Rosstown Railway Ride, Sunday 12th Feb 2006
Text by Geoff. Photos by Rob
The Rosstown Railway does not rank amongst Victoria's great rail trails trails. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find a rail trail more devoid of historical presence! Nevertheless, the history of the trail is amazing and the mind boggles at how improved Melbourne might have been had the railway been successful. History aside, the route is a very useful east-west passage for all cyclists.
Here are our four amateur historians at the starting point behind Elsternwick station where the trail starts: (left to right) Geoff, Rob, George and Jana. Behind us stands an information board that dispenses excellent booklets from the Glen Eira council explaining the history of the Rosstown Railway. To sum up, the Railway was part of an ambitious land speculation venture undertaken by William Murray Ross in 1881. But the Railway suffered more than its fair share of setbacks and was ultimately crushed by the economic depression of the 1890's. By 1920 all trace of it had been erased
.
Geoff, on his HP Velotechnik Street Machine bike and George, on his MR Swift trike pass under the Frankston line via an underpass made for the Rosstown Railway. Apart from a couple of earth banks, this is the only evidence that the railway existed.
Does it get any better than this? Rob, on his homemade LWB Tour-Easy-esque bike glides past a line of beautiful old trees that is so straight that it could only have been planted alongside the railway.
As the Rosstown trail meets up with the Dandenong line, George and Jana, on her homemade SWB bike head to Oakleigh for lunch.
We took the ride very slowly as we meticulously inspected the remaining landmarks. We quickly filled up the gaps in the historical record with our own wild, conflicting and highly unsubstantiated speculations.
A glance at Melway Maps 67-69 shows that, had the Railway been successful, it could have formed the southern section of the Outer Circle Railway running all the way from Fairfield through Camberwell to St Kilda. Such a loop could have connected the entire easter fan of Melbourne's spider-leg-like suburban rail lines. One wonders how much faster inter-suburban travel would be if Mr. Ross had timed things just a little differently!
When the trail is not integrated into linear parks, it follows well-sealed back streets that are mostly flat and straight. There are many dog-legs to navigate and several busy roads to cross. But overall the Rosstown route provides a safe and flat passage between the busy Glen Huntly and North Roads.