station. Years ago the government announced that they would extend the line from Epping to South Morang. But they only went half way to South Morang and called _that_ South Morang!
Adelaide would leave your head spinning, especially the Grange line. If you think single line and waiting 40min is a pain, try single and waiting over an hour weekdays and 2 hours weekends. I had to catch two trains each way to work for what was a 20min commute by car ending up taking 2.5 hours by trains each way. Most that time was actually sitting at stations waiting... 5 hours of travel time a day because 2 trains was better than multiple busses. After 15 months of that i self taught myself a programming language just for something to do while commuting lol.
I saw william's landing station from the freeway as I was travelling back into melbourne with some of my family after a trip when I was over there in early 2023. it puzzled me because it was so barren
West Footscray Station is a handy place to park if you're driving to the city from Geelong. Being a quiet station with infrequent service, at least there's usually always some car parks available.
I used to live in West Footscray (actually slightly closer to Tottenham station) and cycled to work in Southbank sometimes. I did use the bike lane through the station occasionally! though more often I would cross the railway under Middle Footscray station.
oh my gosh Williams Landing... when I came to Melbourne last year on the The Overland (Adeladian... hi!) that whole section of parallel running with the freeway gave off some sketchy vibes, so your summarisation of 'America' is quite apt... The multi kilometre long stretch of tightly packed homes shoved up against the other side of the freeway with a massive concrete noise suppression wall was just kinda depressing too...
Essendon isn't "strange" in the same way as all the others thus far in this series, but it's one of, if not the only, non-city station where the platforms for citybound and outbound are the same part, trains stopping on either side of the central platform, and access is exclusively via a short underground tunnel that comes up in the middle of the platform and which separates into each direction. There is also a third platform (which for some reason is "platform 1", which is entirely inaccessible
The third platform is platform 1 because the convention is to number the platforms from left to right when facing the city. It is rarely used, as it's not really long enough for a normal 6-car suburban train, but has been used on occasions. And Essendon isn't particularly unusual in having a ramp up to the centre of an island platform. Burnley, Glenferrie, Auburn, and Canterbury are others that come to mind immediately.
Brilliant presentation. Not seen much of Melbourne's Train services, don't know the lines you talked about. But I still wanted to hear about the quieter side of Melbourne "closed on Sundays, Shuch."
I lived in Eaglemont for a couple of years (2012-2013). I often had to tell people it’s between Heidelberg and Ivanhoe. The little shopping strip is so lovely! Go during the week if you can ❤️ I am very overdue to go back for a visit, I know a lot of shops have changed since then. Middle Gorge was at one point thought to be called Marymede, the same name as the nearby private school! I like Middle Gorge better though as it’s more reflective of the overall area.
In Hawkestowe and Middle Gorge stations on the Mernda Line - they were open in the mornings in 2019 but closed during Covid /Early 2020 and never re-opened.
Thanks for Part 3, Qazzy. I use Eaglemont a fair bit (it’s a toss-up re whether I walk to there or Ivanhoe), and it’s definitely more alive on weekdays. Maybe ‘strange’ is the wrong word for it, though. I’d pay ‘unusual’, due to the built-in shops, and the fact that it’s hidden away and a lot of people don’t know it exists. Let’s face it, nothing’s going to be as ‘strange’ as Macaulay or Heyington, but there are plenty of others with unusual characteristics if you want to keep going. You haven’t touched the Sandringham line yet (a bit like the LXRP!) but Elsternwick, Gardenvale and Brighton Beach are all unusual in their own way.
Thanks for another great video, i like you dissing the merikan style station and strip mall, and who in their right mind would walk to a train station.
You should check out Patterson station on the Frankston Line, between Moorabbin and Bentleigh. Used to travel the Frankston Line a lot over the decades and you'd barely see anyone get on or off. I decided to get off at Patterson one day and found out why. It was a ghost town.
The best part about William's Landing is that giant bus interchange. Used to go to a place in Point Cook for therapy and since my mum didn't have a car, mum and I had to go to William's landing and catch a bus from there around 3/4ths of the bus route to get to the place (We live in Altona North) and Williams Landing was always like that, EVEN WHEN IT WAS NEW (Which was when I was in therapy) Yeah it's little wonder we stopped going after a year
I stopped by Eaglemont on the way back from a daytrip to Hurstbridge with some friends, super lovely place to grab lunch but absolutely felt like a ghosttown!!
Eaglemont is dead because it is a very very rich suburb. Also it is THE station that peak hour trains skip because all the rich and wealthy aren't using it.
@comstr. It was on a Sunday! Eaglemont is NOT dead on other days! It can be a battle to even get a carpark along that one way street on other days. Which is a pain to get into, as need to drive via 2 streets around 2 blocks, and can't even get a carpark there sometimes! There's carparking area behind the shops, where/after the one way street curves away from the railway line, which includes rail travelers parking, so anyone going to events in the city or cricket or footy park or city for other reasons park there, not next to the station. Also the cafes are very busy & even have to wait for a table sometimes, are just not open on Sundays, generally. However there's a monthly Sunday market & one cafe opens then too. By the way, having to on 2 occasions drive around the 3 streets to get back into the one-way street, because I couldn't get on-street carpark, I've ever since walked 20 minutes (from home) to a station on that line & got train. Anytime I've ever been there (albeit not often on a Sunday) street is full of cars! & nearly always people coming in & out of the station when trains go through. (more people than my own station on the adjacent line, 20 minutes walk away, as often am only person that gets off at my station, even daytime sometimes.) "The station that peak hour trains skip" ?? Limited Express Trains run Clifton Hill to Ivanhoe to Heidleberg. Fairfield Station is a very busy Station, & has a wide demographic using it, including low income, so your reason why trains Limited Express skip Eaglemont is rubbish, since they also skip Westgarth, Dennis, Fairfield*, Darebin, as well as skip Eaglemont. (Some inbound Limited Expresses do stop at Fairfield, but there's also a few trains that skip Ivanhoe. I was once on a train that went Clifton Hill, Fairfield, (skipped Ivanhoe) but stopped at Eaglemont. That was 2018-2019, & I don't remember if the track duplication work past Heidelberg Station had started then. Don't think it had. During some of the time when they were doing the track duplication, from Heidelberg Station outbound, there was only 1 active platform at Heidleberg, so all trains stopped at Eaglemont & Heidelberg. With Express replacement buses running from one, & all stations buses from other. "Because all the rich and wealthy aren't using it"?? Go to Eaglemont Station when AFL matches are at the MCG. Plenty people going through Eaglemont Stn then. Go to Eaglemont Station on a weekday peak hour & see there's a considerable amount of people using it. By the way, there's a bar in that street, that is Open Sundays and gets good numbers & obviously it's mostly locals, & many aren't "rich and wealthy", in fact some were somewhat boganish.
@@CBM_Walks "Some inbound Limited Expresses do stop at Fairfield, but there's also a few trains that skip Ivanhoe." No express trains are timetabled to stop at Fairfield, and no trains in passenger service are timetabled to skip Ivanhoe. I can't speak for what might happen on individual days or with temporary arrangements, but the 'rule' is as I said, and that's been the case for probably more than half a century.
2:40 it’s not really South Kensington‘s fault that I blame the government for in 2009 demolishing the old signal box and tearing down all the trees on platform 2
@@turquoisechannel2.0commentsYT not much could have really been done about it, if they had to go to make way for the tracks well they had to go. With a bit of luck if the Sunbury line tracks are removed when the Metro tunnel opens something might be able to be done about the station, because as it currently stands there's not a lot of space there.
8:04 That’s actually not a Target store but is one of Target’s head corporate offices like how Kmart have one of their head offices in Mount Waverley within 200 meters from Mount Waverley station! :)
When West Footscray was rebuilt, the bluestone coping stones from the old station showing its mileage from Spencer Street were preserved and are mounted on the southern side of the station. Unfortunately, the accompanying explanatory plaque wrongly says the mileage was measured from the Melbourne GPO.
Don't know if you're including regional stations but Malmsbury on the Bendigo line is strange one. It's single track but has 2 platforms still with the old railway building from 1862 on the disused platform. Not very strange sounding but it has more going on and it always felt like an odd and interesting place to wait for a train.
There's proper bike lanes along/on all of Sunshine Rd from West Footscray Station and Buckley St (when changes to it), to Victoria St Footscray. However the east bound bike lane starts bit west of the main stairs/entrance of West Footscray Stn, so wouldn't see it unless walked a little. The west bound bike lane tho does come right to opposite that entrance. That section from West Footscray to Victoria St is Grade 1 Bike Lanes, with solid white lane separation for all of it (except dashed, where necessary) & with green marked sections for the bike lane across intersections, & at traffic lights. After Victoria St (traveling East), the bike lanes are lower grade but continue with just dashes for some sections, and some sections with no marked lane except marked at traffic lights and intersections. The east bound bike lane finishes bit before Victoria University's south Footscray Campus, but due to the narrowness of Buckley St there, as a bike lane would make the traffic lane less width than is legally required. There is a west bound bike lane tho beside Vic Uni's south Footscray Campus. Looks like a fairly major bike route, to me. If the road markings & solid white line separation are an indicator, of that. Work & upgrading of it east of Victoria St Footscray is required though
6:47 That coffee place hasn't been operating since mid-2022. Zane also had a stall underneath Hawkstowe station that stopped operating at the same time. I guess may be just down to the stations not being transport hubs and the fact that peak frequencies on this line can be as low as 6 minutes, far too short to be standing in a queue for coffee. The Zane Coffee in Mernda station next to the bus hub and town centre is a whole other story though.
I remember that place being open briefly before the lockdowns but I think those and the general lack of patronage, especially when Middle Gorge is such an underused station did it in. I prefer using it as there's always plenty of parking but I often find during the morning on the way there you are nearly blinded by sun glare.
The big empty spaces around Williams Landing from what ive seen are temporary carparks from the pandemic 2019-2021. That was when the economy wasn't great and many companies didn't want to invest into that region. If you look at it compared to 2014-15 it actually is pretty well built. Soon there will be more apartments around the station which will be next to the shopping centre! There is also an age care not too far of a walk from the station.
You should see how many people get on and off at Williams Landing each day with the connecting buses to Point Cook and people driving in from the south and north. Does feel like they are begging businesses to move their headquarters there. I would quit rather than moving out there. Still only the one pox lift that is often full even though they managed to build 2 each side and in the middle due to residential complaints from the oldies and the amount of people who get on the trains in mobility scooters
i got abandonded at eaglemont station once after the train turned around one stop later (was trying to get to watsonia) and had to wait to get pciked up in a car in the pouring rain
I haven't seen parts 1 or 2. What is a 'strange' station? Eaglemont and Wattle Glen are quite normal. All of the modern ones are bleak and inconvenient. Strange would be East Richmond and South Kensington, where the faults from 40 years ago are being fossilised instead of fixed. Agreed, Williams Landing is a design disaster. If it had been designed for Perth, the buses would have come in at deck level from the nearby overline bridge. The most-recent design disaster is the misnamed 'Union', which is bleak and squalid with no redeeming feature: LXRP at its worst.
Both of those were covered in previous videos. Wattle Glen is certainly not normal, it's effectively the bare minimum a station can be, as well as the least used one. Eaglemont I do kind of understand however, I got a lot of requests for it but it ended up being not that interesting when I actually went. Still, there wasn't nothing, so I included it in the video. I'll admit the choices for this video weren't as strong as previous ones, but that's because I am sort of running out of stations lol... Don't expect any more of these, they're just really fun to make.
Go past Wattle Glen station all the time and there is nothing weird about it. other than seeing More wildlife than people at it. It also does get a decent amount of people during peak times. I would say there are more weird stations that are already been mentioned.
Huh? For Williams Landing you say the only choice for residents to access the station is to drive after you showed the bus interchange. Aren’t residents allowed to catch the bus to the station?
Great video mate, one quick suggestion: please disable discord/other programs when you're doing your V/O. The notification sounds are quite distracting :)
Youve got the visit these places during the regular Monday to Friday otherwise youll draw the wrong conclusions about these suburbs. They are all very busy normally.
middle gorge is also special for the fact that it is. directly next to a massive christian school so god forbid you are on the down line around 3:20 pm because you are NOT getting a seat.
As a local from west footscray station; The current platform 2 was old platform 1 And The current platform 3 was old platform 2 before the addition of the new 3rd (now platform 1) so they had the barriers there to avoid confusion and in aid of the transition The cycling overpass does connect to cycling lanes on either side of the station
@5:09 "The Lift smells really bad" LMFAO Perhaps you should do a video of urinating in elevators in Singapore. Apparently they have urine detectors, If triggered you get locked inside until the police arrive.
5. Why bother? But I wonder what the police box is for🤔 3. A bike lane on the concourse WHAT? 2. Don't know what's wrong with it apart from the fact the park it's named for is 2km away 1. What a butt ugly station🤮
