Another instalment in my photos from ten years ago series – this time it is March 2007.
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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