International Railroad Discussion > One Month Ago: To Warrnambool, no, to Swan Hill, no, to Bendigo

On Tuesday I held a round-trip ticket to Warrnambool. I arrived at the station and checked the board for my platform to find that my train was a bus. Uh, no. There had evidently been some sort of train/truck altercation the prior day and the line was not yet reopened. I scanned the board to see that there was a train to Swan Hill which was my planned Wednesday destination. So I made a quick trip to the ticket office to change my ticket and headed to the platform.

1. The power for the train to Swan Hill arrives in the form of V/Line N-class N452 in the current V/Line scheme. The N-class is a JT 22HC-2, something along the lines of an SD38-2 with HEP, and dates from 1985. Since locomotive-hauled trains are being phased out, the future of these locomotives is unclear but there is a lot of them sitting in Geelong, west of Melbourne.

2. N452, the "City of Wodonga," with its five-car train of vintage coaches on the platform at Southern Cross station.

3. Yes, it was foggy. And then things went sideways. After boarding the train, there was an announcement to please get off of the train as there is a problem with the locomotive. That is the locomotive that just arrived under its own power and would leave under its own power. We were initially told that there would be a replacement locomotive but then we were told to go to another platform where a Vlocity DMU set would take us as far as Bendigo with buses thereafter. Uh, no, so Bendigo it is. After lunch in Bendigo, I returned to Melbourne in mid-afternoon and was able to spend some time railfanning at the Bunbury Street bridge in Footscray.

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The Bunbury Street bridge is easily photographed from a convenient pedestrian walkway over the tracks and the Melbourne skyline provides the dramatic backdrop. Note the dual-gauge trackage. Most of the standard gauge freight traffic in and out of Melbourne passes this spot along with some broad gauge freight. This is also the route into Southern Cross station for the standard gauge passenger trains, the Sydney XPT, the Overland, and V/Line service to and from Albury, NSW as that line has been converted from broad gauge to standard gauge.

4. A pair of three-car Vlocity DMUs with inbound service from Albury, NSW.

5. A set of light power from who knows where heads to the Pacific National terminal at Dynon. Is anyone getting tired of Pac. Nat. NR-class locomotives?

6. An SCT Logistics container train arrives with two CSR-class SDA1s lettered for SBR, Specialised Bulk Rail. Note the complex signal indication that includes letters.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/12/24 12:20 by NMlurker.

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7. A single G-class JT 26C-2SS G532 operated by QUBE Logistics comes around the corner, stops, gets a signal, and reverses back around the corner.

8. Not long after, a pair of VL-class GT 26C-3 locomotives does the same thing. These are ex-CFCLA (Chicago Freight Car Leasing Australia) units operated by Rail First.

9. The near daily steel train from Wollongong in NSW arrives behind three QL-class C44aci locomotives operated by QUBE Logistics. This is traffic previously handled by Pacific National. QUBE also operates a similar steel train up to Brisbane.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/12/24 12:25 by NMlurker.

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10. Outbound Vlocity DMU to Albury, NSW.

11. Broad gauge freight action with Pacific National XR-class XR550, a second XR-class, and a G-class with a train of mostly 20' international containers. The XR-class are GT 26C-3 units rebuilt from the X-class G 16C.

12. In fading sunlight, an SCT Logistics (Specialised Container Transportation) container train passes with CSR-class SDA1 CSR016.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/12/24 12:38 by NMlurker.

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Very nice set!  Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

texchief1

Very enjoyable series!

Larry