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.

Video by ‘Driver667’

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!

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Build it up

Work on the $48.5 million Kororoit Creek Road duplication project in Altona North had just kicked off.

Including the replacement of the Werribee line level crossing with a road overbridge.

Work on the project was completed in December 2011.

Gauge conversion of the Melbourne-Albury railway was still ongoing.

Buses replacing V/Line trains north of Seymour.

V/Line services eventually returned in 2011, but trains are frequently cancelled – the years since filled with attempts to fix the already deteriorating track.

Toot toot!

I headed up to Maryborough on a special train operated by the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre.

Travelling in style.

Sitting in the siding alongside was an equally elderly locomotive hauling an El Zorro grain train.

El Zorro having had the same train derailed at Tottenham Yard a few days earlier.

Thanks to the deteriorating track that passes for the Victorian freight network.

El Zorro went into administration in 2013, but the tracks they used are no better today – the Murray Basin Rail project intended to upgrade them ran out of money.

Storms

In March 2010 a massive storm hit Melbourne, with 10-centimetre hailstones hitting Southern Cross Station.

Photo by PageantUpdater talk • contribs ., via Wikimedia Commons

Tearing the plastic ‘bubbles’ in the roof.

Opening the station to the elements.

Flooding the concourse.

And the escalators.

Repairs were estimated to cost $5 million, with 43 of the 60 air pillows needing replacement, work commencing in April 2010 and lasting 12 to 14 weeks.

Things that are gone

Remember mX, the free newspaper that littered Melbourne trains and stations each afternoon?

The rise of smartphones saw readership drop, with the final edition published on 12 June 2015.

Myki was still new and shiny, with promotions across the rail network to get passengers to make the switch from Metcard.

Myki eventually took over from Metcard in December 2012.

The transition from Connex to Metro Trains as the operator of Melbourne trains was still ongoing, with trains slowly receiving the new branding.

But a decade later, the Metro livery surprisingly survives.

In 2010 bright yellow ‘bumbleebee’ trams were still making their way around Melbourne.

But by 2014 the decals were torn and faded, so the trams were repainted into the standard PTV livery.

The next train displays in the City Loop were also coloured by destination.

There were replaced by plain looking white on black LCD screens in 2011, but the use of colours was brought back in 2018, but only at Flinders Street Station.

V/Line trains to Geelong used to run via the Werribee line.

Since 2015 they have travelled via the new Melbourne suburbs of Wyndham Vale and Tarneit, follow the completion of Regional Rail Link.

Passing through what were once empty paddocks.

This farm west of Werribee is now Alwood Estate and King’s Leigh Estate.

I also ended up down in Gippsland at the Energy Brix briquette factory.

The ageing factory and associated brown coal fired power station closed in 2014, with demolition now underway, despite being heritage listed.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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We start overlooking Southern Cross Station, where the Docklands skyline was a lot emptier.

As was that of Spencer Street.

And the western edge of the CBD.

Back in 2009 the explosion of (flammable!) apartment blocks was yet to take off, with 3-car trains still used after 6 PM on some suburban railway lines, and low floor E class trams not appearing on route 86 until 2016.

Metro Trains Melbourne had just taken over from Connex, so a rebranding effort was underway, like this train at West Footscray.

These ones parked for the night at North Melbourne.

And this one at Footscray.

Passing beneath the new footbridge.

A decade on Regional Rail Link has changed this entire rail corridor beyond recognition, with new tracks at North Melbourne, the near new Footscray footbridge demolished then rebuilt, a rebuilt station at West Footscray, and an extra pair of tracks between the city and Sunshine.

Next up – a ride to the country, where there was a long line at Southern Cross Station to buy a V/Line ticket.

In the days before myki paper tickets were the only option for V/Line travel, and had to be purchased for a specific date, leading to massive queues in the leadup to holiday periods.

But I followed it up with a far more laid back train journey, heading to Tocumwal with the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre.

With Santa even coming along the the ride.

I also headed home to Geelong for Christmas, and passed a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 firefighting air tanker stationed at Avalon Airport.

Registration N17085, it was based at Avalon from January to March 2010 for the summer fire season, but I don’t think it was ever called into service.

On the other side of Geelong, I photographed a V/Line train headed further afield to Warrnambool.

Back then the area south of Grovedale was empty paddocks.

And empty country roads.

But change was coming – stage 4A of the Geelong Ring Road was underway, turning the area into a commuter destination.

Today the paddocks are the Armstrong Creek urban growth area – the Anglesea Road level crossing was grade separated in 2011, Waurn Ponds station opened in 2014, and the Baanip Boulevard connection to the Surf Coast Highway was completed in 2015.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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Roadtrip!

I started my journey in the south-west down at Camperdown, where I caught up with this short train made up of just two empty flat wagons.

The train was on the way back to Melbourne, having been abandoned in Warrnambool after the end of El Zorro’s ill fated attempt at running the Warrnambool freight service.

I then headed east, pausing at the dive that was Westall station. With only two platforms, the only access was via a pedestrian crossing at the down end, and the timber station buildings were missing thanks to an arson attack.

Today the station is a grand monolith, completed in 2011 at a cost of $151 million – with a third platform for terminating trains, and an overhead footbridge providing access over the tracks.

I also paused at a red brick traction substation and overhead wires on the main Gippsland line at Bunyip.

Constructed in the 1950s as part of the electrification of the main Gippsland railway line, as part of the first main line electrification project in Australia. Electrification was cut back to Warragul in 1987, to Bunyip in 1998, before ceasing entirely beyond Pakenham in 2001.

The wires and substation were removed in 2004, except for the substation and a short section of overhead at Bunyip, which are covered by a heritage listing.

I then headed for the South Gippsland Railway, where heritage trains once operated along the former Leongatha railway.

I rode the train to the end of the line at Nyora.

Then back to the other end at Leongatha.

The railway disbanded in 2016, due to a lack of volunteer labour.

I also headed into the Latrobe Valley on the search for freight trains.

My first find at the Australian Paper mill in Morwell, where containers were being loaded for the trip to the Port of Melbourne.

It still runs today, taking hundreds of trucks off the Monash Freeway each day.

I also headed further east to Bairnsdale, where I found a train being loaded with logs.

Then followed it back to Melbourne, where I caught it at Stratford, crossing the timber bridge over the Avon River.

The train transported cut logs to the Midway woodchip mill at Geelong, where they would be sent to the paper mills of Japan. The native forests of Gippsland are still being logged today, but the train no longer runs – the timber is transported by road instead.

As for the timber bridge over the Avon River, it is still there today, but the state government is funding a $95 million replacement, which will allow the 10 km/h speed limit to be raised.

A ‘powerful’ diversion

While in the Latrobe Valley I also toured Victoria’s aging fleet of brown coal fired power stations.

I started at the PowerWorks visitors centre in Morwell, where a retired coal dredger is preserved.

As well as a narrow gauge electric locomotive once used in the Yallourn open cut mine.

Then I went past Energy Brix briquette plant next door.

Which closed in 2014.

Then across to the Hazelwood power station.

Back then the ‘West Field’ expansion of the open cut brown coal mine was underway, with a number of roads being closed to make room for the future hole.

But that effort didn’t really pay off – the aging dinosaur of a power station closed in 2017.

Still hanging on is the Yallourn W power station, completed in 1973-1982.

And the Loy Yang power station and and open cut mine.

In addition to the slightly cleaner gas turbine plant at Jeeralang.

And an interesting piece of technology – the Loy Yang Static Inverter Plant, the Victorian end of the Basslink high voltage DC undersea transmission line that connects Tasmania to the national electricity grid.

Headed north

I then headed back on the trail of trains, heading over to Seymour where work had started on the gauge conversion of the railway north to Albury.

I also followed a special train operated by the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre to Tocumwal.

With Santa saving from the rear platform.

Captured a V/Line train passing the since removed mechanical signals at Kilmore East.

Passed the crummy facilities that passed for a station at Donnybrook.

And saw gravel being loaded into a train, ready to be transported by rail to concrete plants across Melbourne, instead of a fleet of trucks.

I then headed west, to photograph a V/Line train at Ballan station.

It won’t look like the above very longer – a second platform and overhead footbridge is now under construction.

I also stopped in at Deer Park.

Work on the Deer Park Bypass was underway, making it quicker for people in Melbourne’s west to drive towards the city, as well as for trucks transporting interstate freight.

But no investment was coming for Deer Park station. Once part of the main route between Melbourne and Adelaide, bidirectional signalling was provided so that faster moving passenger trains could overtake the far heavier and slower freight trains.

But only a gravel platform was provided for passengers, visited by a V/Line train every two hours, if that.

It took until 2015 for the poor level of service to be fixed, following the completion of Regional Rail Link.

But unfortunately the cost cutting to the project saw the bidirectional signalling removed, resulting in major delays to V/Line services every time a train breaks down in the section.

Two steps forward, another back?

Another place on the fringe of Melbourne’s urban sprawl is Diggers Rest, which back then was only served by V/Line services.

As was Sunbury, which saw a number of V/Line shortworkings terminate there in order to pump up the frequency to something worth using.

The $270 million electrification of the Sunbury line was completed in 2012, seeing suburban trains extended to the town, but but many of the locals weren’t happy – they preferred waiting around on a cold platform then ride a comfortable V/Line train.

And back to Geelong

Finally, we end close to home at Geelong.

I visited the remains of the Fyansford cement works.

The silos were still in place.

As were the railway sidings once used to despatch the finished product.

But the cement kilns at the base of the hill were long gone.

Today the silos are still there, but the tracks were removed in 2011, and the rest of the site redeveloped as houses.

I found a VLocity train bound for Marshall station, heading through an unprotected level crossing.

Rather than upgrade the crossing, in 2008 it was closed to vehicle traffic.

At North Shore I captured The Overland westbound for Adelaide.

The newly refurbished train had entered service in mid-2008 in an attempt to reinvigorate the dying service, but it doesn’t do much good – it was almost cancelled in 2015 following an impasse over funding, with it now set to end in 2018 after SA government declined to extended the arrangement further.

The rollout of ‘Parkiteer’ bike cages at railway stations had started, with South Geelong receiving one.

Platform extension works were also underway.

In September 2008 then Minister for Public Transport, Lynne Kosky, announced that longer trains would be deployed to the Geelong line, requiring platform extension works.

These trains continued to run until June 2015, when Geelong trains commenced using the new Regional Rail Link tracks and the trains were cut back to just six cars in length.

And finally after years of trying, I was finally in the right place at the right time and captured the daily V/Line overtaking move outside Geelong.

Until 2015 on the Geelong line, two V/Line services would depart Geelong each morning a few minutes apart. The first train would stop all stations, while the second train would run express to Melbourne, overtaking the slower train.

Finding this overtaking point was more art than science – even a 30 second delay to either train could move it a kilometre or so down the line, so all I could do was pick a spot lineside, and hope that I wouldn’t have to come back another day to try again.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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At North Melbourne station work was continuing on the new concourse, with a massive steel and timber crash deck at the city end of the platforms allowing construction to continue while trains continued running below.

While in the rail yards next door I found a since-retired Hitachi train shunting into the sidings.

In both views note how much sparser the CBD and Docklands skylines are – the current explosion of apartment developments had yet to take off.

Down in Geelong the first two stages of the Geelong Ring Road looked ready to drive on.

With only the white lines remaining to be painted.

I mentioned crate men recently – and July 2008 saw a plague of them across Melbourne’s west.

Jumping a fence at Newport.

Atop the WC Thomas & Sons flour mill.

Riding a crane in Spotswood.

And having a smoko atop a South Kensington roof.

I also spent a morning at Newport photographing a procession of citybound trains.

First was a V/Line train hauled by diesel locomotive A62.

This unit has been stored since 2013, and probably won’t run again.

I also saw A85 with the Waurn Ponds – Lyndhurst cement train.

The last cement train ran to Lyndhurst on the Cranbourne line in 2009, with the traffic moving completely to road in 2015.

And finally the train I was waiting for – The Ghan liveried locomotives NR74 and AN3 on a freight train ex-Adelaide.

Given The Ghan runs between Adelaide and Darwin, what were these two engines doing in Victoria? The answer is simple – they were due for scheduled maintenance at the workshops in Melbourne, and the easiest way to get them there was to pull a freight train headed this way.

At Southern Cross Station massive advertising banners are nothing new, but back in 2008 a company called Intralot was.

July 1 saw the company start operations in Victoria, selling ‘scratchie’ lottery tickets in competition with incumbent operator Tattersall’s, after winning 10-year licence from the state government. By 2010 their Victorian operations were bleeding money, leading the company to sell out to Tattersall’s in 2014, restoring the previous monopoly status.

And I end this month with a train trip north from Seymour, to the Murray River town of Tocumwal.

Normally only traversed by freight trains, I was travelling on collection of museum pieces restored by the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre.

Our train had a V/Line locomotive up front to assist.

And what looked to be the entire town of Tocumwal coming out to greet us.

On the way we passed the station building at Murchison East.

Destroyed by fire in 2014.

And Mooroopna.

Destroyed by fire in 2018.

North of Shepparton we passed oil terminals that were once served by rail.

As well as a fertiliser depot, the rail siding covered with rust.

But it wasn’t all doom and gloom for rail freight – the container terminal at Mooroopna was still being used to load freight trains.

And the railway line itself wasn’t being neglected.

With track crews hard at work.

Replacing timber sleepers.

Allowing the thrice weekly freight train to Tocumwal to keep running.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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We start at South Kensington station, looking back to a much sparser Melbourne CBD skyline. The main difference – a lack of apartment towers along the northern stretch of Elizabeth Street.

Down on the Werribee line I spotted a single 2-car VLocity train bound for Geelong.

As well as a short 3-car train at a much smaller Laverton station.

2-car VLocity trains no longer exist, having been extended to 3-cars in length, the majority of suburban services are 6-cars long, and Laverton station was been drastically rebuilt, with a new overhead concourse and third platform added in 2010.

I also went Hitachi train spotting, where I found a set freshly repainted into Connex livery in the yards at Macaulay.

Down at Geelong I paid a visit to the railway out the back of Grovedale.

There was nothing out there back then, but today the field is the location of Waurn Ponds station.

November 2007 was also the 70th anniversary of the first ‘Spirit of Progress‘ train running between Melbourne and Albury, with the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre running a special diesel hauled train to celebrate the occasion.

Carriages had to be cleaned.

And locomotives prepared.

With work going on late into the night before the train was due to run.

The train arrived into Southern Cross Station.

With the observation saloon of original 1937 carriage ‘Parlor Car’ facing the end of the train.

And a pair of restored 1950s diesel locomotives up front.

A few hours later we arrived at Albury.

The carriages standing in the ‘break of gauge’ platform, where passengers once had to change trains in the middle of the night on the Melbourne to Sydney journey.

Footnote

‘Parlor Car’ only has an observation saloon at one end of the carriage, so it had to be spun around on the turntable before the journey back to Melbourne.

Which required a trip to Wodonga to shuffle the train around.

The original 1873 railway station at Wodonga closed in 2008 with the broad gauge line, with a replacement station opening in 2011 on the new Wodonga Rail Bypass.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘

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We start the month at Flinders Street Station, where the elderly CRT next train displays were being replaced by modern LCD screens.

Unfortunately there were teething troubles.

Leaving passengers at some platforms in the dark.

Over at North Melbourne I found a diesel locomotive that has lived quite a life – Australia to Hong Kong, and back again!

Built by Clyde Engineering in Sydney in the 1950s and exported to the Kowloon-Canton Railway in Hong Kong. There it hauled passenger services for three decades before being replaced by electric trains in 1983, being demoted to freight service before it was sold for scrap in the early 2000s. It was then purchased by locomotive hire firm CFCL Australia, who shipped it back here and reconditioned it for lease to local rail freight operators.

I also travelled on a ‘Hills to the Bay’ tour operated by the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre, travelling from Seymour to Geelong and return behind a different pair of elderly diesel locomotives.

Along the way we passed a freight train at what became the site of Williams Landing station, opened almost a decade later in 2013.

As well as Connex trains in suburban area.

Out on the Geelong line I photographed a longer than normal train of cement hoppers, hauled by pair of locomotives.

Finally, March 2007 saw the bi-annual Australian International Airshow held at Avalon Airport, north of Geelong. To move the crowds, V/Line operated additional services to Lara station, connecting with buses to the airshow site.

The majority of trains were eight carriages long, sliding door ‘H’ set commuter carriages used to allow crowds to exit quickly at stations, and a diesel locomotive at each end of the train to enable a quick turnaround.

But due to the massive number of passengers to be moved, 7-car long ‘N’ type train sets were also used to fill in the gaps.

As well as a handful of near new VLocity trains, the rest of the fleet still being delivered.

A decade later in 2017 the airshow is again on at Avalon, but the fleet of trains available to by V/Line is much different – locomotive hauled carriages will be spending the weekend parked in sidings, with the 64 train strong VLocity fleet now large enough to move the crowds by themselves.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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We start on the Geelong line at the former railway station called Manor, where we see a Melbourne-bound service approach Werribee.

It’s 1:08 AM at Flinders Street Station, and the Solari split-flap display has been switched off for the night.

A few hours later at 4:07 AM, and when I strolled past Southern Cross Station it was locked up tight.

Inside the station a new facility was under construction – the Myki Discovery Centre.

Opened in mid 2007, the centre was used as a promotional tool for Myki by the Transport Ticketing Authority, the organisation responsible for the rollout of the new smartcard ticketing system. It centre was later absorbed by Public Transport Victoria, who rebranded it as a ‘PTV Hub’ in 2012.

Down at Geelong I headed out to the southern suburb of Grovedale, where I found a freight train headed for the Blue Circle Southern cement works, climbing the grade towards what is now Waurn Ponds station.

Today the paddocks to the left are covered with houses, with the new Armstrong Creek development doing the same to the paddock behind, and the freight train no longer runs – the cement is now all moved by road.

More big changes can be seen in the background at Footscray, where this citybound commuter train drops off a handful of suburban passengers at platform 1.

Now renumbered platform 3, the car park in the background has since disappeared, replaced by a new pair of platforms for suburban trains built as part of the Regional Rail Link project. In addition, the number of V/Line passengers using Footscray station has skyrocketed, thanks to the removal of the V/Line stop at North Melbourne.

I also went for a ride on a special train operated by the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre, bound for Bairnsdale, where I spent plenty of time on the rear balcony watching the tracks roll past beneath me.

We rolled through abandoned stations, like General Motors on the Pakenham line.

Over the viaduct that links Southern Cross Station to Flinders Street.

And across the Avon River bridge in Gippsland.

The same vantage point also allowed me to capture the progress being made to extend suburban electric train services north from Broadmeadows to Craigieburn.

The initial stages of the project pinched every penny possible, so only half of Craigieburn station was rebuilt for suburban trains.

But a new railway station at Roxburgh Park was being built.

As was grade separation of the Somerton Road level crossing.

And new automated signalling – the manually operated signal box at Somerton was almost due to be decommissioned.

The penny pinching was also applied to the stabling yard at Craigieburn, where only a single siding was constructed – so that suburban trains could get out of the way of V/Line trains bound for Seymour.

Since then both platforms at Craigieburn have been upgraded, and a a massive train maintenance facility occupies the sidings, featuring a train wash and enough room for the stabling of two dozens trains!

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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We start with a special train operated by the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre, with 50-year old museum pieces T320 and T357 leading an 11 carriage long train from Seymour to Geelong.

At the rear of the train was parlor car ‘Yarra’ with observation platform.

Over at North Shore I found a short freight train, shunting empty log wagons out of the Midway woodchip mill.

Outside of Little River I photographed a number of freight trains – here four diesel locomotives haul a SCT Logistics service from Perth to Melbourne.

Almost as long was this freight train from Geelong – made up of loaded cement hoppers and empty log flat wagons.

And this freight train from Mildura, made up of LCL cargo in louvred vans and export containers.

I did see a few passenger trains – like this Indian Pacific liveried locomotive hauling the Adelaide-bound Overland service.

As well as this dinky little V/Line service to Geelong, operated by a 2-car VLocity set.

Finally, something you don’t see too often – a works train dumping fresh ballast onto the tracks near Corio.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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What did I get up to the past long weekend – a few hundred kilometres of railway travel, while at the same time being within walking distance of a bar for the majority of it.

The Seymour Rail Heritage Centre was holding their "Hills to the Bay" tour, so me and quite a few other people from the Railpage forums got together for the trip.

Since the tour started early in the morning on Sunday, we headed to Seymour on Saturday. I ended up getting a ride with Rod and a few others in his car – and he almost ended up getting busted by the speed cameras on the Hume Freeway a couple of times. Word is that the cameras have yet to be turned on yet, so his license may be safe.

Being in the middle of nowhere, there was only one thing to do – head down the pub! We had dinner, and a few drinks, and then headed back to the railway yard – we had 100 year old sleeping carriages to stay the night in.

The trip started at Seymour, passed through western Melbourne before arriving in Geelong, turned around, headed for Melbourne Spencer Street, back to Geelong yet again, and then retracing the rails back to Seymour – a 12 hour round trip at 80km/h, arriving back in Seymour at 9pm.

The old-style opening windows are great – especially with my new camera to play with – this was near Geelong, with a bit of track work going on in the background.

We had dinner on the train, as well as a few drinks- there were two bars on board. The one in the carriage next to us ran out of cans of bourbon and cola by 7pm, so we had to hike up to the next carriage for our liquor supplies. The guys in the next compartment had an air horn, so they spent the entire time setting it off in stations, as well as yelling out at passengers waiting. Another fun part was the long drop toilets – it is a little cold as you race down the track. (no chundering here though)

The people on the tour weren’t too bad – there was one person who got on our nerves, until we slammed the compartment door in their face. Another didn’t get the message, so we told him that the train wouldn’t be stopping at Broadmeadows – and that he would have to get off one station and 30 minutes early. He believed it, and there was a round of high-fives after that one…

A final surprise was the appearance of young (and quite attractive) females on the train. I don’t know where they appeared from – usually rail tours are full of stereotypical male "trainspotter" weirdos, or perhaps I am just thinking of another group’s tours…

And finally – Attack of the Moron!

People wonder why they get hit by trains – this woman was wanting to catch the Werribee train when it stopped at Yarraville, as out train went past in the opposite direction through the level crossing. So what does she do, open up the crossing gate, and walk out to the Werribee train just as it was pulling to the platform – she even waved to the driver.

(she is a fat mess as well – it was a pity we were too far away to abuse her for being such a moron…)

Footnote

• The rest of my photos from the day

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