Floods

Heavy rainfall on the 15th and 16th October 1983 resulted localised flooding to the west of Melbourne.  Merrimu Reservoir near Bacchus Marsh received 51mm on the 15th and 75.6mm on 16th October. The heavy rain saw the down Overland hit a mudslide near Parwan late on the 15th October. It was retrieved and ran via Brooklyn and North Geelong to Ballarat where it finally arrived at 0500 running over 6 hours behind schedule!



Running 6 hours behind schedule the Down Overland arrives at Ballarat. 

The Sunshine to Warrenheip line was closed by the slide resulting the trains being diverted via North Geelong. The Up Overland on Sunday 16th October was diverted via North Geelong but the heavy rain had then resulted in flooding of the Melbourne to Geelong line near Little River. The Overland was therefore diverted with the train running into Geelong station. Passengers were transferred to Melbourne by bus via Bacchus Marsh.

 

B69 was used to haul the complete train with locos to North Geelong so that it could reverse around the North Geelong loop. The Overland then ran to Ballarat reversed and then continued it's journey to Melbourne as the mudslide had since been cleared. The Geelong line remained closed for most of Sunday 16th October. Photos of the diverted Overland at Geelong were included in the January 1984 issue of Newsrail.

The unusual sight of the Overland in Ballarat during the afternoon.
S311 and S309 have run around the empty cars in Ballarat yard. They will follow B68 on 8142 pass to Melbourne once its cleared the section Ballarat East - Warrenheip. T359 sits on an Up goods in No.3 road.