Colac–Ballarat railway line

The Colac to Ballarat line was a cross-country line that branched from the Warrnambool line just east of Colac and ran in a generally northerly direction to join the Ballarat–Skipton Line at Newtown, from where it ran to Ballarat station. The line was 112 km long, passing through an area dotted with lakes at its southern end, and a hilly area in the northern section.

History

Construction of the line began in the late 19th century[1] with the purpose of transferring produce from the Victoria's Western District to the industrial centre of Ballarat. The line was built in sections, from Irrewarra in the south to Beeac, and from Ballarat in the north to Newtown, as part of the Skipton Line. The link between Beeac and Newtown was eventually opened in the 1910s, but it passed through very few major settlements.

The track has been removed completely and most of the land returned to adjoining farmers, but the last section of the Skipton to Ballarat line has been converted into the Ballarat–Skipton Rail Trail.

Line
Colac–Ballarat railway line
 To Melbourne
 Ballarat Station
 Wendouree Station
 Linton Junction
 Cardigan
 Haddon
 Nintingbool
 Smythesdale
 Scarsdale
 Newtown
 Skipton Line
 Berringa
 Illabarook
 Rokewood
 Werneth
< To Maroona - Cressy - To Geelong >
 Barpinba
 Beeac
 Ondit
 Irrewarra
To Geelong
 Colac
 To Warrnambool

Illabrook Rail Reserve

The site of Illabrook station, that used to include the station building and a goods shed, is now the Illabrook Rail Line Nature Conservation Reserve.[2]

Cressy Station

Cressy was located where the Colac-Ballarat line junctioned with the Gheringhap-Maroona cross-country line, and it became a major station after the two lines opened in the 1910s. Facilities included a large station building with an elevated signal box, and a refreshment room. From the closing of the Colac-Ballarat line in 1953, the station was progressively downgraded, and it was closed in the 1990s. Today almost no trace of the station remains.

gollark: Apparently, because some unspecified event had occurred two years in a row at the same time for them (???) and because it's "comforting".
gollark: Also people just not caring about truth for some reason. A mere 1.8ish hours ago someone was telling me about why they believed in astrology.
gollark: That seems like more of an argument for mitigating the harms of some service things than just banning somewhat harmful ones entirely.
gollark: AAAAAAAAAA MORE "OR SOMETHING"
gollark: I'm not sure about "fundamentally", but common cultural values consider it more intimate than just, I don't know, retailing or waiter-ing.

References
  1. "THE COLAC TO BALILARAT RAILWAY". The Colac Herald. 22 September 1882. p. 3.
  2. "A day out at Illabarook". The Field Naturalist Ballarat. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
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