General Motors Station, 1957

Originally opened as a single platform in 1 October 1956 to service the General Motors Holden car factory. An alternate date for the opening is 18 November 1956.General Motors Holden factory was completed in 1956. Construction of the station was paid for by General Motors.

The station opened at the site of a number of private railway sidings, two years after electrification of the line though it was commissioned, and at a time when suburban services to Pakenham did not exist. As a result, only a single platform was provided on the north side on the Down track, and services operated as extensions of Dandenong trains at factory opening and close times.

This was altered in January 1975, when suburban services were extended from Dandenong to Pakenham. The Up platform and footbridge to the north was provided in late 1974, and Pakenham trains were timetabled to stop at the station at factory opening and close times.

In 1991, General Motors closed, leaving the station essentially isolated. A notice was issued stating that the station was to close from November , 1991, however 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. By the time it closed, only eight trains stopped at the station each day, four each way.

In late 2004, all signage was removed, "KEEP OUT" signage was installed, and access to the footbridge between platforms was fenced off. Station announcements on the line continued to announce that trains would stop at "all stations except General Motors" until April 2007.

For more images like this visit us at https://www.facebook.com/olddandenong/