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Train Staff and Ticket Sections:
1910-1925 Mildura - Merbein;
1925-1980 Mildura - Merbein; Merbein - Yelta;
1980-1989 Mildura - Yelta;
Train Order Working:
1989-1997 Mildura - Yelta
Section Authority Working:
1997-1999 Mildura - Yelta
Train Order Working
1999- Mildura - Yelta
MERBEIN
The line from Mildura to Merbein was officially opened on 1-7-1910. The Merbein extension was worked as a branch line with Mildura regarded as the terminal station for train services. Safeworking between Mildura and Merbein was the Staff and Ticket system.
A siding for the Mildura Co-Op Fruit Coy was provided by 16-9-1912. This siding lead from No 2 Road.
A Down Home Signal was provided on 6-5-1913 and the Up end points were Staff Locked using the Staff for the Mildura - Merbein section. The staff lock was replaced by a plunger lock on 21-7-1915.
A railmotor turntable was provided by June 1922 at the down end of the yard.
On 20-2-1924, a siding for the Aurora Packing Co. at the Up end was connected. The points were secured by an Annett lock and an Up departure Home signal was provided. The Down Home Signal was moved 190 yards further out.
A siding for the Merbein Packing Co was provided off the incomplete Yelta line at the down end of the station by 8-7-1924. On 29-10-1924 the points to this siding were secured by an annett lock.
The extension of the line to Yelta was opened on 27-6-1925 and two new Home Signals were installed - an Up home signal from Yelta and a Down Departure Home Signal. Train Staff and Ticket was provided for the section Merbein - Yelta.
The Merbein Packing Co's siding was out of use by 1-3-1927. The siding points were removed by 23-12-1930, but were reinstated by 27-6-1933 as a second siding for the Mildura Co-Op Fruit Co. By 1-8-1929 the Irymple Packing Coy siding was in use. This lead from the main line just on the down side of the platform.
The Merbein Home signal is about to be passed by T361 with a special train for Yelta. 29-12-1976. Photo: Bruce McLean
The siding connecting the 26-foot turntable, used by the rail motor when the Redcliffs - Mildura - Merbein service was in operation, was dismantled by 26-1-1937. The turntable had been moved to Linton in 1930.
The Merbein rail motor siding was dismantled on 26-1-1937. Circa 1922. Source: A.R.H.S. (Vic. Div.) Archives
Hand Lock Bars and padlocks were provided in lieu of Annett Locks on the points to the Aurora Packing Co. and Mildura Fruit Co-operative Co. sidings and the Up and Down Home Departure Signals were abolished on 22-6-1967.
The Stationmaster was removed and Merbein was worked under No One in Charge conditions supervised by Mildura from 13-12-1978. Guards on all Mildura to Yelta line trains were responsible for the Staff and Ticket working carried out at Merbein, providing that trains were not to cross.
On 15-1-1980 Merbein was disestablished as a Staff Station and the section became Mildura - Yelta. As Merbein was no longer a crossing station, No.2 road was removed in August 1980.
Down end Home Signal at Merbein 18-6-1982. Photo: Bruce McLean
By 11-9-1984 Merbein could open as an Intermediate Special Block Post in the section Mildura - Yelta.
The Up and Down home signals were removed on 1-9-1988. (An entry in WN36/80 indicating that the signals were abolished on 1-7-1980 was incorrect. An entry in WN 37/80 indicated that their removal was deferred.) All signal quadrant levers, mechanical detection equipment, and plunger locking on the main line facing points was abolished. The main line points were provided with WSA levers secured by Hand Locking Bars and padlocks.
A new siding at 853.850 km was commissioned on 30-1-1995 for inter-modal traffic under contract to Wakefield's Transport. The clear length of the siding is 280 metres and the points at both ends were fitted with a WSA lever and a hand locking bar and padlock. Hand operated Hayes derails were fitted at both ends of the siding.
G521 at the head of an up grain train from Yelta passes the new Inter-modal siding established for Wakefield's Transport at Merbein. 6-7-1994. Photo: Bruce McLean
Merbein Signalling Diagrams (Click on title to open file)
MERBEIN WEST
Merbein West was opened with the extension from Merbein to Yelta on 27-6-1925 with a loop siding. The points in the main line at each end of the station were rodded to catch points in the loop siding secured by a Staff Lock, the key being the Merbein - Yelta Staff.
The loop siding was removed on 29-4-1941 and the station closed to all traffic on 2-9-1948.
Merbein West Signalling Diagrams (Click on title to open file)
YELTA
Yelta was open for traffic on 27-6-1925 under caretaker conditions with a crossing loop and goods siding. A Down Home Signal and Plunger Locking was provided at the Up end and Yelta was a Train Staff and Ticket station with the section Merbein - Yelta.
The Down Home Signal was lit at night when required, and the Signal indication "proceed" except when necessary to place it at "Stop" to release the Plunger Locking for shunting purposes, or for the protection of a train which has arrived on a Staff Ticket.
The up Home Signal at Yelta. 1955. Photo: Des Jowett
The Down Home Signal and Plunger Locking was abolished on 20-6-1967 and was replaced by a Location Board and a Hand Locking Bar and padlock on the Up end main line points.
The location board at the up end of Yelta. 21-1-1976. Photo: Bruce McLean
Yelta was worked under no one in charge conditions by 17-4-1973.
Guards on all Mildura to Yelta line trains were responsible for the Staff and Ticket working carried out at Yelta from 13-12-1978, providing that trains were not to cross.
The railway from Mildura to Yelta was upgraded with heavier rail in 1988 and the design of the station yard was altered under the influence of Canac Consultants Ltd. from Montreal, Canada, who were appointed in 1984 by the State Transport Authority, Grain Elevators Board, Australian Wheat Board and the Ministry of Transport, to study and advise on the most cost effective method of moving the State's grain harvest from farms to ships and domestic users.
Section Authority Working replaced Train Order Working from 12-10.1997 with the section Mildura - Yelta.
Freight Victoria reintroduced Train Order Working from 25-7-1999. Yelta was described as a Train Order Terminal Station with the section Mildura - Yelta.
On 21-5-2001 Yelta was described as an Unattended Terminal Station. Under normal circumstances, only one train is scheduled to work at an Unattended Terminal Station at the one time, but where the circumstance arises that a second train is scheduled to arrive, the Train Controller must inform the Driver of the second train that a train is operating within the yard at that location. Upon passing the Location Board, the arriving Driver must confer with the Driver of the train at the location and arrive at an understanding of the movements which are to be performed.
Yelta Signalling Diagrams (Click on title to open file)
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