Sandringham Line

​Today, I’m visiting every station on the Sandringham Line!

First, let’s restate some base rules -

• When I’m doing a whole line at once, I need to stay on the trains of that line where possible. So if I’m doing the Sunbury Line going from Flinders Street to North Melbourne, I have to take a Sunbury-bound train to get to North Melbourne.
• In order to mark a station as visited, I need to be there for at least a minute, so no getting off and immediately getting back on again.

Understood? Let’s go. Planned route today is Sandringham - Richmond - Hampton - South Yarra - Brighton Beach - Prahran - Middle Brighton - Windsor - North Brighton - Balaclava - Gardenvale - Ripponlea - Elsternwick.

Sandringham (9:28am)

And we start off today at the line terminus of Sandringham! I don’t know offhand how old this station is, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the building dates back at least a century — there’s a plaque there from the 1910s. Overall pretty nice, though the waiting area (which I forgot to photograph) was a tad spartan.

Richmond (10:07am)

Richmond is a key interchange station on the metro network, as about all the lines that run through Melbourne’s east (Belgrave, Lilydale, Glen Waverley, Frankston, Pakenham, Cranbourne, and Sandringham) all run through here, as well as occasional Gippsland V/Lines. 

It’s pretty minimalist in its design, and one could call it dreary, but I like it. Gets the job done — and with an island platform per line (I think) interchanges are pretty easy.

Hampton (10:44am)

Here now at Hampton. Two side platforms here, though there’s a handy pedestrian overpass (which annoyingly was not too great for taking pictures on) to get to the other side. Not a lot of facilities here, but there is a helpful display screen for the next service.

South Yarra (11:19am)

Had a quick changeover here to the next Sandringham-bound train, so didn’t get a lot of time to take pictures, but South Yarra is the last station today where one can interchange between lines — to be specific, the Pakenham, Cranbourne, Frankston, and Sandringham lines. (Gippsland V/Lines run express through the station.) Wayfinding at the station was good, and I was able to quickly interchange from Platform 1 to 2.

Brighton Beach (11:42am)

Now at Brighton Beach, which, as the name suggests, is right near Brighton beach, and is in fact (if my memory serves me correctly) the closest station in Melbourne to a beach! It also uniquely has three platforms, though one’s inaccessible to the public. There’s also a small stabling area near the station for trains.

Prahran (12:19pm)

Here now at Prahran, a pretty nice little station. Reminded me a bit of Anstey on the Upfield line.

Middle Brighton (12:39pm)

Again, bit of a tight interchange here from one platform to another (5 mins) left me with not much time to take photos here. Thank goodness for the footbridge!

Windsor (12:57pm)

Now at Windsor station! I do like the station building here, and the footbridge is also very nice, though I’m getting a bit tired of fences so tall I can’t photograph through them.

North Brighton (1:19pm)

Last of the Brightons today is North Brighton. Unfortunately no footbridge here, had to use the level crossing to get to the other side.

Balaclava (1:34pm)

Here now at Balaclava station, which looks relatively newish. Like Richmond station, a pretty minimalist design here.

Gardenvale (1:56pm)

Gardenvale (as well as Balaclava) is elevated above street level, though from what I can tell this viaduct doesn’t seem new to me. The colour of the station building looks nice to me, although it’s pretty much the only wide bit of the platform — rest is pretty narrow.

Ripponlea (2:12pm)

Almost done now at Ripponlea where, for the first time in a bit, there was a pedestrian bridge! Not that I needed it, I had a 20 minute wait here. Honestly though, I liked the station more for its environment — it’s right next to a lovely little park and playground.

Elsternwick (2:33pm)

And we finish up today at Elsternwick, which contains one of the few island platforms on the Sandringham line. I appreciate the amount of seating available here, and interchanging with trams is also fairly easy. All in all, a perfectly good and functional station.

So, after about five hours of continuous commuting, I’ve visited every station on the Sandringham line! Thanks very much for following along, and please do share this post if you enjoyed it.