Rail history: Distance markers identified at Euroa and Benalla stations
Two pieces of Victoria’s rail history have been unearthed by construction crews preparing to transform the Euroa and Benalla railway stations, as part of the Inland Rail project.
July 17, 2025
During the 19th and early 20th centuries in Victoria, railway lines were surveyed and distances were measured using a system based on the surveyor’s chain.
These markers, sometimes integrated into coping stones or other structures, indicated distances from a starting point, like Southern Cross (formerly Spencer Street) station in Melbourne, using a combination of miles, chains, and links.
Coping stones with the surveyor’s distance marks were discovered mounted in the west track platforms at both Euroa and Benalla. The markers were likely to have been placed in the platforms when the Melbourne to Wodonga line was opened in 1873.
The three separate numbers measure the distance from Melbourne in miles, chains and links – Euroa is 93 miles, 67 chains and 65 links and Benalla is 121 miles, 25 chains and 83 links from Southern Cross station.
In today’s measurements, a mile is 1.6 kilometres, a chain is 20.12 metres and a link is 20.12 centimetres. For the trivia buffs, a single chain is also the length of a standard cricket pitch – 22 yards or 20.12 metres.
Inland Rail will ensure these important pieces of Victorian rail history are maintained in the new stations.
