Seymour railway station

Seymour railway station is located on the North East line in Victoria, Australia, and serves the town of Seymour. It opened on 20 November 1872.

A locomotive depot previously operated north of the station. Today it is the home of the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre and is still used to stable V/Line trains. The station also had a goods yard opposite the main passenger platform. North of Seymour the Tocumwal line branches off.

History
The railway line to Seymour officially opened on 20 November 1872. Due to the bridge over the Goulburn River not being finished, the line from Essendon station had opened on 18 April 1872 as far as a temporary terminus at School House Lane.

Former station Mangalore was located north of Seymour at the junction of the North East and Shepparton lines. School House Lane / Dysart Sidings / Goulburn Junction was located between Seymour and Tallarook.

Station building & platforms
When the station opened only a single platform was provided, with temporary timber station buildings and three tracks. A brick building was erected in 1874/75, with extensions and alterations made in 1883/84, including a new street façade. In 1886 a subway was provided to the platform from Station Street, and in 1887 the street entrance to the station was removed to permit the opening of the back platform. A level crossing was constructed to provide access to the station. There were more alterations in 1926.

To support the station, a number of Departmental Residences were erected by the Victorian Railways to house railway employees and their families. Around the start of the 20th century there were 29, increasing to 82 by the 1960s. They have since been sold to private owners.

Although the station looks like one large building from Station Street, it is made up of numerous smaller buildings behind a common façade. The refreshment room is a grand two-storey building, while the ticket office and waiting room is a collection of smaller buildings. Though the standard gauge line to Albury, which opened in 1962, passed the station, a platform was not provided on the line until 1974. It was only one carriage long and was not used for regular services, being removed in 2008 when Platform 1 was converted to standard gauge. The station was altered to the current interior layout in 1997, when a general refurbishment was carried out, with the parcels office being converted into a waiting room and toilets.

In 2008 there was a $1.5 million upgrade of the bus interchange, with the access subway to the station being rebuilt on a shallower grade to allow wheelchair access. These works were done in preparation for the North-East Rail Revitalisation Project, during which all V/Line trains north of Seymour were replaced by buses while the gauge-conversion of the line was undertaken.

As part of the North-East Rail Revitalisation Project, a new broad gauge Platform 3 was built on the western side of the yard opening in November 2009. The existing Platform 1 broad gauge track was converted to standard gauge.

Refreshment room
A railway refreshment room was opened at Seymour station in 1873, replacing the one at Kilmore East. It later became the largest country refreshment rooms in the state.

By 1875 the room was serving at least six trains per day, with 15 minutes permitted for passengers to eat. In 1884 the rooms were expanded with new buffet and dining rooms. Buffet patrons ordered and collected their food from a counter and ate elsewhere, while dining room patrons sat down and received table service. They were originally managed by a leasee, but were taken over by the Victorian Railways in 1919 in preparation for the creation of their Refreshment Services Branch in 1920.

The rooms catered for 150 standing in the buffet, and 112 seated in the dining room, and was staffed at its peak by 34 employees who lived in a cottage complex near the station. By 1976 the rooms were in decline, serving light refreshments only by a staff of only 11. The rooms closed on 8 October 1981 when on-train catering was rolled out to all trains passing through the station. The buffet room was refurbished in 1993–1995 for community uses, but the dining room is used for storage.

The refreshment rooms reopened as a cafe in November 2008, to cater for V/Line Albury/Wodonga line passengers who used Seymour to transfer from coach to train while the line was being upgraded to standard gauge.

Locomotive depot
The locomotive depot at Seymour existed from the opening of the station until 1993. It was the home of the S class 4-6-2 Pacifics as used on the Spirit of Progress.

The depot was originally located just to the north of the station, with a two locomotive shed and a 42 ft turntable. It was moved to the current location in 1889 where a new 9 track roundhouse-style shed was erected in timer and corrugated iron, along with a coal stage and brick offices. In 1902 it was extended to 13 bays, and in 1910 to twenty bays that almost made a complete circle. The original 40 ft turntable was replaced in 1890 by a 50 ft version, and by a 70 ft in 1907. In the 1930s an electric turntable was provided, until replaced by a more modern version in 1954.

At the peak of operation in June 1950, 245 railway men worked at Seymour Locomotive Depot, made up of 60 drivers, 57 firemen, 41 cleaners, 14 mechanics, 53 shed staff, 9 rail motor staff, and 11 train examiners. By 1958 the number of staff had declined to 181 with the arrival of diesel locomotives, the last steam locomotive housed there withdrawn in 1966.

Much of the roundhouse was removed in 1961 in conjunction with construction of the standard gauge line alongside, with the rest of the roundhouse removed in May 1971 leaving just workshop buildings. By 1976 only 125 were employed at the depot, and by the 1980s locomotives were no longer based at the depot. It was officially closed on 8 April 1993. Today it used to stable V/Line trains, as well as being the home of the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre.

Goods shed
A goods shed was provided at Seymour in September 1873, of the same though track rounded roof style seen at Kilmore East, Tallarook, Avenel, and Euroa. In 1885 the yard was extended from 3 to 9 tracks, and a new but smaller goods shed was provided. It was lengthened in 1909 and again in 1930.

Until the 1960s the main outbound traffic was agricultural produce, wool, firewood, timber; along with incoming supplies for town. By the 1970s small consignments of goods were only handled by a number of larger stations, with road transport used the rest of the way. The Seymour Freight Centre opened on 8 February 1978 to serve the local area, and remained in used until 27 April 1985.

Platforms & services
Seymour has three platforms, one island with two faces and one side. It is serviced by V/Line Seymour, Shepparton and Albury services. It is also served by NSW TrainLink XPT travelling between Sydney and Melbourne.

Platform 1:
 * Albury line: V/Line services to Albury & Southern Cross
 * NSW TrainLink Southern : XPT services to Sydney Central & Southern Cross

Platform 2:
 * Seymour line: services to & from Southern Cross
 * Shepparton line: services to Shepparton & Southern Cross

Platform 3:
 * Seymour line: services to & from Southern Cross
 * Shepparton line: services to Shepparton & Southern Cross

Transport links
V/Line operate road coach services to Albury, Melbourne, Shepparton, Tocumwal, Wangaratta.

Mitchell Transit operates five routes to and from Seymour station:


 * 1: to Seymour East
 * 2: to Seymour North
 * 3: to Puckapunyal
 * 4: from Wimble Street (AM peak)
 * 5: to Seymour North/East (PM peak)

Fallons Bus Service operates one route to and from Seymour station:
 * to Alexandria