Benalla railway station, Victoria

VlineRailwayStation1
NAME=Benalla


CODE=BEN
DISTANCE=197.25 km
LINES=North East
PLATFORMS=2
TRACKS=2 (1 BG) (1 SG)
STATUS=Staffed Station
FACILITIES= [http://www.viclink.com.au/stop/view/20295 Link]
TIMETABLES= [http://www.viclink.com.au/stop/view/20295 Link]
MELWAYORVICROADS=VicRoads
MELWAY=

Benalla is a railway station on the North East railway in the town of Benalla, Victoria, Australia.

Facilities

The Station is located at the Midland Highway level crossing. Shops are near the Station.

As well as having a platform on the broad gauge line used by V/Line services, there is also a platform on the parallel standard gauge line, used for Countrylink services between Sydney and Melbourne. It is an important junction in north eastern Victoria, surrounding towns using the station for travel to the state capital Melbourne and it is also where the Oaklands line towards Yarrawonga branches off and heads north; it was also a link to the now closed Tatong railway line.

It is the second last stop on the Sydney to Melbourne passenger service with a travel time to Melbourne of around 2 hours.

History

The station has seen many interesting occasions including, the famous Kelly Gang, Royal Tours, as well as hosting the Flying Scotsman during its visit in 1988, and a recent train derailment. It is one of the oldest country stations in the state once boasting a bar and restaurant for rail travellers.

The old time dance hall, located next to the station and run by ex railway workers was a mecca for oldies wanting to dance like it was 1947, unfortunately rising insurance costs ended its nearly 50 year run and more recently, part of the disused building was knocked down by the recent train derailment.

The railway yard has a workable turntable but its use is restricted to exhibition only, the rest of the yard is in the slow process of being dismantled with many sidings being pulled up and the track recycled. There were two signal boxes in its heyday, only one remains now but for historical purposes only.

The locomotive depot was hit by a severe storm on November 22, 1994 leaving the shed damaged and destroying two Tait carriages stored inside. The shed was alter demolished.cite journal
year = 1995
month = February
title = Operations
journal = Newsrail
publisher = Australian Railway Heritage Society (Victorian Division)
pages = page 55 ]

Gallery

---

Standard_gauge_platform_at_BenallaImage:Spirit-of-progress-70th-anniversary-2007.jpg|70th_anniversary_run_of_the_Spirit of Progress" stopped at Benalla

References

* [http://www.fallingrain.com/world/AS/7/Benalla.html FallingRain Map - elevation = 158m]

-!align=center colspan=5 style=background:#00EBEB|Entire CountryLink network
-

ViclinkAndClosedStations
Line1=Albury-Wodonga line
Previous1=Violet Town
Next1=Wangaratta
ClosedLine = Oaklands line
ClosedNextplain=Towards Oaklands
ClosedPreviousplain=Junction

Baddaginnie Station is demolished and was located between Benalla and Violet Town stations. Glenrowan Station is currently not is use and is located between Benalla and Wangaratta stations.