McIvor Road 1559 Detail

McIvor Road Station was one of the original stations when the line opened to Tooborac in 1889 and may have mainly existed for passenger, timber and possibly gravel access. It was not equipped for handling parcels traffic. The station was situated on the west side of McIvor Road (now the Northern Highway) where the line crossed between South Heathcote (later Argyle) and Tooborac and was in an area identified as Old Alluvial Workings. A 5 x 11' openings bridge existed at the Up end. The station ground was not delineated on the contract plan, and, along with Leslie, was not mentioned in the initial published list of station names.

In August, 1892, the 7.05am Bendigo-Wallan goods train, drawn by a "Yankee" engine, Driver Walker, Guard Armitage, was noticed to have leaking boiler tubes on its arrival at McIvor Road Station. This reduced available steam pressure, and as the Train Staff was required at Tooborac for the 7.55am train from Wallan to Bendigo, the train load of 9 wagons was detached at McIvor Road. The locomotive and van continued on to Tooborac, arriving at 10.08am, enabling the Down train to proceed towards Bendigo on a Train Staff Ticket. Once the section cleared, Driver Walker, acting on instructions, endeavoured to take the locomotive and van to Bendigo. He departed Tooborac at 11am, and made it to Knowsley. As the train working was now out of order, the Train Staff for the section Knowsley-Axedale, happened to be at the opposite end of the section. This resulted in a delay of nearly 2 hours while the Staff was transferred to Knowsley. The train then proceeded as far as Strathfieldsaye where it was shunted into a siding. Worsening condition had made it impossible to proceed further. A relief engine was sent from Bendigo. The disabled locomaotive subsequently reached Bendigo nearly 12 hours after its earlier morning departure.

McIvor Road had a very short life and was first identified as closed, or closing, in July 1892 in a local newspaper article covering a Council meeting. This information about its closing was attributed to the McIvor Road Gatekeeper. On September 14, a deputation from the Heathcote Shire Council waited on the Minister of Railways and asked that McIvor Road be reconverted to a flag station. It had been reduced to its present status as it was not paying expenses.

The Shire of McIvor appeal was unsuccessful and the Railways Commissioners confirmed the station closed in November 1892. [Note: Victoria struggled through a financial crisis during the 1890s and many economy measures were implemented by the Victorian Railways.]

The station may have continued to operate in some sort of reduced capacity for a short while. Either that, or the Weekly Notice took a while to catch up. WN 19/99 (6-11-1899) advised, "Closed to all traffic. Platform removed.".

Early newspaper published timetables contained entries as "McIvor Road (McIvor Inn)". This indicated that there was once an inn nearby. Subsequent research showed that the inn was located on the East side of the nearby McIvor Road. It existed at least as early as 1851. It was licensed to a Mr. Edwards in 1854 and was offered for sale, unlicensed, in 1857, "with the land adjoining, situate along the McIvor Creek, taking in all the available water in that locality. The lots are portions 27 to 33, containing 94 acres of the finest agricultural land". The Parish map confirms these allotments directly opposite McIvor Road Station ground, on the East side of the road. The contractor's plans show Old McIvor Inn on Allotment 32, directly opposite where the line crossed McIvor Road. Daniel Foan applied for a licence in December, 1864, but the land on the plan is under the name of W. Thomson in 1888.

The McIvor Inn was important enough to be mentioned on the timetable. Its existence may have contributed to the opening of the station and its demise may have contributed to its closing, almost certainly insofar as passenger traffic was concerned. The following text appeared in the McIvor Times and Rodney Advertiser, April 08, 1909: "The McIvor Inn: The old McIvor Inn, situate on the Kilmore and Melbourne Road, about four miles from Heathcote, is one of the old landmarks of the district. It was built by Messrs. Brown and Stewart, wine and spirit merchants, Flinders Lane, Melbourne, and was kept for them by Mr. Lawlor and Mr. Matthew Murray, the former being Clerk in their office and the latter, Storeman. Mr. Murray subsequently had the Flemington Hotel, Flemington, and the Royal Oak Hotel, Kilmore.

In those days, a single man could not get a licence, Mr. Lawlor being a married man and Mr. Murray single. The McIvor Inn was afterwards owned by Mr. Flynn and then Mr. W. Edwards, who was Proprietor at the time of the gold rush to McIvor, and for some time afterwards, Mr. Flynn being also there for some time after the rush started. It was subsequently proprietored by Mr. Dudley, Mr. G.B. Shakespeare, and Mr. D. Foan. It has been closed for many years and the property was purchased by the late Mr. William Thompson, who resided near it." [The reference to "many years" indicates that it may have closed around the time that the station was closing, or even earlier, thereby providing at least a downturn in what must have already been limited passenger traffic.]

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