Nostalgia - Baddow Railway Station (Maryborough)

[Derwan]

Here's a bit of nostalgia.

As a child, I used to hang out at Baddow Railway Station in Maryborough during afternoons after school and on weekends.  I got to know all the staff - and just sat in the main office area and watched them go about their business.  At one stage I did a school project on the station, so took a few photos, including the control board.

   

On the board, the line that goes all the way from left to right was the "main line".  The line towards the top left was the line to Maryborough Station.  At first I thought it was weird how the lines weren't the same shape as the tracks - but it became obvious after a visit to Control in Maryborough that had every station between Gympie and Rockhampton laid out on the board.

The red switches were for signals, black for points.  The first white switch was to transfer control between this switchboard and "Control", which at the time was located at the main Maryborough station (for Gympie to Rockhampton).  The other 3 white switches were to allow manual leavers to be used for sidings not electronically controlled or monitored.

Lights along the lines indicated where trains were currently located.  As soon as a train entered the area, one of the 3 bells located on the side of the board rang.  These were loud bells and continued ringing until the corresponding red button on the board was pressed.  Switches were then changed according to where the train was going (often straight through the main line or to/from Maryborough).

The final signal on each line was what's known as an AB signal.  This meant that although the switch was changed, the signal would not go green until "Control" did their bit.  This meant that no train could leave the jurisdiction of Baddow without "Control" allowing it.

Somewhere in the late 80's, the Maryborough bypass was built and a new station (Maryborough West) was commissioned.  It's about 5 minutes from the outskirts of Maryborough.  This station has no controls, no boards.  "Control" was relocated to Brisbane.  Baddow station was demolished.

[Derwan]

For interests sake, click here to see where Baddow Railway Station used to be.

[glen]

Hello Derwan,
i enjoyed reading your post. I grew up in Maryborough quite close to Baddow station. I only caught the train from there a few times, but I fondly remember hearing trains moving during the night along the line into town and the yards (adjacent to Kent Street).
Thanks
Glen

[Derwan]

Glad you liked it Glen.  I used to live in Kent St myself.  Once upon a time there were several trains running between Maryborough and Baddow stations each day.  Now it's a rare event.

The rail yards at Maryborough have made way for the Station Square Shopping Centre and the station itself does little more than accommodate our new trains as they wait to be transported to Brisbane.

[ozbob]

Interesting memories indeed.  I can vaguely recall heading north on the Sunlander in the early 1970s and stopping at Baddow on the way, and noting interesting trains for the transfer.  Was a great trip then up North, and still is!

[jason]

question begs

with the basic infrastructure already in place ( besides any necessry upgrades required ) why can't the state govt encourage industry into the area such as car manufacturing from places like Geelong into the region?

This would be approximately 1000 jobs to the region, moving the pressure from Brisbane and surrounding areas into regional QLD, while bringing millions of dollars to the state