It hit me today at work that it was September 11, even though I almost completely forget the day.

So. A little blog in memory of those who died six years ago tonight (Australian Eastern Standard Time) in the 911 Attacks on the U.S. 

To those in the air

American Airlines 11
United Airlines 175
American Airlines 77
United Airlines 93

And those on the ground

World Trade Center Tower 1
World Trade Center Tower 2
Pentagon Wing B7

Dedicated to all the men, women and children who died that day, and to their families. May we never forget.

So, I was kinda bored today - and ended up with Bree's brother exploring General Motors Railway Station, on the outskirts of Melbourne.


Ghostly huh?

General Motors Train Station is one of Melbourne's little mysteries. It's an abandoned train station located on the Pakenham Line between Dandenong and Hallam stations, in the suburb of Dandenong South, and surprisingly, many Melburnians don't even know of it's existence! Being interested in this stuff, I had read a great deal about it on the internet and decided to go pay it a visit. It wasn't easy to access. In fact I had to leave the road and take a grassy and very bumpy track to even get close. There is no car park, no actual enterance (asides from a footbridge leading to nowhere) and NOTHING around it.

After doing some digging this evening, I found out (thanks to and taken from trusty Wikipedia) that the station was originally opened on November 18th, 1956 to service a large General Motors car factory next door, replacing a locked siding nearby. For most of its life, it existed as a private station for the factory itself. Visitors from the Met Transit Authority actually had to obtain permission from General Motors to access it, and be accompanied by a security guard while at the station. It was (and still is today) equipped with two platforms and a footbridge into the factory, which was the only other form of access.

In the summer of 1991, the General Motors factory closed down, leaving the station essentially isolated. It remained open for a further eleven years, despite the closure and demolition of the factory, and the fact that the footbridge now led to a fenced-off, empty paddock where the factory had once stood. It was estimated to be the least patronized station in the entire city network, with only an average of eight passengers using it a day. By the time it closed, only eight trains stopped at the station each day - four each way.


Looking down from the top of the footbridge - and a path now leading to nowhere

Apparently the only means of accessing the station was to jump off the platform and cross over the tracks on foot, as no new accesses were built after the closure of the factory. This meant that it was one of only two stations on the Melbourne network to be inaccessible to wheelchairs (the other one being Heyington Station). The Public Transport Users Association asked that it be upgraded due to industrial growth in the area. However, M>Train, who operated the Pakenham line at the time, requested permission to close the station in 2002, due to "safety concerns and a lack of legal access". The last trains stopped at the station on July 28th, 2002.

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And so it now sits, abandoned and run down. We explored today for about half an hour, before jumping ONTO the active train tracks and leaving the station by crawling underneath the platforms (heh) - for those of you who want to attempt the same thing, do so with caution guys, the active trains come through there QUICKLY. No evidence that it was called General Motors remain. The signage is now pulled down, and no trace of anything other than the empty platforms and a trashed ticket office still exist.

According to Wikipedia, the station remains in limbo, as the government's contract with the train operator requires them (formerly M>Train, now Connex) to list the station on their timetables, even though no trains stop there. Posters about the closure referred to a "temporary suspension". However, the station is no longer displayed on any public transport maps. As of late 2004, all signage had been removed, "KEEP OUT" signage had been installed, and access to the footbridge between platforms had been fenced off. However, station announcements on the line continued to announce that trains would stop at "all stations except General Motors" until March 2007, when these announcements ceased, along with any reference to the station.

M>Train did not rule out the possibility of re-opening the station at a future time. (The former M>Train network is now operated by Connex, and any plans this company may have for the station are unknown). By the look of these photos, the only plans for this station are to let it crumble and erode away.

Today, the last chapter in the closure of Ansett took place, with the wrap up of Ansett Engineering Heavy Maintenance Base at Melbourne Airport, (which some may be unaware), continued to trade even after the demise of Ansett Australia (the airline) from 2001 through to this year. Rather than shut it down like the rest of the airline back in 2002, the Ansett administrators chose to keep it running in the hope that someone would buy the business, thus saving it and ensuring that at least part of Ansett would survive in some form. In the iterim, it would provide a place to store and service the remaining Ansett aircraft, keeping them airworthy, and once they were all gone, continue to trade by offering heavy maintenance to other airlines, like Jetstar, and Ozjet. After Ansett's final flight in March of 2002, the base was reduced down to 150 Ansett staff, with all the others saying goodbye at that time.

The idea worked, and despite the remaining Ansett workers coming to work each day to a depressing, bankrupt facility with only a trickle of funds from the Ansett money pool to keep the lights running, they survived five and a half years to make it work. Eventually a buyer began talks with Ansett on the possibility of purchasing the place. That buyer was John Holland Ltd. The deal was finalised last month, with settlement to occur on Monday, 4 June 2007.

Today, the transfer of ownership took place, and the stained, sad Ansett signs came down off the hangar for the last time, along with the remaining Ansett memorabilia, uniforms, signage and other items that remained at the base. It was the end of an era for the Engineering base and for Ansett Australia as a company. 

From the sadness however, comes a new owner, and the birth of John Holland Aviation Services - who will now re-build the business and launch a whole new Engineering venture, offering Engineering to Jetstar, Virgin, and whoever else would like to use it, at competitive rates. With the deal, the remaining Ansett staff have come across to now work for John Holland - guaranteeing jobs to those guys who thought this was going to be it. 

Certainly a day of mixed feelings for me, as the last remanants of Ansett have now pased into oblivion, but on the other hand I'm so damn happy that it's been a happy ending at least for the Engineering Base. It will not ignore the past, but expand and now build a future.

Goodbye AAES - and good luck to John Holland and the new owners!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansett_New_Zealand_Flight_703

As a former employee, I'm on one hand amazed and on the other astonished to learn that Ansett New Zealand, (ZK) - a subsidiary of Ansett Australia, (AN) lost a Dash-8 turbo-prop aircraft in an air crash back in 1995. I had heard of this many years ago while on work experience at Ansett's Info tech department at Head Office in Melbourne, but had long since forgotten it happened. 

The flight crashed while operating a flight from Auckland, on the North Island of New Zealand, to Palmerston North, a small town located in the South-West of the same island. The aircraft came down in farmland near to the town, killing one flight attendant and three passengers on board. All other passengers and crew hobbled away. A book has been written on the accident, however as I only re-discovered that this actually happened only a few moments ago, I have not yet had the chance to read up on it.

Ancient history of course. Ansett New Zealand vanished in 2000 when Ansett Australia sold it off (in Ansett's sell-everything off phase), to a company that re-named it Qantas New Zealand, which in turn went broke in April of 2001. This was then followed shortly thereafter by Ansett Australia which by complete co-incidence, folded five months later. 

Since neither company still exists, and finding any other material on the subject is a fairly difficult exercise, its a task I probably wont pursue.

I weep for the future. I really do.

Full Story Here

Nickelback being heckled in Brasil, cracking the shits and storming off stage ;-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7kANf792oY

Funny.

Ironic since it's my day off. Think I'm coming down with a cold.

A few moments after this shot was taken, the plane would pull into Domestic Bay 19 - I'd wipe the squashed sandflies off the door and give the plane a big kiss (sand flies and last minute bird-strike permitting). Squashed pidgett/seagull over the door aint fun kissing.

I count myself supremely lucky to be working with such beautiful birds (and to HAVE one overnight - all mine mohahahaha). Well, nearly all mine in a "dont really *own* it, but you know" sense ;-)

Had a great catch up chat last night with my best buddy bed . I really miss my mates. Looking forward to going home to Melbourne this week. Mum's birthday is on Thursday which involves overcoming my fear of heights (I'll explain later) and hopefully dinner with friends Thu night. A very quick trip this time, down Wednesday back Friday. Can escape the Cairns summer for 48 hours and feel dry for once lol.

Went into a very dead Cairns town in the early hours of this morning. We had some drinks planned but it was a bit of a fizzer. The only place open which had people in it was Shenanigans, the Pier was dead - as was Gilligans pretty much. Damn - dont these places cater for people who don't have to work on Monday morning? :-)

Later on today I have an old friend Pret arriving from Melbourne for a few days. I havent seen her since mid '04 so it'll be really good to catch up. I have basically nothing planned today as it's my fourth day off out of four, so I'll go pick her up from the airport and then show the group around Cairns a bit. Back to work Tuesday.

Wine and then sleep.