Somerville railway station

For the station in the United States, see Somerville station.

Somerville railway station is located on the Stony Point line in Victoria, Australia. It serves the town of the same name, and opened on 10 September 1889.^[3]

Somerville
PTV commuter rail station
Southbound view of station platform, June 2019
General information
Location	Station Street, Somerville, Victoria 3912 Shire of Mornington Peninsula Australia
Coordinates	38°13′31″S 145°10′34″E
Owned by	VicTrack
Operated by	Metro Trains
Line(s)	Stony Point
Distance	55.82 kilometres from Southern Cross
Platforms	1
Tracks	1
Connections	Bus
Construction
Structure type	Ground
Parking	10
Accessible	Yes—step free access
Other information
Status	Operational, unstaffed
Station code	SVE
Fare zone	Myki Zone 2
Website	Public Transport Victoria
History
Opened	10 September 1889; 135 years ago (1889-09-10)
Closed	22 June 1981
Rebuilt	27 September 1984 February 1986
Passengers
2015–2016	14,905[1]
2016–2017	12,272[1]  17.66%
2017–2018	13,120[1]  6.91%
2018–2019	13,156[1]  0.27%
2019–2020	8,950[1]  31.97%
2020–2021	4,950[1]  44.69%
2021–2022	4,500[2]  9.09%
2022–2023	7,250[2]  61.11%
Services
Preceding station Metro Trains Following station Baxter towards Frankston Stony Point line Tyabb towards Stony Point
Track layout Legend to Baxter Eramosa Road 1 Park Lane Bungower Road to Tyabb

History

Somerville station opened when the railway line from Baxter was extended to Hastings.^[3] Like the town itself, the station was named after Sir William Meredyth Somerville, an Anglo-Irish Member of the British Parliament, for Drogheda between 1837 and 1852, and Canterbury, between 1854 and 1865.^[4]

The station opened due to rapid growth in the fruit (apples and pears) and dairy industries.^[5] The dairy industry needed a quick way of sending milk and cream to butter factories.

When the railway line reached Somerville, the station was some distance from the local school and hall which, at the time, were located on Lower Somerville Road. The town centre moved from there to its current site, adjacent to the station.

In the early years, Somerville station also operated as a post and telegraph office, and was a centre where people met as they collected their mail. The provision of special railway sidings serving new packing sheds and cool stores, over a period of six years from 1914 to 1920, supported the expansion in the apple and pear growing industry. The advent of iced T-vans made it possible to quickly transport fruit to Melbourne docks, to be loaded directly into refrigerated ships for overseas destinations.

Up until the end of World War II, a special train ran to the horticultural show at Somerville, which was reputed to be one of the biggest of its kind in Australia. The railway line also helped the fruit tree nurseries, and family-operated companies, such as Brunnings, Shepherds, Unthanks, Coles and Grants.^[5] They sent hundreds of thousands of bare-rooted trees to places such as the Goulburn Valley, the Murray Valley, and Sunraysia areas in Victoria, the Riverina districts of New South Wales, and to the Granite Belt area, centred on Stanthorpe in Queensland. The traffic was seasonal, and occurred from May to September.

The station building on the platform at Somerville was portable, meaning that it was delivered in sections and bolted together. It contained an office and a safeworking area, from which the staff and ticket system was operated. There was a van shed for small goods and parcels, two waiting rooms, one exclusively for the ladies and a general waiting room, and toilets. The building existed until February 1986, when it was replaced with an aluminium building.^[6][7] In the station yard, there was a general goods shed, a loading ramp, a crane, and a livestock loading facility. Later, two sidings were built for the Somerville Co-operative Cool Stores. By 2008, the up end connection to the yard was removed.^[3]

The station master's house was at the Frankston-Flinders Road entrance to the station. Two Somerville youths set fire to the house during August 2009 and it was completely destroyed. The offenders were apprehended.

The station was usually staffed by a station master but, on occasions over the years, he was assisted by a lad porter or assistant station master from Baxter. Somerville was the banking station for all stations to Stony Point, and supplied some of them with stores and stationery. Safeworking was originally by the staff and ticket system, but that was varied from time to time, until the opening of the Long Island sidings, when the electric staff system was introduced.

In 1961, flashing light signals were installed at the Eramosa Road level crossing, located nearby in the up direction from the station.^[8]

On 22 June 1981, the passenger service between Frankston and Stony Point was withdrawn and replaced with a bus service.^[3] On 16 September 1984, promotional trips for the reopening of the line began and,^[9] on 27 September of that year, the passenger service was reinstated.^[3]

In 1991, boom barriers were provided at the Eramosa Road level crossing.^[10]

Platforms and services

Somerville has one platform and is served by Stony Point line trains.^[11]

Platform 1:

•  Stony Point line  all stations services to Frankston; all stations services to Stony Point

Transport links

Ventura Bus Lines operates two routes via Somerville station, under contract to Public Transport Victoria:

•  782 : Frankston station – Flinders^[12]
•  783 : Frankston station – Hastings^[13]

References

1. Railway station and tram stop patronage in Victoria for 2008-2021 Philip Mallis
2. Annual metropolitan train station patronage (station entries) Data Vic
3. "Somerville". vicsig.net. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
4. First, Jamie (7 January 2014). "The A-Z story of Melbourne's suburbs". Herald Sun. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
5. "Somerville". Victorian Places. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
6. "Works". Newsrail. Australian Railway Historical Society (Victorian Division). June 1986. p. 188.
7. "Somerville". When there were Stations. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
8. David Langley (January 1992). "Flashing Lights and Boom Barriers Dates of Installation". Somersault. Signalling Record Society Victoria. pp. 9–19.
9. "Traffic". Newsrail. Australian Railway Historical Society (Victorian Division). November 1984. p. 344.
10. "Signalling Alterations". Somersault. Signalling Record Society Victoria. November 1991. p. 106.
11. "Stony Point Line". Public Transport Victoria.
12. "782 Frankston - Flinders via Coolart Road & Hastings". Public Transport Victoria.
13. "783 Frankston - Hastings via Coolart Road". Public Transport Victoria.

External links

• Melway map at street-directory.com.au