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Steamrail Victoria, Ballarat Triple-Header – June 2017

Steamrail Victoria is a non-profit organisation dedicated to the restoration and operation of vintage steam, diesel and electric locomotives and carriages. Running out of the Newport Workshops in Melbourne, they have quite an extensive fleet of vehicles and regularly run trips throughout Victoria.

They recently put three of their steam locomotives on a trip to Ballarat. The consist then ran to Geelong where it split and ran side-by-side for the first part of the return trip to Melbourne. Due to initial delays, I only saw it on the first leg after Bacchus Marsh, but it was well worth the wait!

Climbing out of Parwan

The grade from Bacchus Marsh to Bank Box Loop is steep and so a large deviation is in place, in the shape of a horse-shoe, to spread the incline over a longer distance. From the top of the grade, you can see trains coming round the bend from quite a distance away. This made it a great viewing spot for the steam train as it approached.

As you can see, it was a constant battle with cloud-cover, but then the heavens opened up.

The engines were perfectly ordered, smallest to largest, and both looked and sounded great up the incline! There was quite a turnout to see them.

Ingliston

At the top of the incline, there's a loop known as Bank Box. The consist was delayed here again whilst one of the locomotives was inspected. Due to the weather, I nearly gave up waiting... but then the unmistakable sound of steam locomotives (and a level crossing) indicated that they were en-route.

I must admit... black is really hard to photograph!

Other sightings on the day

Just before Bacchus Marsh, there's a great curve just off Woolpack Rd and I happened to be right in time for a down Ballarat V/Locity service.

This would actually be a great spot to get anything Melbourne-bound in the morning. The lighting and scenery is awesome. I then managed to catch the same train (and quite a few others, due to the late running of the steamer), up off McCormacks Road.

And then IEV100 came through! I saw mentions of it on Facebook heading through Sunshine... only to then hear a sighting in Melton. Fingers-crossed... it appeared!

And that was it for the day... a lot of waiting in a seriously cold breeze... but great people and great trains.