Since 2005 over a hundred VLocity trains have been delivered to V/Line, but with patronage also exploding over the same period, they were used to expand the fleet rather than to replace older rolling stock. But this changed in 2022, when V/Line started retiring locomotive hauled carriages dating back to the 1980s, and delivering them to railway preservation groups.
The first standard gauge retirements
The trigger for the first tranche of locomotive hauled carriage retirements was the introduction of the new standard gauge VLocity trains to the Albury line.
This left the four standard gauge ‘N’ type carriage sets previously used on the run surplus to V/Line’s needs – a total of 16 sitting carriages, and four power vans. The four accessible carriages were converted to broad gauge, providing accessible toilets and sitting areas to other V/Line trains.
And the rest of the carriages were stripped of the PTV livery decals and sent to the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre yard for storage.
Where they had to be uncoupled one by one, and shunted into their yard via the turntable.
And nine carriages earmarked for other railway preservation groups then transferred to the Ettamogah Rail Hub outside Albury, where they quickly became covered in graffiti.
The first usage of these retired V/Line carriages by a preservation group occurred in April 2023, when the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre ran a tour from Seymour to Laverton to pick up diesel locomotive S307, and return it to their depot.
In June 2023 the Australian Locomotive and Railway Carriage Company sent ‘Murraylander’ liveried diesel locomotive 701 from their base at Tailem Bend to pick up four carriages owned by Steamrail Victoria from Ettamogah, pending future use in South Australia.
And 707 Operations made the trip to Ettamogah in August 2023 to pick up their power van and five sitting carriages.
Making their debut in January 2024, on a tour from Southern Cross to Inverleigh and return.
And the retirements continue
With VLocity trains introduced to the the Bairnsdale and Shepparton line services in August 2018 and October 2022 respectively, the destinations for V/Line fleet of broad gauge carriages was also shrinking.
And so in December 2022 V/Line sent a five car broad gauge ‘N’ type carriage set from Newport Workshops to the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre for storage.
In May 2023 two carriages were transferred to the Victorian Goldfields Railway at Castlemaine.
In July 2023 three carriages were delivered by road to the Daylesford Spa Country Railway.
And the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre received a carriage by rail.
In September 2023 the Mornington Tourist Railway had three carriages delivered by road.
Mornington Tourist Railway photo
And Steamrail Victoria picked up their allocated power van.
The end result – carriages from the 1980s being used by railway preservation groups on weekends to carry tourists, while V/Line still uses a handful of older carriages from the 1950s on their mainline services.
Footnote: the number crunching
The current allocation of V/Line ‘N’ type carriages to railway preservation groups is as follows:
- 707 Operations (standard gauge):
PCJ493, ACN48, BRN43, BN22, BN5, ACN45 - 707 Operations (broad gauge):
PCJ492, BCZ257, BTN259 - Daylesford Spa Country Railway (broad gauge):
ACN54, BRN52, BN1 - Mornington Tourist Railway (broad gauge):
ACN33, BRN31, BN25 - Seymour Railway Heritage Centre (standard gauge):
PZ260, ACN3, BRN53, BN19 and BRN46 - Seymour Railway Heritage Centre (broad gauge):
BTN264 - Steamrail Victoria, leased to The Picnic Train, hired to Australian Locomotive and Railway Carriage Company (standard gauge):
ACN24, BRN34, BN7, BN10 - Steamrail Victoria (broad gauge):
PCJ491, BTN254 - Victorian Goldfields Railway (broad gauge):
BTN263 and BTN268 - Yarra Valley Railway (broad gauge):
ACN12, BRN44, BN11
Unfortunately the set allocated to the Yarra Valley Railway is a bit of an enigma – nobody has posted photos of it online yet!
Those not allocated a power van, will they have to use the underfloor generator? I believe only one car in one set has it.
Bit of an error Marcus, are you sure 707 & SRHC share the same set on SG, but in a different order?
Oops – now fixed!
Nice to see some of the carriages being preserved. Sadly, the same can’t be said of the Comeng trains which are being scrapped, especially the Stage 1 Comeng trains (both the EDI and Alstom-refurbished Comeng trains). Hopefully, some of the Stage 3 trains will be preserved. And it is also sad that the 4D were never preserved, despite the problems that plagued the trains in the beief period they ran in Melbourne.
Whilst I’m glad to see the SG N carriages going to preservation groups, I wonder if they could have been an option for the Overland?
Absolutely agree 100%
The current carriages used on The Overland date back to the 1950s and were refurbished in 2007, so refurbished N cars would be an upgrade.
https://www.comrails.com/sar_carriages/b_bj.html
[…] has been retiring their fleet of aging locomotive hauled carriages, with the long distance N sets given away to railway preservation groups, and the H sets sent for scrap. And with nothing left to haul, this has also rendered […]
[…] The last of the H sets was withdrawn in February 2024, with the N sets soon to follow. […]