In 1854 gold was discovered at Mount Tarrengower which lead to the birth of the township of Maldon. After the residents petitioned for a railway line to the town, the railway line from Castlemaine to Maldon was constructed and opened in 1884. Several years later the railway was extended from Maldon to Shelbourne, with this section opening in 1891. Due to the proximity of Maldon station to Mount Tarrengower, the railway could not be extended from the station and a junction was created approximately 1km on the Castlemaine side of Maldon. The junction was originally named Laanecoorie Junction but was renamed to Shelbourne Junction at a later date (the final two caches in the series reveal the reason for this). This junction arrangement made Maldon one of the only stations in Victoria where trains had to change directions before continuing to their destination.
Both the Maldon and Shelbourne lines were built to 'light line' standards - 1 in 40 grades, sharp curves and 60 lb./yard rail. The Shelbourne line only had one intermediate station. Originally named Bradford, the name was changed to Pollard in the early 20th century. Pollard station had no sidings, so any wagons that needed unloading at the station had to be left on the mainline. This resulted in some very unusual workings between Pollard and Shelbourne. Wagons to be left at Pollard were attached behind the guards van at Shelbourne and dropped at Pollard; the next train to Shelbourne would attach the wagons to the front of the locomotive and propel them to Shelbourne (with the locomotive sandwiched between the wagon/s and the rest of the train!). The wagons would then be incorporated into the return train's consist and eventually reach Melbourne or wherever they were destined.
Originally, one mixed train (goods train with passenger wagons included) per day served the Shelbourne line. Around 1924 this was reduced to a thrice-weekly mixed. All passenger services were withdrawn during the Second World War and the goods service was cut back to once per week.
During the later years of steam hauled trains, J class locomotives dominated the line. Once diesels took over, T and Y class locomotives would have provided motive power.
In 1969 bushfires destroyed several trestle bridges on the Shelbourne line which lead to the line's official closure on the 1st of January 1970. Wagons which were stranded at Shelbourne were taken to Bendigo by road transport. By this stage the majority of the traffic on the line was grain from the silos at Shelbourne and the closure of the Shelbourne line ultimately lead to the closure of the line from Castlemaine to Maldon in 1976. The section from Castlemaine - Maldon has been restored by the Victorian Goldfields Railway and heritage trains operate on most Wednesdays and Sundays. I'd highly recommend a trip if you have time (trains depart Maldon at 10:30am and 2:30pm).
The track between Shelbourne Junction and Shelbourne station was dismantled sometime after the line's closure with most of the railway land sold. This makes investigating the line difficult as it can only be viewed from nearby roads. The first few kilometres of formation from Shelbourne Junction has not been sold off, nor has the site of Pollard station.
In 1884 (the same year that the railway reached Maldon) construction of a railway from Maldon towards Laanecoorie was authorised by Parliament. The railway was initially planned to run to Laanecoorie and connect with Dunolly - Inglewood railway at Llanelly. By 1890 construction of the railway as far as Shelbourne was completed (with the line opening to the station in 1891) however construction works continued in earnest for another 1 mile and 69 chains before the work halted. By this time significant earthworks had been completed and two trestle bridges had been constructed.
In 1895 the Parliament Standing Committee on Railways reported on the matter to decide the fate of the partially built extension. It was decided that the proposal would be abandoned as no person in the district was more than 10 miles from a railway and the extension was not expected to increase productivity of the land.
The matter was revisited by the Committee in 1921 who reported the following to Parliament:
"It was stated by those who gave evidence that no farmer in the Laanecoorie district was more than 10 miles from an existing railway station... The Committee would like to have recommended the completion of the partly constructed railway works for nearly 2 miles beyond Shelbourne so as to make them of value, and the extension of that section of the line a mile further to Johnston's Corner on the Dunolly-Bendigo main road, but the estimated cost of £25,000 was regarded as prohibitive. As the farmers in the Laanecoorie district are not too far from an existing railway station, and the roads are fairly good, or could be made so, there being ample supplies of gravel available within reasonable cartage distance, and as supplies of firewood are still obtainable along the Castlemaine-Shelbourne line, the Committee is of opinion that it is inexpedient to construct a broad-gauge railway to Laanecoorie at an estimated outlay of £41,300." The full report can be read here: http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/papers/govpub/VPARL1929RSCNo4.pdf
And thus, Shelbourne remained the terminus throughout the life of the railway and the earthworks and bridges on the extension were abandoned. Unfortunately the two trestle bridges are no longer in existence and it is rumored that they were blown up by the army in the 90's as training. The bridge sites are on private property so it can't be ascertained how much remains of them.
There were three access points where the extension could be viewed; Punton Road (where this geocache is), Murphys Road and Blossom Hill Road (the end of the extension). Unfortunately Murphys Road is no longer accessible - a shame as there were cattle pits present at this location. I have included a few photos below - the old colour photos were taken by Weston Langford and the modern photos by yours truly!
Amazing how little things have changed in 28 years!
The geocache is hidden a short distance from the earthworks for the extension. As always be mindful of local wildlife and please leave the cache well hidden.
I hope you have enjoyed the series and learnt something new!