Trains from Melbourne travelled to the St Kilda terminus, and then "backed out" onto the loop line to Windsor. The loop was constructed on wooden trestles across the swampy ground now known as the Albert Park Lake, and included a raised embankment with a bridge over St Kilda Road. The first train on the loop ran on 3 December 1859, and the line opened to the public ten days later. There were no trains after 7pm on the branch line; patrons had to walk to their homes in Prahran from St Kilda station in Fitzroy Street.