V Line – Melbourne 3rd & 11th December 2012
We didn’t get as much exposure as we’d planned to V Line stuff, mainly due to the de-railment on the Werris Creek – Narrabri line resulting in us having to re-plan the back end of the trip which meant we had to head back to Sydney a day earlier than originally planned, resulting in our overnight stay in Bacchus Marsh being dismissed towards the end of the trip.
Travelling on V Line is easy enough ticket wise but effectively you’re not allowed to get on trains coming into town at suburban stations where the Metro serves, likewise going out you can’t buy tickets to the same places. In practice you can do both, although it is very prudent to have a ticket valid to the station where the train was last booked to stop, just in case.
V Line return tickets are valid as a day pass between the two points and are also then valid on the Metro in zones 1 & 2 all day. Myki cards, a bit like the UK Oyster card, is topped up and used within the relevant zones you want to travel in by tapping in/out as appropriate. The only line the Myki is of any use on is the Bacchus Marsh one where zone 2 extends to Melton, the shack before Bacchus Marsh. The difference in fare from a return to Bacchus Marsh and the Myki extending to zone 2 is only 90c though.
The status of the V Line Fleet during our trip was as follows:
A60 – Standby
A62 – In traffic
A66 – In traffic (though didn’t turn a wheel in the three weeks we were there)
A70 – In traffic
N451 – N475 – All in traffic (N453, 469, 470 Standard Gauge)
P11 – In traffic
P12 – In traffic
P13 – Standard gauge joko
P14 – In traffic
P15 – In traffic
P16 – In traffic
P17 – In traffic
P18 – In traffic
Y129, 156, 161 163 – Broad gauge jokos
The following were the Bacchus Marsh Line commuter turns:
1615 – A Class (returns 0612 ex Bacchus Marsh)
1645 – N Class (returns 0650 ex Bacchus Marsh)
1713 – P Class T&T (returns 0731 ex Bacchus Marsh)
1726 – P Class T&T (returns 0743 ex Bacchus Marsh)
1751 – N Class (returns 0703 ex Bacchus Marsh)
Monday 3rd December 2012
Having been at Bellarine Railway in the morning we made it back into Melbourne for the evening P Class diagrams on the Bacchus Marsh Line and managed to cover both sets along with the N class on the 1751 ex Southern Cross for a DMU back into town before heading off to the pub.
The following worked that evening on the Bacchus Marsh Line:
1713 – P12/15 T&T, 1726 – P18/17 T&T, 1751 – N464
Tuesday 11th December 2012
A full day in Melbourne allowed for a bit of V Line action, although not a full evening covering the commuters on the Bacchus Marsh line as we had to be on the overnight XPT to Sydney that night. In between photting at Bunbury Street and doing the XPT I managed to do an early afternoon run out to Wallan on the Shepparton line with N Classes before covering the A & P Class turns in the late afternoon.
The following were observed:
N475 – 1252 Shepparton
N463 – 1300 Warrnambool
N462 – 1520 South Geelong
N468 – 1250 Ex Shepparton
A70 – 1615 Bacchus Marsh
P15/12 – 1713 Bacchus Marsh
P18/16 – 1726 Bacchus Marsh
