Replica heritage Victorian Railway light poles have been installed along the length of the reconstructed Yarra Glen Station platform. Replica light fittings have also been hung beneath the recently restored platform veranda. As Yarra Glen Station has a Heritage Overlay, all lighting was required to meet strict heritage guidelines. The Yarra Valley Railway has worked closely with Heritage Victoria and our Conservation Architect to ensure the platform lighting meets the heritage requirements.
The manufacture process for the platform light fittings and light poles has been quite lengthy and complex. Components of the light fittings were required to be manufactured by several different artisan manufacturers, as the skill set required to complete the whole lighting fitting was not possible by one manufacturer. The light fittings were produced by an artisan manufacturer Soho Foundry located in Sovereign Hill, who specialise in traditional metal work. The SoHo Foundry used original Victorian Railway drawings of the light fittings to reproduce replicas of the Victorian Railway Lamps.
The poles created more of a challenge! One of the YVR volunteer members has an original Victorian Railway lamp post. The Yarra Valley Railway were able to have a mould made of this original lamp post.
From this mould, multiple lamp posts were cast, meaning the poles installed at Yarra Glen Station are an exact replica of the Victorian Railway lamp posts!
Replica Victorian Railway Lamps at the SoHo Foundry 
Fibreglass Lamp Post Mould 
Original Victorian Railway Lamp Post
The team at the Yarra Valley Railway are very excited about the newly installed lighting – the light fittings add to the heritage feel of Yarra Glen Station precinct and provide great lighting levels at night.
Congratulations to the Volunteer team on achieving this illuminating milestone!
This is just the most recent milestone achieved by the team of Volunteers restoring Yarra Glen Station. The station building and platform toilets have been completely restored to original condition – all with Volunteer labour and a large portion of donated materials. Future blog articles will provide insight to this restoration process.
Completed installation – View from platform 
Wiring of the pendant fittings beneath the platform canopy 
Detail of Replica Lamp 
Completed installation – View from Down end of platform
There are still works to be done! Can you help? Volunteers of all skill levels and abilities are welcome – only prerequisite is a passion to preserve railway history! Visit our website to register as a volunteer today! www.yvr.org.au/volunteering
