Victorian Era - A visual feast.

Woodie

Active Member
A recent trip to Melbourne (two weeks ago) provided a good opportunity for some piccies. Enjoy! :)

A Melbourne suburban Comeng ("smiley") set (after refit) emerges from the underground city loop into North Melbourne Station. These sets were bought into service in the early 80's and are now undergoing a major refit.
 

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Woodie

Active Member
North Melbourne

A Comeng set (pre refit) arrives at North Melbourne. Note the litter that people chuck off the platform. Sheeeeesh!
 

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Woodie

Active Member
West Coast Railway

S302 with a "S" passenger set sits at Melbourne's Spencer St Station ready to depart for Warnambool, a coastal town west of Mebourne (3 hrs). The West Coast Railway was the first privatised passenger service in Victoria. S302 is the longest serving loco currently in commercial use in Australia.
Originally entered service 15th Sept 1957, It ran off it's first million kilometres by April 1961, its second by December 1963, third by December 1968, fourth by August 1973, fifth by September 1978, and sixth by February 1987. By the time of it's sale on 4th February 1994 to the West Coast Railiway it had covered 6,412,196 kms. Its current total stands at 6,715,220 kms.
 

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Woodie

Active Member
S315 Original

S315 in the original, as delivered Victorian Raliways "blue & gold" livery of the 60's, as seen on Garahbara, together with the original "S" passenger coaches of the sam era. These coaches have seen many refits, and still used by the West Coast Raliway, as in the pic above. Lima make the "West Coast Railway" (both loco and coaches) in HO, and a set of 4 coaches plus loco will set you back about $300 AUS.
 

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Woodie

Active Member
B74

B74 entered service in June 1953 and withdrawn in May 1988. In it's original livery, it is preserved by the Seymour Railiway Heritage Centre, and leased for commercial purposes during peak times of the year. B72 can be seen hauling passengers around Garahbara as well.
 

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Woodie

Active Member
Little River

Some may remember an Australian band from the early 70's. "The Little River Band" which had a few hits.
Little River is a town just off the Melbourne/Geelong Road about 80kms from Melbourne. The band named themselves after this little town.
The Little River station and disused engine shed is classic use of bluestone which is typical of Victoria.
 

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Woodie

Active Member
Sprinter

A V/Line "Sprinter" railcar stops at Little River on the 2 hourly service from Geelong to Melbourne.
 

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Woodie

Active Member
Little River

Little River is not immune to disrepair and neglect.
 

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Gary Pfeil

Active Member
Woodie, the paint scheme on s315 looks just like the Erie Railroad scheme on its F units. One of my favs. Nice photo! I like your ballast work. I remember Little River Band. Saw them back in the 70's and have several albums.

Gary
 

Drew1125

Active Member
Great pictures Woodie!!
Thanks for the "down under" tour!
I love those blue streamliners, & the stone station buildings!
 

Woodie

Active Member
Erie Railroad

Gary,
You're quite right. The General Manger of the Victorian Railways during the early 50's visited the US to determine equipment etc when moving from steam to diesel. He liked the Erie colours and scheme, so they copied it. So it is directly related, and taken from the Erie schemes of that era.
 

Matthyro

Will always be re-membered
Now if only I could lay my N gauge track as straight as the protos do:rolleyes: Thanks for the interesting pictures Woodie
 

Bob Collins

Active Member
Thanks Woodie for the great pictures. I wonder which ones of those trains I'll get to ride on next year when I come to visit? I think I do have the wife talked into taking the train one way (daylight) between Sydney and Brisbane, so I'm now working on her for more railfanning. I do think the Normanton trip is out, ha, ha :D Haven't yet given a lot of thought as to just where we will visit other than Brisbane and Sydney, but I would think Melbourne would be a great place to plan on.

Bob
 
Bob:

Are you going to Oz for the RI Convention in Brisbane, or is this a different trip? We plan to go, and would also like to take the train across the country to Perth. I have no idea how long that takes, or anything else about it (but I bet I'll get some information here), but we hope to be able to work it into our trip.:rolleyes:
 

Bob Collins

Active Member
Hi Dave;

Yes, our plan is to go to the Rotary Convention in Brisbane the first week of June next year.

I have looked a bit about the Indian Pacific train, which I believe is the correct name for the train that does the transcontenential trip from Sydney to Perth. It is my understanding that it is about a five day trip and then, of course, you need to get back:D

Woodie or someone can tell you much better than I can, but I have been told in the past that you need to have a reservation at least a year in advance. I don't know if that might be extended with 15 - 20,000 Rotarians in country or not.

My wanting to travel one way between Brisbane and Sydney was sort of stimulated by Wooie and his adventures. I'm pretty certain he told me once that the trip in a daytime trip one way and a nighttime the other and I don't recall, if he told me, which is which.

Our plan is to be gone about three weeks. I would guess we would spend most of a week in New Zealand and then head for Sydney. Might try to get to Melbourne (on the train, of course) and then head for Brisbane, the convention, and home.

I'm scheduled to go on a Rotary Friendship exchange in September this year to Turkey, so haven't spent a whole lot of time on Australia yet. I served in Vietnam with the Aussie Task Force and am trying to see if I can find a couple of those blokes and visit with them while there. Won't be there for ANZAC Day, or I could probably stand along the street and pick some of them out of the parade.

Bob
 
Thanks for the quick reply, Bob.

We have just returned from three weeks in New Zealand (as I think you were aware); and, if you'd like to discuss "things Kiwi", I'd be happy to do so. I think it should be done elsewhere than on The Gauge, however, probably by private email. I did have some rail adventures while there, including two cab rides.
 
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