Something a bit different: Victorian Railways of Australia

[memyselfand1]

I've started uploading some of my photos to my website, with most featuring some form of steam-powered vehicle. This set focuses on the open day of Steamrail Victoria, the operator of most steam train tours run in Victoria. Their base is the heritage listed Newport Workshops, where most of the locomotives were built. Open days are held every two years and I was fortunate enough to be taken this year before an evening lecture. These photos feature:
- 1900s electric suburban Tait train
- J541, R700 and A2 986 undergoing restoration
- diesel T413
- R707 (owned by 707 operations, another operator)
- DERM RM58 (owned by DERMPAV, DERM Preservation Association Victoria)
- Y112 (my personal favourite)
- R711
- R761
- D3 639
- Electric goods loco L1162
- in-service Metro Comeng and Siemens trains awaiting their next run
- Miscellaneous diesel shunters

Link: http://jamesbray.com.au/gallery/display?a=780

If you have any questions about any of the stock feel free to ask. Also feel free to have a look around my other galleries. A majority of them feature some heritage aspect of Victoria.
James

[Emettman]

Ah, those Victorian Railways.
It may be where I live, or how old I am, but my brain was expecting a different Victorian!

I have visited Flinders Street Station a few times, but not as it was in Victorian days...


Chris

[skyblue]

The photos are really good - I especially like the one titled 'Y112 takes a break'.

[memyselfand1]

Ah, those Victorian Railways.
It may be where I live, or how old I am, but my brain was expecting a different Victorian!

I have visited Flinders Street Station a few times, but not as it was in Victorian days...


Chris

It is hard to believe it once looked like that. Same with Spencer Street (Southern Cross - hah), which had a single arrivals and single departures platform in the 1800s.

The photos are really good - I especially like the one titled 'Y112 takes a break'.

Thanks Glad you like them. What I cropped out of that photo was the driver sitting under the gum tree eating his lunch

[glencairn]

[
Thanks What I cropped out of that photo was the driver sitting under the gum tree eating his lunch

Not stuck on him eh!

Great pictures. Many thanks.

Glencairn

[memyselfand1]

It's now summer, and the mainline steam ban is in effect. This gives the preservation groups a chance to catch up on work, such as repainting and repairing the boiler on Y112 (a seam came adrift in the firebox the night before her 150th birthday tour. The tour ran with K153 instead.), and hopefully getting A2 986 ready for running within the next season.
Next year looks to be a very promising year for steam, with the huge AD60 Garratt locomotive coming to Victoria.
I've updated a few pictures on the site, mostly the Healesville and Lake Goldsmith Steam Rally pictures. As I find more I'll continue to update things.
If you have any questions about anything in the galleries, let me know and I'll do my best to answer it.

www.jamesbray.com.au/gallery

[memyselfand1]

Reports of a fire at the Newport Workshop have unfortunately been confirmed, with the damage to 107M, 137M (Tait Trains in my gallery), 12AT and 24D meaning that they may now be unsalvagable.
https://www.facebook.com/steamrail for more information.

[AustralisRico]

Reports of a fire at the Newport Workshop have unfortunately been confirmed, with the damage to 107M, 137M (Tait Trains in my gallery), 12AT and 24D meaning that they may now be unsalvagable.
https://www.facebook.com/steamrail for more information.

I hope their able to fix them, we (Australia) already have too few preserved trains to lose any

[memyselfand1]

Reports of a fire at the Newport Workshop have unfortunately been confirmed, with the damage to 107M, 137M (Tait Trains in my gallery), 12AT and 24D meaning that they may now be unsalvagable.
https://www.facebook.com/steamrail for more information.

I hope their able to fix them, we (Australia) already have too few preserved trains to lose any

Looking at the pictures on the herald sun, only the driving cab of 107M is in any way recognisable. Maybe they will build another Tait, but that will take many years and a lot of money that could go towards the upkeep of the steam locos. Hopefully they'll make an announcement soon about what is happening.

[memyselfand1]

So far this year I've missed everything, from the city tours with Y112 and K153, the Good Friday shuttles, DERM to Seymour and around the city, and strangely enough even the Ballarat Heritage Weekend, although I did see the headlights of K153 whizz past on the return train to Melbourne. There's still a bit coming up, but it is rapidly running out.
Y112 has now returned to stay at Ballarat for the next year. It was planned that she would be repainted, renumbered to her original Y419 and run to Traralgon for her 125th anniversary over the last year, but only the renumbering eventuated, and she failed prior to her birthday trip.

I did visit the Victorian Goldfields Railway at Maldon recently in a different capacity - sadly few stills. A return is planned, so I'll try and remember to actually bring a camera.

[memyselfand1]

A bit has been announced for the coming month, which will be worth getting up early for. In particular, the triple-headed-R-Class special to Seymour.
Mainline trials with A2 986 should be coming in the near future, after a mostly successful day of yard testing. The only drawback seems to have been that the motion gear eccentrics were reinstalled backwards, resulting in a very surprising moment for everybody when the first movement in 56 years was backwards instead of forwards, but apparently this has now been rectified.
In the meantime, I've uploaded a couple of shots of the Goldfields Explorer as it went past - my escalator running with a camera seemed to be a source of amusement to those on the train.

[memyselfand1]

A typical Welsh summer day greeted R707 as it arrived in Bacchus Marsh yesterday, the occasion being the 30th anniversary of it's first run in preservation. After a couple of hours of holding my (dripping) camera in the rain over the top of a fence, and having the settings randomly change at a couple of points, I finally gave up and caught the Vline service back.
Photos are here:
http://jamesbray.com.au/gallery/index.p ... chus-Marsh

Next Sunday is the triple-headed R class to Seymour, featuring 11 carriages, R761, R707 and R711 - the three operational R classes.

[Bufferstop]

The link seems to connect to your account and requires a password. I think you need to post the public viewing URL.

[memyselfand1]

The link seems to connect to your account and requires a password. I think you need to post the public viewing URL.

Enabling the album would also work... Fixed now. Thanks for pointing that out.

[sparkhill]

Just read on the forum that a couple of Tait cars have been wrecked by fire, there was a time when I used to travel to work on those old rattle traps that I wouldnt have blinked if they set fire to the whole lot, draughty sometimes dirty coaches that used to rock and roll along the tracks, built in the 19th century that were still running in the 1950s and 60s, thankfully VR improved over the years and finally got rid of the old thunderbox toilets with last years telephone directory pages to wipe your backside on, that is what we had at Glen Waverley station for years.

After growing up in the UK where I was a steam train fanatic I was stunned when I saw VRs old clunkers dawdling along the track, it took 35 years and a trip to Williamstown Railway Museum to ignite an interest in Aussie trains, I now enjoy what we had over here also sorry to hear about the Tait cars.