2013-12-07 -37 144

Sat 7 Dec 2013 in -37,144: -37.8493297, 144.8280393 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

Altona, where Kororoit Creek Road crosses the (direct) Werribee railway line

Participants

John

Expedition

Written up over 8 years after the fact in February 2022. No documentary evidence has survived but my memory (well, there may be something on an old harddrive somewhere but cbf looking

I obviously felt like a walk on this day. I set off walking straight up Geelong Rd from Footscray. I discovered that you can't easily just follow the road on foot over the bridge crossing the Sunbury Line at West Footscray, but I foolhardily pressed on despite the lack of a footpath. I think I may have even ended up even walking down the divider in the middle of the road, due to there just being so little space on either side of the road on the bridge. I note that Google maps still says you can go this way, although the pedestrian situation hasn't changed a bit. As you can see from the recent street view image attached, there is not a skerrick of foot access for all but the bravest of walkers.

But I made it over and continued along until I turned left down Millers Rd. Crossing over the Werribee line I looked down and noticed a long abandoned platform. Later when I was home I was to discover that this was the remains of Paisley Railway Station that had been shut down in 1985. I continued on my way, turning right onto Kororoit Creek Rd. Fairly soon I was met with further lack of footpath issues, but I pressed on, it being easy enough to just walk on the grassy side of the road. However, when the road crossed Kororoit Creek itself on a low bridge there was nothing for me to do but wait for a bit of a break in traffic and then hurriedly cross using the bike lane. This situation can also be seen in the attached street view image.

Soon after the bridge over the creek, I got in the vicinity of the hash, which, according to the google maps satellite image I was going by, was just by the level crossing where Werribee Line crosses the road. Specifically this is the direct line out to Werribee, not the intersection of the Altona Loop section of the Werribee line with Kororoit Creek Rd which is a couple of Ks east of this location.

However, throwing a large spanner in the works (or whatever tool might be a more appropriate reference in relation to large infrastructure projects, Felix will have a suggestion I'm sure), I discovered that there was no level crossing! A new bridge lifted the road right over the top of the train line. Since I only knew the location I was heading for from the (now obviously out of date) satellite image, I was slightly troubled. However I soon discovered that there were still large sections of the original road on ground level under the bridge, right up to the train line, and it wasn't too difficult to access this. So in the end, I was able to reach what I was very confident was at least very close to where the hash point was supposed to be. Declaring it a success I headed back towards Millers Rd, where I was able to catch a bus taking me back into Footscray.

Just now, looking into the history of the overpass bridge, it seems that it was finished in 2011, so it was already a couple of years old at this point, but clearly the satellite image was somewhat older.

There are some photos here showing what it is like underneath the bridge, with some remnant ground level road

Photos

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  No footpath on Geelong Rd bridge West Fooscray

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  No footpath on Kororoit Creek Rd either

Achievements

John earned the Walk geohash Achievement by reaching the (-37, 144) geohash on 2013-12-07 on foot, travelling a distance of 13ish km.