Doveton Street Sidings

Photo of a derailment in 1980 showing the Doveton St sidings and their position in relation to the mainline.  

The Doveton Street sidings were installed in the mid 1880's to serve local fuel merchants and market sheds. They consisted of a number of dead end sidings between Doveton Street, Market Street, the main line to Serviceton and Armstrong Street.

Cab view of the Doveton Street sidings from a Up Horsham pass. The Armstrong St bridge is on the left.

The Doveton Street sidings occupy a corner of the layout between where the mainline curves between Armstrong and Doveton Streets. Although reduced in size the sidings serve the same role as the prototype on the layout.

A VOBX  open wagon with briquettes awaiting unloading in the Doveton St Sidings.

A VOWA is stored in the nearest siding while 2 open wagons with briquettes and a VOBX loaded with hay are awaiting unloading in the adjacent sidings.

The diagram shows the layout of the sidings, their were two curved sidings parallel to the mainline, plus three others that fanned out served the briquette shed.  The two sidings parallel to Doveton St were built in the 1920's to served the market sheds and pig discharge yards. The sidings serving the discharge yards had been removed prior to the 1980's.

Their main use is for unloading open wagons of briquettes for industries in Ballarat. It was also used to store open and hopper wagons destined for Garden City Flour Mill or wagons awaiting repairs at Ballarat North Railway Workshops.

Co-acting semaphore signal posts 30 and 30A were postioned either side of mainline adjacent to the Armstrong Street Bridge.

The cutting was formed from polystyrene foam base to which plaster was applied. This was then painted with household paints to which sifted dirt, died sawdust and Woodland Scenics ground foam was applied while the paint was wet. Chucks Ballast was used on the sidings and coal and black weathering powders were used to replicate spilled Briquettes and Briquette dust.

Detailing of this area isn't complete. I still need to add co-acting semaphore signal posts 30 and 31. These signals were distinctive with their triple masts with round posts.

VPFX and GH wagons stored in the Doveton St sidings awaiting loading or unloading at the Garden City Flour Mill. On the layout both of these wagon types can often be seen in the Doveton St sidings particularly when the flour mill sidings are full.

Y151 is returning to Ballarat on a short Pittong goods consisting of a single QMX flat wagon and ZMF guards van. This view provides a perspective of the position of the Doveton St sidings to the mainline and backdrop. The guards van has just crossed Doveton St, while VHGYs can be seen in Flour Mill siding. A oil tank is in the Shell Oil Siding, this siding extends into the Flour Mill as a hidden siding.

A similar view  of Doveton St Sidings with signal post 31. In the left background is the Garden City Flour Mill. 

Lacking suitable prototype photos, I'm yet to model the SEC Briquette shed and the conveyor that was used to unload the briquettes, but hope to add this in the future once I locate sufficient information on the prototypes.

The only photo that I have been able to locate that has a partial view of the briquette shed.

Below are some photos recording a typical day of pilot workings serving the Doveton St sidings.

Y150 on the morning Flour Mill Pilot shunts open wagons with Briquettes into the Doveton St sidings.

Y152 on the afternoon Flour Mill Pilot shunts two Australian National AHGX hopper wagons. To maintain supply to Victorian Flour mills during the 1982-83 drought grain was railed from South Australia and Western Australia.