Tanti Station/Racecourse Platform

By Howard Girdler - MRPS Foundation Member

Extracted from Mornington Peninsula Railways and their Communities - Copyright Mornington Historical Society Inc. 2004.

"Racecourse Platform, now called Tanti by the Mornington Railway Preservation Society, was 60 kilometres from Melbourne. Situated on Bungower Road, Mornington, alongside the caravan park, it is an earthen bank with concrete platform edging. There is no record of there being any shelter on the original platform. It was opened for traffic in 1936. The Army had a signals training depot on Mornington Racecourse from 1941 to 1947 and recruits were transported there by train.

This stopping place has had various names over the years. A 1938 timetable called it Stopping Place No.20. A 1939 special train circular called it Racecourse Platform. A 1940 timetable called it Mornington Racecourse.

In 1969 the Platform was opened for general passenger traffic, which means that tickets could be purchased there, from the guard. In 1970 it was renamed Tanti Park.

There is also another short platform at this site. It had a shelter and was built on the northern
side of Bungower Road in the 1970s for the rail motors. The reason for two platforms on opposite sides of the Bungower Road level crossing was to allow rail motors to pull up after passing over the crossing thus allowing the flashing lights to stop while passengers got on and off.

The importance of the Racecourse Platform can be judged by reference to an old circular dated Friday 22 September 1939, when two special trains were operated to Mornington, in addition to normal services. The first train departed from Flemington at 9.30 am for both passengers and horses. It picked up passengers at Hinders Street, South Yarra, Caulfield, Mordialloc, Frankston, Baxter and Moorooduc and arrived at Racecourse Platform at 12.30 pm. The horses and passengers had ten minutes to unload and prepare for the first race that started at 1.45 pm. The train then departed for Mornington at 12.40 pm where it was turned and serviced. The second train, for passengers only, departed Flinders Street at 11.42
am, made the same stops and arrived at 12.55 pm.

The return arrangements were even more interesting because the single line railway was busy
at the week's end. At Racecourse Platform, an hour was allowed to load horses and passengers and a 4.00 pm departure was scheduled for this steam train. It departed shortly after the normal rail motor service from Mornington to Frankston went through.

At Baxter this Race Train met the Mornington bound rail motor coming the opposite way. The
rail motor was shunted to the crossing loop to allow the Race Train to pass.

The second Race Train left at 5.05 pm and again at Baxter it met a light engine, that is an engine by itself, going to Crib Point to pick up the Navy leave train.

A D4 steam locomotive pulling the regular mixed train from Mornington to Melbourne
stopped at Racecourse Platform for horses and passengers at 5.15 pm with a 5.22 pm departure time. It set down horses only at stations beyond Chelsea and its passengers were carried express to Flinders Street. There, two electric passenger cars replaced the locomotive and they hauled rthe train to Remington where the horses were unloaded ready for its Saturday race meeting."