A LIGHT has been shone back on the history of the Hamilton Railway Station, and its prospective future of possibly returning to passenger rail services, with the release of the book, Rail Centre Hamilton – the life and times of its branch railways 1884 to 1995.

From 1870s to the 1970s, Hamilton rail ruled supreme in the transport stakes until it was inevitably overtaken by changing economics and road transport competition.

Geelong author, Norman Houghton OAM has provided an in-depth recollection of the history of each line and its stations in the Western District, including when and why it was built, how they operated, their goods and passenger services, traffic, the boom times and information of their eventuate closings.

Born in Colac in 1948, Mr Houghton developed an interest in railways in his early childhood as his father was a shunter, guard and shedman at Victorian Railways in Colac, so he would be occasionally taken on train rides on the Colac to Beech Forest narrow-gauge line and the broad-gauge line towards Warrnambool.

This history of the railways at and around Hamilton is another instalment in Mr Houghton’s sequence of rail histories for the Western District, and he said it took him around seven months to complete the research for the book.  

“It will make people realise what they’ve lost,” he said.

“It will make people realise how valuable the railways were in their day and the value of the railway to Hamilton when it came through in the 1870s.

“Prior to that, you only had a road transport … so when the railway came in, this facilitated development.”

The book discusses how Hamilton superintended a network of branch lines from Hamilton to Coleraine and Casterton, Balmoral and East Natimuk, to Penshurst and on to Warrnambool, and from Heywood to Dartmoor and Mount Gambier.

Having secured an Arts degree with a major in History and sub majors in Politics and Economics at Monash University and a Post Graduate Diploma in Information Management and a Master of Arts in Archives and Records, Mr Houghton’s career has been continuous in the area of cultural heritage management as an administrator, archivist and historian.

He has worked stints at the Workshops Rail Museum at Ipswich, the Queensland Rail Records Management Unit, Queensland Railways Capital Projects Unit, completed legal research work on occupational diseases associated with railway employment and also took up archive and record jobbing consulting work in Melbourne for ten years until his retirement in 2018.

This established author has more than 45 titles to his credit since 1974 covering narratives in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland with works across multiple sectors in history.

Southern Grampians Shire Councillor, Dr Katrina Rainsford met with Mr Houghton on Wednesday in support of his book release, herself being a long-term advocate for better roads and rail services since she first stood for Council in 2004.

 “My job as a councillor is to look after the local services we have responsibility for whilst advocating for our fair share of public infrastructure and investment provided through State and Federal Governments … to improve the quality of life of our communities whilst caring for history, culture and our environment,” she said.

“We need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and the railway asset we have through Hamilton is part of the solution.”

Dr Rainsford also said the revival of Rail Freight alongside Passenger Rail will improve quality of life in Southern Grampians and neighbouring Shires.

“We need to connect our Hamilton Railway Station into our CBD with improved signage, parking, access and landscaping,” she said.

“In my opinion, the next step for a new council is to consider a bus shuttle service to Ararat connecting strategically with daily train services in high use time slots that support students, sport and major events.”

She also said electrification of trucks will not build the roads and hard surfaces required to support the increased truck weights and frequency.

“We want safer roads and safer freight,” Dr Rainsford said.

“To be more sustainable in every sense.

“Trucks and buses will always be necessary for feeding into a modern railway network.

“Improved public transport will support tourism, local schools, health services and rural communities.”

Earlier in May, the Federal Government announced a $150 million funded project to upgrade the Maroona-Portland rail line to enable increased axle limits and transport of primary producer products to market, so the reduced speed limits could be lifted to 80 kilometres per hour.

“The recent announcement of $150 million of Federal Funding to upgrade the Maroona Portland line is great news,” Dr Rainsford said.

“I am working to understand the potential and interaction of rail freight and passenger services.”

While the Hamilton track is still in use, having three to four freight ‘slow’ trains pass through per week, the low-standard track only allows for current speeds of around 30km/h, which has posed questions considering the future of the railway.

Mr Houghton said the next step to be taken would be to rehabilitate the track, including signalling to make a greater use of the transportation methods and existing tracks to Portland.

“It will be using an underused resource, getting trucks off the road and it will reduce our carbon footprint,” he said.

“That’s what rail is best for.”

The Rail Centre Hamilton book can be purchased at Bellcourt Books, Hamilton.