Laburnum railway station is a

commuter rail Commuter rail or suburban rail is a Passenger train, passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Central business district, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter town ...

way station on the

Belgrave Belgrave may refer to: Places *Belgrave, Cheshire, an English village *Belgrave, Leicester an English district *Belgrave, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia **Belgrave railway line **Belgrave railway station, Melbourne **Belgrave (Puffing B ...

and Lilydale lines, which are both part of the Melbourne railway network. It serves the eastern suburb of

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...

, in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Victoria, Australia. It opened on 13 July 1958, with the current station provided in 2007.

History

Laburnum station was named after the locality of

Laburnum ''Laburnum'', sometimes called golden chain or golden rain, is a genus of two species of small trees in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are '' Laburnum anagyroides''—common laburnum and '' Laburnum alpinum''— ...

, itself named after the shrub of the same name. The original station had two

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms, ...

s, with a substantial brick building on Platform 1, and a small brick shelter on Platform 2. In that year the hand-operated gates at the former Middleborough Road

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line or the road etc. crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, o ...

were replaced by with

boom barrier A bar, post, pole, beam, or boom gate, also known as a boom or a boom barrier, is a beam or bar on a pivot used as a gate. The boom is lowered to block vehicular or pedestrian access through a controlled point or raised to permit such traffic. ...

s. The crossing was in the up direction from the station. The Middleborough Road

grade separation In civil engineering (more specifically highway engineering), grade separation is a method of aligning a junction of two or more surface transport axes at different heights ( grades) so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other tr ...

project involved lowering the line eight metres below the road. That required the rebuilding of the station, and the removal of the bend in Laburnum Street beneath it. In October 2006, the station buildings were demolished and, on 29 January 2007, the rebuilt station opened. As part of the project, provision was made for the future installation of a third track.

Toot Toot – drive slowly sign

Laburnum was once known for having a sign reading "Toot Toot – drive slowly" under the railway bridge which crosses Laburnum Street, because the street was narrow and had a sharp bend at that point. Drivers would often sound their car horns, as instructed by the sign, to warn oncoming, and possibly unseen, traffic that might be approaching the narrow

underpass A subway, also known as an underpass, is a grade-separated pedestrian crossing running underneath a road or railway in order to entirely separate pedestrians and cyclists from motor or train traffic. Terminology In the United States, as ...

. Infuriated neighbours frequently attempted to remove the sign by painting over it, but to no avail, because the local council would restore the sign every time. When the station was rebuilt following the 2007 grade separation, the road underpass was substantially widened, so the sign was deemed unnecessary and was removed. A plaque was erected which commemorated the sign and outlined its history, although that has since been removed.

Platforms and services

Laburnum has two

s and is served by Lilydale and

line trains. Platform 1: * all stations and limited express services to Flinders Street * all stations and limited express services to Flinders Street Platform 2: * all stations and limited express services to Lilydale * all stations and limited express services to

Transport links

Kinetic Melbourne Kinetic Melbourne is a bus operator in Melbourne, Australia, operating a fleet of 602 buses on 45 bus routes, as well as seven SmartBus routes. It commenced operations on 31 January 2022, taking over all routes previously operated by Transdev Me ...

operates two

bus route A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used i ...

s via Laburnum station, under contract to

Public Transport Victoria Public Transport Victoria (PTV) is the brand name for public transport in the Australian state of Victoria. It was previously the trading name of the Public Transport Development Authority (PTDA), a now-defunct statutory authority in Victo ...

: * : Box Hill station – Ringwood station * : Box Hill station –

Westfield Doncaster Westfield Doncaster (formerly Doncaster Shoppingtown) is a large Shopping center, shopping centre and public transport transport interchange, interchange in the eastern suburb of Doncaster, Victoria, Doncaster in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. ...

(deviation)

Gallery

File:The Laburnum Railway Station 'Toot-Toot' sign.jpg, Plaque commemorating the Laburnum Railway Station 'Toot-Toot' sign, January 2008

References

External links

*
Melway map
at street-directory.com.au {{Public Transport Victoria railway stations, Belgrave=y, Lilydale=y, state=collapsed Railway stations in Australia opened in 1958 Railway stations in the City of Whitehorse