Oakleigh railway station

The track was duplicated from Caulfield to Oakleigh in 1883, and to Dandenong in 1891.[5]

Circa 1910 the station featured two side platforms with an additional centre track.[6] By 1915 a new station building had been constructed to the same style as Box Hill, Essendon, Spotswood and Heidelberg, and a new platform provided on the south side plus a fifth track for engines to run around their consists. By this time the station was controlled by two signal boxes, "A" at the city end controlling the Warrigal Road level crossing and interlocked gates, and "B" between the station and yard controlling the latter.[7]

In March 1922 electrification was extended from Caulfield to Oakleigh, and this was extended to Dandenong during December of the same year.[5] Around the same time the Hanover Street bridge was built across the Dandenong end of the goods yard, with alterations to the passenger sidings and the run-around loop south of the station was abolished.[8]

Three-position signalling was extended from Carnegie to the city end of Oakleigh (exclusive) in December 1940.[9] [5] Extension of same to Huntingdale and Clayton, in lieu of Winters Double Line Block safeworking, did not occur until 1970 in conjunction with the North Road (Huntingdale) grade separation project.

In 1968 the Warrigal Road level crossing was closed and, in conjunction with demolition of shops, a new road overpass was provided. The original Warrigal Road surface was partially retained as a slip lane to serve a handful of shops along the western boundary. The road bridge piers were spaced to allow extension of the track from the southernmost platform in the citybound direction.

In 1975 the track layout was drastically simplified and both signal boxes were abolished and demolished, being replaced with a new, experimental route-setting power interlocking system situated in the middle of the southern station building.[10][11] In lieu of the older system with individual buttons for each signal and turnout or crossover, the panel used custom circuit boards and a button arrangement where the operator would select a route between any two signals, and that route would be requested, set and locked by the relay interlocking if available. A 1972 report by BITRE indicated that the project would cost $330,000 and save $26,000 per year in staffing costs, plus avoiding $10,000 expected in upcoming overhaul costs for the existing mechanical systems, with a total benefit:cost ratio over 40 years of 1.7:1 at 7% discount rates or 1.3 at 10% discount rates.[12] In practice the new interlocking lasted 43 years.

The new signal panel included a "switch out" feature allowing the station's signalling to operate automatically during periods of reduced traffic. To facilitate this the island platform was used for most trains, with high-speed (40 mph) turnouts provided either end to avoid trains slowing down significantly for the diverging movements. In busier periods the signal panel was switched in by station staff, to permit access to or from the goods yard, terminating moves from the city, or overtaking moves in either direction.

The goods yard was officially closed to traffic in May 1984 with the exception of briquette traffic, which was still being received. Way and Works wagon HD205, which had been parked at the city end of the through siding for years, was transferred to the Caulfield depot on Friday 22 June 1984.[13] By October that year the briquette traffic had also shifted to Westall.[14] The overhead in Siding A was removed by December of the same year, along with the points and the majority of the sidings.[14]

In March 1987 a guards' indicator light was provided for signal post 16, controlling citybound moves from Platform 1.[15]

As of April 1988, suburban timetables specified an overtaking move between outbound suburban and country trains, where the 16:53 and 17:36 departures from Flinders Street to Dandenong were each scheduled to wait 3 minutes at Oakleigh for a Traralgon and Warragul service respectively.[16]

When the Cranbourne line was electrified in 1995, trains that had previously terminated at Oakleigh were extended and the passenger sidings fell into disuse. The extended goods siding was along the north side fell out of use and was abolished around the same time, although the shell of the citybound dwarf signal at the down end remained in situ until 2018. As a result, the signal panel was generally only used when the underpass flooded, as all trains in both directions could be diverted to the north-side platform (by then renamed Platform 3). The suburban sidings were restored to service in late 2004, but only used occasionally after that with further periods out of service.

While the panel was switched out, express trains through Oakleigh were assumed to run express through Hughesdale, Murrumbeena and Carnegie as well, and given altered level crossing timings; while the panel was switched in this selection had to be made manually. After the Siemens trains experienced braking issues in the mid-2000s, all trains were required to be sent through as express trains. This gave additional boom barrier downtime, but provided a safety margin in case of brake failure.[5][17]

The signal panel was abolished on 29 May 2018, with the last train passing through by 9:02pm. From that point the panel power supply was severed, and all tracks and signals removed. New tracks were laid approaching platforms 2 and 3 (renamed 1 and 2), but the former Platform 1 had temporary fencing erected along the edge and track has not been reinstated. A few months later the tracks in the platform pit were replaced. Signalling is now controlled from Dandenong. The signal panel was removed on Thursday 27 June 2019 and transported to the Australian Railway Historical Society for preservation.