Serviceton Railway Station

[Mick Fagan]

Shen Hao HZX45-IIA
Fujinon 65mm, centre graduated filter, f/14, 1/15 second
Ilford FP4+
D76 1:1

[Maris]

Mick, that's some railway station. As the change-over point between Victorian and South Australian railway systems I guess it needed that magnificent long platform.

Following the same temptation as with the Scorers Shed picture I checked out the station on Google Earth only to discover the picture here is strongly and deliberately cropped. Surely that wonderful 65mm lens could have got it all in. But no! Does truncating the ends of the station actually make it look wider?

Maybe it is a visual trope for the photographer to know about and for the viewer to wonder about.
Certainly it provokes repeat looking.

[Mick Fagan]

Maris, yes it is a very long railway station, apparently the longest one in Victoria, perhaps Australia; I don't know. As for the platform, that is very long and these days is mainly used for weddings, corporate meetings and train enthusiasts gatherings. The kitchen still has a few items from the late 1890's installed, but mostly more modern stuff from around the 1950's is in place. Nice dance floor, which I seem to remember was the central section which both states used after you had gained entry from either SA or Vic.

The back story is that as you look at the picture, the left side is Victorian operated, while the right side was SA operated. At each end and underneath the station, are rooms that hold 19 cells for prisoners for each state. The entire length of the station has rooms and buildings underground for all sorts of things. This station was built pre-federation so Victoria and South Australia were operating more or less as different countries.

The station itself faces north, and gets the full force of the sun in summertime; this is a very hot part of Australia. The underground rooms were deliberately placed on the south side and underneath to enable people to work in the extreme heat in relative comfort.

As for the cropping, almost all pictures I've seen of this station are taken either from the eastern end or the western end; and angled reasonably strongly. I decided to walk to the centre of the station, then walk north away from the station until I came to the fence. At this point I couldn't fit the entire station in and deliberately cropped left and right; as you have found out. It would have been possible to go to the other side of the fence, but then I would need height to eliminate said fence. Moving further away from the platform would then include the steel poles and other trainline stuff in the picture. Daylight was fast disappearing so I did what I did.

I kicked myself that night when I realised I should have used my Bergger Pan 400 as it has better shadow detail capability over FP4+; force of habit....