VPFX Flour Hoppers

During the 1980's flour was dispatched from the Bunge Flour Mill at Ballarat North to Williamstown and Westall in VPFX Flour hopper wagons. The VPFX were built in two batches between 1966 and 1971. FX 1 to 6 were built at Newport while FX 7 to 17 were built at Ballarat North Workshops. When the wagons were first delivered they were finished in silver with a small VR logo, later many received flour company branding and some were repainted white with VR or V/Line logos.

At the Sandown Exhibition in March I purchased a pack of SDS models FX flour hopper wagons. The pack contained 3 hoppers, FX13 silver with large VR logo, FX8 silver with Waterwheel branding and small VR logo and FX14 in white with Bunge logo. These are labelled as 1970s pack. In the long term I'm thinking that I'll try and alter the watershed branded hopper to a silver hopper with large VR logo with Bunge lettering still showing underneath reflecting one that I remember seeing at Westall in the early 1980's.

Y170 shunts flour hopper wagons at Bunge's Garden City Flour Mill.

The flour hoppers are usually transferred to Ballarat North by the morning flour mill pilot (no. 75). Due to the overhead loading chutes being on the through siding, they are usually pushed to MacArthur street end of the sidings and then positioned under the loading chutes by the afternoon pilot that clears the sidings of any empty grain wagons.

I'm not sure if there were any hoppers still displaying the Bunge logo in 1983. An article in the VR Newsletter from Jan -Feb 1983 includes an image of one although the photograph could be older.

 The article doesn't refer to flour being transported  from Bunge's mill in Flour Hoppers only that bagged flour was being transported on pallets in louve vans from Ballarat to Melbourne freight centre where it was transferred to road carrier for delivery to Bunge' s warehouse at Fitzroy for distribution to suburban bakeries.

The Facebook post from  below shows a 2 VPFX in the Doveton Street sidings awaiting loading at the Garden City Mill. It demonstrates that flour was still being moved from the Garden City Mill by rail well into the V/Line era.

2 VPFX Flour Hoppers are shunted by a T class in the Doveton St sidings.