Goldfields Railways - Geelong to Ballarat Railway - Engineering Heritage Marker - Geelong Geelong, Victoria, Australia
By Team MavEtJu on 31-Oct-15. Waypoint GA7757

Cache Details

Difficulty:
Terrain:
Type: Virtual
Container: Virtual
Coordinates: S38° 8.679' E144° 21.307' (WGS 84)
  55H 268223E 5774830N (UTM)
Elevation: 17 m
Local Government Area: Greater Geelong

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Description

Goldfields Railways - Geelong to Ballarat Railway - Engineering Heritage Marker - Geelong

The railway line from Geelong to Ballarat was one of the two Goldfields Railways built at the very beginning of the Victorian Railways era between 1858 and 1862. The railway was built to serve the gold mining town of Ballarat which, along with Bendigo, produced a large proportion of the great wealth with which Victoria was blessed during the second half of the nineteenth century. A railway already existed between Melbourne and Geelong and the decision to build the line to Ballarat from Geelong rather than direct from Melbourne was made because the terrain was more accommodating between Geelong and Ballarat than between Melbourne and Ballarat. The only major hurdle on this route was the Moorabool River valley close to Geelong. Bridging this required as major viaduct which was the outstanding engineering feature of the line. These early lines, built by the expert design team which had been established within the Victorian Railways, were of the highest standards for mainline railway working and have stood the test of time. The engineering features of the project were perhaps overshadowed by the superb architectural details of the railway station complexes, particularly those at Geelong and Ballarat. These remain in service today, much as they were built in the nineteenth century, and are elegant and functional in an era when railway building construction has generally declined to mediocrity. Because of the great care with which this railway was constructed and the powerful engineering view of functionality which was deeply etched in the code of the old railway engineers most of its fabric has survived. The only serious casualties are some of the intermediate stations which are no longer in railway service.

 

When logging this virtual, please add a photo of yourself or your GPSr at the plaque.

For more information, please see the nomination PDF at the Heritage Register at the Engineers Australia website: https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/portal/heritage/goldfields-railways-geelong-ballarat-railway-1862

Logs

03-Jan-24
I had the pleasure of catching the bus and train too Melbourne.

Been many a year since I have undertaken this.

What better way than to take a snap of the marker here.

A quick snap then on the train I was!

TFTV Very Happy

tn_51628478805.jpeg
 
28-Oct-20
Fortunately with the lockdown things were quite today. Spotted what I wanted and tried very hard to include everything in the photo. The best I could do was to have a finger pointing there.
Thanks for this interesting piece of history today Team MavEtJu Clapping
 
05-Sep-20
Suscoe was out this afternoon for our daily walk.
This was our turn around point.
The station was quiet, the map was quickly located. Mrs. S is pictured next to the required information of the Geelong to Ballarat railway engineering heritage marker and map.
Thanks to Team MavEtJu for this cache opportunity
 
10-Jul-19
Even asked staff where the marker is I thought the wooden walk over or out front could not find I will be back. Shhhhhhh
 
06-Feb-19
I found this cache today while taking a stroll at morning tea time. A great building and interesting history. Thanks for this geocache here today.
 
10-Oct-18
Out and about in Geelong and noticed this sitting here while we were attending to a GC Mystery/Puzzle cache.

H-P has been in and out of this station so many times earlier in life - thanks for drawing our attention to something we were unaware of.
 
09-Jun-18
What a wonderful old railway station this is, and a perfect day to enjoy it whilst in town for a couple of events tonight.
Muggle Hubby and I wandered around and through the area before finding the plaque here.
We loved the large overhead photo on the wall.
What a busy place it was too, with four buses unloading passengers in the sort time we were there.
Who would have envisaged when the railway line was first laid to Ballarat, how many people it would now carry daily between these two cities.
Thanks for the Virtual morning Team MavEtJu
 
06-Dec-17
Visited Geelong station many times...
Today is good time to take photo and pick up my son from Melbourne.
Thanks for the virtual cache.
I'm a Laaaaaaaady, duh!Clan Griffin
 
11-Feb-17
Found this one at 13:35 while waiting for a train home after last night's fantastic reunion. It took me a moment or two to find and I spotted it just as I was about to ask where it was at the info centre. Embarassed

A great bit of our rail history. Very Happy

Thanks Team MavEtJu.
 
29-Jan-17
Last for the day.
 
15-Nov-16
Today we visited the Geelong Railway Station and found the "Goldfields Railways - Geelong to Ballarat Railway - Engineering Heritage Marker". A photo of Mrs y'stassie next to the marker has been added to the Gallery.
 
11-Nov-16
Found It!
More interesting history - I always get sidetracked when logging these Engineering Heritage caches as I start googling the history and then several Wikipedia pages later I'm reading about the highest railway bridge in Australia several 1000 kms from here! Anyhow, pics of the plaque are attached.
TFTC
 
18-Jul-16
Updated coordinates after finding by LouiseAnn. Thank you!
 
16-Jul-16
I just love this series of caches. SirJ-Oz and I left the littlest team member in the car and headed in to the station to make the find. Just as we were about to ask the staff for directions, I spotted the cache. We both took coords.
 
28-Dec-15
What a magnificent station at Geelong. It is great to see this state still running regional trains unlike other states that i come from. Lots of history inside the terminal to look at. well worth a look. [FTF]
 
31-Oct-15
Published!