THE 87-year-old Chelsea Clock Tower has been restored, and will soon be installed at the new pedestrian bridge by the train station.
As part of the Chelsea Station rebuild and level crossing removal works, the clock was taken down last year. Now it is almost ready to be reinstalled.
Horologist Ronald Datson was tasked with restoring both faces of the clock. He has cleaned the acrylic sheet faces and sandblasted copper surrounds to remove layers of paint. He then straightened and repainted the soft metal and aluminium clock hands. A trap door on the side of the clock tower was also restored.
The clock is expected to be reinstalled by the middle of the year. Mordialloc MP Tim Richardson said that the project is “preserving and enriching our local character, while getting on with practical works to make our rail line and roads safer and less congested, and to provide more trains, more often.”
“The Chelsea Clock Tower has been a local landmark for almost 90 years and through the work of the Level Crossing Removal Project it will be preserved for future generations,” he said.
Level Crossing Removal Project program director Andrew Brenchley said the clock restoration is a “great example of the cultural investment made in local communities by the Level Crossing Removal Project, beyond removing five dangerous and congested level crossings at Edithvale, Chelsea and Bonbeach.”
“We thank the community for its understanding and patience as crews add the finishing touches to the three new station precincts by the middle of the year including more pedestrian connections, landscaping, car parking and walking and cycle paths,” he said.
First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News – 23 March 2022
