Ridgway Siding was so named after Ridgway Newland who in 1847 took up Licence 138, which was of an area of 3,626H (8764 acreas) and would have fully encompassed the township of Balaklava, but interesting enough not as far as this siding.
The Hamley-Bridge Balaklava line was opened on January 15, 1880 and this siding was opened around the same time.This siding consisted of a signals shed( that housed the flags for patrons to use when flagging down approaching trains) and 2 grain bunkers that were used to store bagged grain (presumably, one for wheat and the other for barley), there was also a weighbridge but it was not located on the railway siding site, rather it was on the left hand side of the road heading towards Rocks Reserve( on the eastern side of the railway line).
This siding as a destination to collect grain lasted up until the the uptake of Bulk Grain handling and closed one year after the concrete Bulk Grain silo's were constructed (1956) in nearby Balaklava, but you could still flag down a passenger train until 1980 when no more passenger trains used the line.Not bad really, it lasted just on 100 years, you will notice that the tracks have been left, who knows it may be used again in the future