Anniversary Trail - East Kew Section - former Outer Circle Railway

Goods train near East Kew siding, c1930

Near Bourke Rd access point

Bridge at Harp Village, at the Wood Depot

Looking east from Normanby Rd crosssing,
site of former East Kew siding.

These pix were taken on Tuesday October 25, 2011.

They show the East Kew section of the Anniversary Trail, which follows the alignment of the former Outer Circle Railway.

My 4 km (return) exploration started at the trail crossing at Bourke Rd, passing the sites of the former East Kew Siding and East Kew station, then to the site of the former East Kew Goods Yard at the Harp Village.

Between 1923 and 1946, steam goods trains ran from East Camberwell Station to the East Kew Goods Yard, carrying coal and wood for residential consumption.

The goods yard is now a Wood Depot.

East Kew station was located to the west of Normanby Rd. The East Kew Siding was sited to the east of Normanby Rd.

The Outer Circle Railway system brought the government-owned Gippsland line from Sale into the city from its terminus at Oakleigh, without using the privately owned tracks to Flinders Street Station.

The Victorian Railways built a line north from Oakleigh in a circle through Camberwell and Kew and over the Yarra River at Fairfield, to join the government line at Fulham Grange.

It began life in 1890 as a 12-mile (19 km) cross-country link with few passengers and little freight. In 1893 the Fulham Grange (Fairfield) to Deepdene section closed. By 1897 the entire Outer Circle Line had been closed. It came to life again when the Ashburton to Camberwell section reopened on 4 July 1898.

In 1900 the line from Deepdene to the new station at East Camberwell also reopened, with a train known as the Deepdene Dasher. The Camberwell to Ashburton section was electrified and became part of the Melbourne electric suburban network in 1924, with an extension to Alamein. The Deepdene section was not electrified and the Dasher made its last run in 1926.

By the 1990s most of the land once occupied by the Outer Circle Railway had become a linear park. The bridge over the Yarra had long been converted to a road bridge, as part of the Chandler Highway.

See all of the Photos of my visit!

See my earlier Worldisround article about the Shenley Section of the Trail, at http://www.worldisround.com/articles/368166/index.html