Night operating session

Its 12:35am and 934 and S305 struggle upgrade out of Ballarat on 9149 Melbourne - Adelaide Fast Goods.

Operating sessions on the layout follow a sequence of  movements based on actual observations from Ballarat during 1982-83 and the Western and South-Western District Working Timetable (Issued on 30th Oct 1982).

There are both summer and winter timetables as well as Saturday and Sunday timetables. Given the large number of train movements through Ballarat (59 trains with the summer timetable), the Mon-Fri timetable is usually broken down into 2 sessions (either AM - PM or Day - Night (6am-6pm/6pm-6am)) or 4 sessions (of 6 hours each). 

The following description is of a 6 hour night session from 00:00 to 06:00 hours and includes the operation of the 12 trains. These are outlined in the table below.

Time	Train No.	Train	Loco	Consist	Comments
00:15		Yelta – Geelong Grain	T-T	VHGY’s, GH’s or GY’s
00:35	9149	Melb – Adelaide Fast Goods	C	Bogie stock only
02:35-02:45	9118	Mildura – Melb Through Goods	B-T or X-T	Bogie stock only	Shunts Ballarat to pick up perishables
02:54	240	Mildura – Corio Block Oil	B, X or T-T	Bogie oil tanks	Safety wagons between loco and tanks, tanks and van
03:00-03:25	9155	Melb – Mildura Fast Goods	B-T or X-T	Bogie stock only	Shunts Ballarat to detach Ballarat loading and clear Ballarat loading for Maryborough line
03:40	9101	Melb – Ballarat Fast Goods	B, S or T		Conveys Ballarat Freight Centre loading and loading for Ballarat Industries
04:05		Dunolly – Ballarat Grain	T-T	VHGY’s, GH’s or GY’s	Conveys grain for Ballarat Flour Mills
04:15	362	Ararat – Ballarat Roadside Goods	Y or T		Return of 383
04:50	9103	Melb – Adelaide Fast Goods	C	Bogie stock only
05:35-05:40	9130	Adelaide – Melb Express Goods	C, S-S or X-S	Bogie stock only
05:30	67	Redan Pilot	Y or W	Lourve vans, flats with shipping containers	Shunts Mars, and Freezer siding, (Cattleyards on Wed.)
05:45	8110	Vinelander	B-T or X-T	CE-AZ-MRS-BZ-BS-Sleepers-Motorail

The session started with T388 - T401 on an Up Geelong grain with a lengthy load of GH's which rattled through Ballarat non-stop at 12:15am. This was quickly followed on the Down by 934 - S305 on 9149 Melbourne - Adelaide Fast Goods at 12:35am.

T388 - T401 on an Up Geelong grain of GH hoppers. Both T's are scratchbuilt bodies on Athearn SW1500 mechanisms.

Two hours passed before the next train arrived at Ballarat, the Mildura - Corio Block Oil with T356 and a consist of VFEX-5xVTQY-VFDA-ZMF. The Oilly pulled into the arrival sidings and this is where it stayed, the result of poor electrical connection with the points at the station end of the sidings. After 20 minutes trying to the solve the problem I gave up, adding the problem to the to do list.

Next train through was 9155, the Melbourne - Mildura Fast Goods which ground to a stop with  screening brakes at No.1 platform at 3:14am. Y150, Ballarat yard pilot, removed the ZLP van, shunting a VLCX and VFLX (with refrigerated containers) onto the rear of the train. With the guards van reattached, B83 - T381 departed 25 mins late at 3:48am.

S307 on 9101 Melb - Ballarat Fast Goods rolls under the Queens St bridge at Ballarat East.

Delayed by the late departure of 9155, S307 with 9101 Melbourne - Ballarat Fast Goods arrived at 3:55am, with a light load of VOAA-VLEX-VOBX-GY-VLCX-QMX-VLBY-ZF. With the arrival siding occupied by the oily and out of action, 9101 arrived in the departure siding. S307 then took a circular route to locomotive depot via no.4 road to Ballarat B box and then via the crossover to gain access to No.1 road and hence to Ballarat East. Y150 shunted the vans and open wagons to the goods shed roads, placing the guards van at the dock platform.  A QMX and VLBY from 9101 were then shunted onto two waiting oil tanks to form the loading for Redan.

At 4:12am T367 and T321 arrived at Ballarat on the Dunolly - Ballarat grain with a light load of  5 VHGY's and ZF van.

T367-T321 with a load of VHGY's pass the Ballarat North Railway Workshops.

After the T's had departed for the locomotive depot, Y150 shunted the van to the dock and then placed the VHGY's into the weighbridge road for weighing. At this point Y150 stopped dead and no coxing could get it to move.

Failed Y150 in the weighbridge road.

Y152 on 362 the Ararat - Ballarat Roadside Goods with a single ELX and ZL, rolls downgrade towards Ballarat. Y152 is a scratchbuilt styrene body on an Athearn SW1500 mechanism.

Shortly after Y152 arrived on 362 the Ararat - Ballarat Roadside Goods with a single ELX and ZL.
Y152 was commandeer as replacement yard pilot and shunted the ELX to the goods shed and then collected a GY to use as a spacer wagon between the oil tankers and ZL van on the Redan loading. Y152 departed with the No.67 Redan pilot 5 minutes late at 05:35am, the new three-way point at the end of platform 2 allowing the train to depart from the goods sidings without having to reverse back to Ballarat East to reach the mainline.

X48-S300 on 9130 Adelaide - Melbourne Express Goods arrived 5 minutes later at 5:40am. After a quick crew change at Ballarat Station, X48-S300 began the slow climb up Warrenheip bank at 5:44am.

Y152 arrived into the cattle siding's and ran around the wagons using the loop. The loco then coupled to the guards van and shunted it to the Gillies Street gates at the end of sidings. The Y then returned down the loop and coupled to the wagons, reversing back pass the points for Redan. These wagons were then pushed towards Elliot Magill Mill. Rail Tractor 21 RT was used to shunt the wagons into the freezer sidings, replacing a DWF and VLBY at the loading doors. Y152 then couple onto the GY and 2 VTQY's exchanging these with 2 empties in the oil siding. Y152 then push the GY and empty oil tanks onto the vans and then push them down the cattle siding on to the guards van. Once the brake test had been completed, Y152 departed for Ballarat.

21RT positions vans for unloading in freezer sidings.

Shunting the guards van in the cattle sidings.



Y152 exchanges the oil tanks at Redan. Scenery is only part complete in section of the layout.

The Vinelander with X44 in charge rolled into Ballarat's No.2 platform at 5:50am with a consist of  2 x Sleepers-AZ-MRS-BS-CE-motorail wagon. After some of the passengers had disembarked, the Vinelander departed at 5:56am. The session finished with Y152 arriving into the goods sidings with no.72 (the return of 67 Redan Pilot).

X44 on the Up Vinelander approaches the Doveton Street level crossing.

The list of problems to be fixed has grown, the highest priority being the electrical problem with the Up mainline at the end of platform 2. Y150 has gone to the workbench and will be worked on over the weekend.