Why Railway Stations Get Maintenance

Should Dulux or British Paints be sponsors of Royal tours - if ever we see such things again?

When the Royal Tour of 1954 itinerary was changed at late notice to include a train ride Jolimont to Ivanhoe en route to the Repat, a quick lick of paint was desperately applied.

Was this the last time Ivanhoe Station received a coat of paint?

I warrant Her Majesty was not required to use the splintery old 1914 steps to cross the tracks at Ivanhoe.

Was the young Queen able to smell the fresh paint but too polite to mention it? The "Wet Paint" signs would have been whisked away, surely.

The Herald, 16.02.1954, Page 5

"Face-lift" starts on 2 stations

Railway "flying gangs" of workers were rushed to Jolimont and Ivanhoe railway stations today to give them a face-lift.

This follows the proposal to change the Royal Tour route. The Queen was to have gone from the MCG to Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital by car. It has now been suggested that she travel by train to Ivanhoe from Jolimont.

At Jolimont 20 men in white overalls began painting the station fence, while 10 carpenters, asphalters and laborers moved about busily on the station below.

At Ivanhoe 10 painters, three carpenters and a line gang of four began repair work at Ivanhoe. They tackled the fences first and will concentrate on the buildings later.

By next Monday, even if the men have to work through the week-end Jolimont Station will bring a new look to Wellington Parade.

The fence will be finished today. The painters will then tackle the paint-chipped wooden fence leading down the ramp to the station.

The ramp on the city side will be re-asphalted and the footbridge repaired, painted, and reinforced. All signs will be torn down and repainted.


PAINTED RED

The brickwork on the station itself will be cleaned. The top of the verandahs will be painted red and the inside aluminium. The chimneys will stand out in light buff.

A change In the tour plans would mean that the Queen would cross the western footbridge and move down the ramp. Two of the gates at this entrance will be moved to make it easier for her.

By Monday the men will have done a job on both stations that would have taken two months normally.

But when the slop, slop, slop ceases on Monday, the woodwork inside the station buildings will not have felt even a trickle of paint. They will remain unpainted until after the Royal Tour.

Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of her other realms and territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith headed out to the Repat in a motorcade along roads lined with admirers.