The V/Line trains and the Geelong Cats have been working together for years.
Their home ground of Kardinia Park in Geelong is right beside the railway.
Grandstands visible from passing trains.
South Geelong station is a short walk to the ground.
With a number of sidings available to park extra trains.
Many Cats fans also catch the train up to Melbourne to see their team play.
V/Line promotes their extra football trains to fans.
Advertisements on the side of trains.
And for previous Geelong Grand Finals, having specially decorated their trains for the occasion.
These extra trains require a lot of planning – in this case, 20 pages of special instructions for railway staff, detailing the timetable of each additional train.
And one extra instruction.
Thanks to Geelong fans’ reputation for walking out early.
Stationmaster Richmond to note the following:
If Geelong wins, no.8295 must be held to depart at 1758 or until patronage is near capacity of set. If Geelong loses train to depart at 17 48.
If Geelong wins, no.8297 must be held at Richmond until patronage is near capacity of set. If Geelong loses train to depart at 17 58.
And with another Grand Final loss, who can blame then? 😛
What do they do with N class now? I’ve read that when they are arranged in a push-pull consist with an H set, the doors will open whenever the dynamic brake is on. Double heading will need to run-around at Caulfield but does the track layout allow that? One N class and 8 cars will be way too slow.
These days the football specials are six-car VLocity sets, just like normal services. I believe 2011 was the last season that push-pull sets were used – just one single consist.
https://railgallery.wongm.com/geelong-football-specials-2011/