Kernot
Kernot Railway Station (2020)
General information
Line(s)Wonthaggi
Platforms1
Tracks2 (Main Line and Passing Siding)
Other information
StatusClosed
History
Opened1910
Closed1978
Previous namesAlmurta, McKenzie
Services
Preceding station   Disused railways   Following station
Woodleigh   Wonthaggi line   Almurta
  List of closed railway stations in Victoria  

Kernot was a railway station in Victoria, Australia, built on the Wonthaggi railway line. Not long after the line opened the station was equipped with a 10,000-gallon tank and crane,[1] and was located within walking distance of the Kernot General Store which closed at the same time as the line did in 1978.

History

Following trial surveys of the route conducted in 1901,[2] the new line was built from Loch, Victoria,[3] to service various farms in the district.[4] The station was built by the Nyora and Woolamai Construction Trust in 1909[5] and was located in the Bass Coast Shire, Victoria. An extension to Woolamai was included in the early proposal because it could connect with the San Remo and Kilcunda Tramway and the Kernot station was enhanced with a 10,000-gallon tank and crane after the line opened.[1] By 1915 the station saw more traffic than any other station between Daylston and Nyora, leading to proposals for the construction of a 15-room hotel opposite the store.[6]

Shortly after opening a serious accident occurred when a goods train from Nyora crashed into a coal train waiting on the siding at the station. Both engines were derailed and severely damaged, although both crews escaped injury. Rescue teams worked throughout the night and into the next day to clear the debris.[7]

The station's construction site had earlier been surveyed and acquired without objection[8] under the Railway Lands Acquisition Act of 1893 by the authority of the Nyora and Woolamai Railway Construction Act,[9] with the proviso that the line run inland from Nyora and not along the coast from Lang Lang.[10] Later, many proponents of this inland railway felt somewhat deceived when the proposed route acquired so much of their fertile land (up to 50 yards on either side of the line) and did not pass within a mile of Almurta Township[11] due to land gradients.[12] Petitions to Parliament and requests to the shire engineer were submitted to independently survey the route and take it through the cheaper hills where the land was worth only £5 per acre (rather than flatlands worth up to £40 per acre).[13] The use of these flatlands greatly contributed to the line's retention five years after its opening (see Woodleigh railway station).

The station was originally called Almurta (Victorian Railways Schedule 1639/10 in Feb 1910) when it serviced the coal line but was temporarily renamed McKenzie (Victorian Railways Schedule 2204/10 May 1910)[14] when it opened for passenger and goods services on the Wonthaggi line on the 9 May 1910. McKenzie was the surname of an officer of the mines department and had been prominently identified with the Powlett Coalfield.[15] As expected, passenger service lasted only a few years, losing £900 per year due to poor patronage.[16]

The station was finally renamed Kernot by the railway commissioners[17] as the original Kernot Station[18] had been named after the chief engineer of the Victorian Railways.[19] It also honored the engineer's recently deceased brother, Professor William Charles Kernot.[20]

Upon the naming of Kernot, the four temporary station names on the line now had their final names: Hunter was known as Woodleigh,[21] McKenzie was Kernot, Rees was Almurta, and the original Kernot was Glen Forbes.

The station closed at the same time as the line in 1978. The retaining wall of the platform is still in fairly good condition and the level crossing on the nearby main road is still visible. The Kernot Railway Station site is Crown Allotment 2058 in the parish of Corinella and is allocated for future use as a reserve and part of the Nyora Wonthaggi Rail Trail.[22]

References

  1. 1 2 "Wonthaggi Line". The Age. 4 November 1911.
  2. ↑ "Sketch plan of proposed Bass Valley, Powlett River, and San Remo railway". State Library Of Victoria. 1907. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  3. ↑ "Bass Coast Settlers Need For A Railway". The Age. 19 April 1901.
  4. ↑ "Fruit Returns". Leader. 5 April 1890.
  5. ↑ "The Nyora And Woolamai Railway Construction Trust". Victorian Government Gazette. 12 May 1909. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  6. ↑ "The Kernot Application". Powlett Express and Victorian Coalfields Advertiser. 8 January 1915.
  7. ↑ "Collision On The Powlett Line". The Age. 31 October 1910.
  8. ↑ "No Loading No Railway". The Age. 26 May 1909. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  9. ↑ "Nyora And Woolamai Railway Construction Act 1907". Victorian Acts Of Parliament. 23 December 1907. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  10. ↑ "Railway Building to Woolamai and Proposed Railway to Wonthaggi". The Argus. 8 January 1910.
  11. ↑ "Bass Coast Railway". Leader. 20 June 1908. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  12. ↑ "Victorian Railways Grades Book". Victorian Railways Grade Book.
  13. ↑ "The Nyora Bass Railway". The Age. 24 March 1908.
  14. ↑ "Powlett Coal Field Railway opens for general passenger and goods traffic" (PDF). Victorian Railways Schedule 2204/10. 3 May 1910. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  15. ↑ "Powlett Hunter, McKenzie, Rees and Kernot Stations named by Railway Commissioners after mines department officers and railways engineers". The Argus. 2 April 1910. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  16. ↑ "Curtailed Railway Service". Powlett Express and Victorian Coalfields Advertiser. 8 February 1918.
  17. ↑ "Non Digitised Record". Victorian Railways Commissioners Review Of The Station Names. 1911.
  18. ↑ "Bass Valley Railway". Great Southern Advocate. 13 July 1905.
  19. ↑ "Chief Engineer Victorian Railways". Encyclopedia Of Australian Science. 29 March 2018. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  20. ↑ "Kernot, William Charles (1845–1909)". Australian Dictionary of Biography Vol 5. 1974. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  21. ↑ ""Hunter" station renamed "Woodleigh"". The Argus. 30 June 1910. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  22. ↑ ""Kernot Railway Station" Ownership and Future Use". Land And Survey Spatial Information. 14 May 2020.

38°25′38.59″S 145°35′43.11″E / 38.4273861°S 145.5953083°E / -38.4273861; 145.5953083

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