Arrival into Auckland

I flew into Auckland Airport on the North Island.

And immediately made my way to the Glenbrook Vintage Railway, where steam locomotive WW 644 was running for the day.

I also headed over to the nearby New Zealand Steel mill at Glenbrook, but unfortunately no trains were running there.

Luckily the Te Huia train was runing, complete with ex-Auckland driving carriage.

And closer to Auckland, there were freight trains aplenty at Westfield Yard.

I headed out to the Museum of Transport and Technology Auckland, and look at what I found on their line – a bloody Melbourne tram!

Driving down the North Island

I then started the drive south towards Wellington, finding the first of many of KiwiRail’s dinky little remote controlled shunting locomotives.

I continued south along the electrified North Island Main Trunk, but all I found were diesel locomotive hauled freight trains.

And the thrice-weekly ‘Northern Explorer‘ passenger train.

The 25 kV electrical substations sitting there doing little.

On the way I found a memorial to the 1923 Ongarue railway disaster.

An obelisk marking the driving of the last spike of the North Island Main Trunk railway in 1908

And a memorial for the 1953 Tangiwai railway disaster.

I also found a yard full of ex-Auckland suburban carriages at Taumarunui, abandoned since 2014.

But scrapping of them had started.

And an abandoned double deck bridge over the Ongarue River

Some much taller bridges included the historic steel Makohine Viaduct further south.

And the modern South Rangitikei Viaduct built of prestressed concrete.

A quick stop in Wellington

On arrival into Wellington what was I greeted by – but a rail replacement bus!

My first electric train sighting not being until the next morning.

Across the Cook Strait

Time to take my campervan onto the ferry.

We bid Wellington Harbour behind.

And arrived into Picton.

South Island adventures

I hoped to follow a freight train south from Picton, but fading light put paid to that idea.

But I did find another remote control shunter at work.

And a freight train headed into the opposite direction to me!

Meaning my trip towards Christchurch being scenic, but with no trains along the tracks.

Around Christchurch

I headed out of Christchurch for a day on the TranzAlpine train.

And spent the rest of my time on the hunt for freight trains.

Unfortunately my visit to the Ferrymead Railway didn’t coincide with a running day.

But the Weka Pass Railway an hour north had a diesel locomotive running trains for the public.

There I spotted a two-wire high voltage transmission line that screamed ‘HVDC’ to me – and it was.

Also in Christchurch I rode the gondola to the top of Mount Cavendish, despite the summit being covered in fog.

But I passed on paying $40 to ride the Christchurch tramway – another bloody Melbourne tram!

But one thing they had that I’ve never seen before is their indoor bus station – incoming services get allocated to a random stop, and passengers have to quickly run to the relevant doors to board their bus.

And heading back north

Turns out a Jetstar flight from Christchurch to Wellington was half the price of a combined bus and ferry journey, so onto a plane I went.

The trip into the city went via the single lane Hataitai bus tunnel.

In Wellington I checked out obvious tourist sights, like the Wellington Cable Car.

And gunzel things like the diesel hauled Wairarapa Line service.

The next day I spent on the Northern Explorer train towards Auckland, retracing the route I’d taken a week earlier.

And finished my journey in Auckland.

Catching the ferry over the harbour to Devonport, and catching a bus back.

And ending my trip with a bus ride to Auckland Airport for my flight home.

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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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By the beach

We start the month down at Queenscliff.

Where I found the Queenscliff-Sorrento car ferry.

A bridge to the secretive military base on Swan Island.

And rode the Bellarine Peninsula Railway.

Passing through Marcus station.

In the back streets of Geelong I found a Ford Territory SUV covered in camouflage.

The facelifted SZ series Territory was released in April 2011, and first official photos of the facelifted edition being released in February 2011 – looks like I had a scoop back then.

Around Melbourne

Summer in Melbourne – and it was raining!

Tram passengers along Swanston Street still needed to climb up from street level.

Platform stops were eventually built in 2012.

At the corner of Bourke and William Street the St James Building was being gutted, making way for the redevelopment of AMP Square.

And trains

I photographed luxury rail cruise train The Southern Spirit arriving into Melbourne.

A very expensive rail cruise operated by Great Southern Rail, the Southern Spirit ran on various routes around Australia in January 2010, January 2011 and February 2012 before it was discontinued.

I also headed out to Diggers Rest, where I found a much less salubrious train.

Back then Diggers Rest was served by V/Line services, but work was about to start on the Sunbury electrification project that would extend service services to the town.

Another piece of construction was at Lara, where I found a set of points leading nowhere.

Part of a new 1850m crossing loop, Elders Loop opened in 2011.

While north of Craigieburn station a massive shed was taking shape.

Originally just a single stabling siding, the rail yards have since been expanded into the massive The Craigieburn Train Maintenance Facility.

One night after the last train, I found an X’Trapolis train being walked through the station at Ascot Vale, staff watching to make sure that the train didn’t strike the edge of the platform.

Back in the 2000s Melbourne’s rail network had been split between two private operators, with X’Trapolis trains purchased by Connex for use on the Lilydale, Belgrave, Glen Waverley, Alamein, Epping and Hurstbridge line.

This split meant X’Trapolis trains were never tested on the ‘other’ half of the network, requiring Metro to go back and complete this testing so that they could run them along the Craigieburn line to the new workshops.

Another nighttime find was this noisy machine at work on Pascoe Vale Road in Essendon.

It’s a rail grinder used to smooth tramway rails, making the ride quieter for the trams that pass along it.

‘Real’ Myki barriers were finally starting to appear on the network – this set was at the Swanston Street end of Melbourne Central.

These barriers eventually replaced the slower Metcard ‘Frankenbarriers’, but weren’t fast enough – in 2014 another style of gate was adopted at upgraded stations.

Footnote

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

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We start over at Flinders Street Station, where Hitachi trains were still in service with then-suburban train operator Connex Melbourne.

Connex was replaced by Metro Trains Melbourne in November 2009, but the Hitachi trains hung on until December 2013.

Nearby signal box Flinders Street ‘A’ was being rebuilt as part of the ‘Signal’ youth arts centre.

But around the corner was the abandoned trackbed of platform 11.

It has since been turned into the ‘Arbory’ bar, opened in 2015

We’ve been watching the construction at North Melbourne station for months now, and in May 2009 the temporary scaffolding was coming down, exposing the new concourse at the city end.

Down near Moonee Ponds Creek I photographed a V/Line train headed out of the station.

Since Regional Rail Link opened in 2014 these tracks are only used by suburban trains, with V/Line now using their own tracks that bypass North Melbourne station entirely.

Once upon a time passenger trains all over Victoria once carried parcels as well as passengers, but in 2009 the ‘Green Star’ parcel service still operated using V/Line trains.

The public parcel service was wound up in 2010, but V/Line still continues transporting blood products for the Australian Red Cross Blood Service as part of a separate agreement.

Another much heavier freight task is the movement of steel products from the BlueScope Steel plant at Hastings, to the Melbourne Steel Terminal next door to Docklands.

A decade on the trains still run, this freight terminal no longer exists – the site was cleared in 2015 to make way for the ‘E’ Gate development, only for Transurban to acquire it in 2016 as part of the West Gate ‘Tunnel’ city access ramps.

Around the corner at the South Dynon depot, I found a 114 tonne diesel locomotive being lifted by a crane.

B64 originally entered service in 1952 and was in service with V/Line for 40 years until retired in 1992. It then went through a succession of owners who intended to restore it to service, but to naught – it’s currently dumped out the back of the railway workshops in Bendigo.

Another similarly aged locomotive is steam engine R761.

It also entered service in 1952, but was withdrawn far earlier in 1974, but retained for use on special trains, such as this run to Ballarat.

The steep climb out of Bacchus Marsh drew quite a crowd.

As did the spin on the turntable on arrival at Ballarat.

Along the way I stopped into the ghost town that was Rockbank station.

The station is currently being upgraded as part of the Regional Rail Revival project, but there is nothing ‘regional’ about Rockbank – the new station is intended to serve sprawling new suburbs of Melbourne.

While I was up in Ballarat, I stumbled upon for the former Joe White Maltings plant in Wendouree.

A complex series of conveyors and elevators once moved grain around the facility.

But by the time I visited the plant had closed, bulk of the site having been demolished in 2006, leaving just the silos.

The site then lay empty, with the silos demolished in late-2010 after plans to convert them into apartments fell through.

We end down in Geelong, where I picked up a “Short Term Ticket”.

They were a cardboard single use smartcard ticket, sold on buses in Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong following the introduction of Myki in 2009.

The rollout of short term tickets was cancelled by the Baillieu government in June 2011, acting on advice contained in a secret report by consultants Deloitte. Supposedly the continued rollout was cancelled because the cards cost $0.40 cents to manufacture – making up almost half of the $0.90 charged for a concession bus fare in Geelong!

Despite the objections of locals, the sale of two hour and daily short-term tickets ended in Geelong on Friday 19 April 2013.

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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Plenty of trains again this month – starting with a 8-car long V/Line special departing Geelong, loaded with cats fans headed for the MCG.

There were also a number of special tour trains running. I captured Steamrail Victoria running a diesel-hauled school holiday special train from Melbourne to Geelong.

The Seymour Railway Heritage Centre also visited town, with a train south to Warrnambool.

And even a train operated by the New South Wales Rail Transport Museum, who took their ‘Southern Auroa’ consist from NSW through to the western Victoria city of Ararat.

I also captured some more everyday workings, like this Warrnambool bound V/Line service in the southern Geelong suburb of Grovedale.

Along with a Waurn Ponds cement train.

And this Genesee & Wyoming Australia operated grain train.

Something unexpected was this power failure at Geelong station, which shut down V/Line rail services.

Trains could still keep keep on running, thanks to the redundant power supplies that feed the railway signals, but the lack of station lighting was considered a safety hazard for passengers.

Finally I paid a visit to the tin shed at Avalon that passes for an airport. The air traffic control is located opposite the terminal.

With passengers using portable stairs to access the aircraft.

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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I caught the train to Melbourne yesterday. But not any old train. An old one. And not just any old old train.

The Seymour Rail Heritage Centre ran a special train from Seymour to Geelong, then to Melbourne, back to Geelong, and finally back to Seymour. There was a group of people from the Railpage forums who had travelled on the train from Seymour, so I met them at Geelong station.

All of the carriages bar one had opening windows, so you can stick your head out, get the wind in your hair, and take photos of the train.

The locos were T320 (which is over 50 years old) and T357 (in the lead) – I have a model of one of T357s classmates at home as well.

50 years is old for a piece of operating machinery. The other loco in the pic below is merely 25 years old…

State Car No. 4 and the "Yarra" Parlor Car were at opposite ends of the train. These carriages have open balconies at the ends.

State Car No. 4 has a full bathroom and kitchen on board, as well as a bedroom and lounge. It was used when the Queen visited Victoria and Prince Charles and Princess Dianna also travelled in it. We just sat around on the same chairs, and debated who should be kicked off the Railpage forums.

And the "Yarra" Parlor Car is 100 years old, and was a "Premium" First Class carriage on the Sydney – Melbourne express until the 1930’s. The back half of the carriage is full of comfy couches. The back platform come in useful to wave at fellow railfans (or train drivers who have to wait at signals as you pass by…)

There was also a bar on board (and it was pretty cheap as well) but I needed to drive home.

An advantage of the opening windows is yelling abuse at (innocent?) bystanders… At Werribee we were travelling alongside the road, and there were two blokes in a ute driving along side us, so we started yelling about the fact we were going faster than them. We did the same when passing through stations. A group of guys at Yarraville appeared to be abusing us. It’s lucky no-one at Footscray Station had a gun.

In all, plenty of fun.

The old downside is the weirdo aspect of the rail enthusiast community. The ones who have an one track mind (and on that track – only trains run!) The ones who argues crap and won’t admit they are wrong. You know, that kind of person. You want to run away as fast as you can, but luckily none came up to me.

And a final tip – don’t swear too much when little kids are in the nearby compartments – the parents don’t like it too much…

Footnote

• My photos from the day

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