40th anniversary of the New Deal for Country Passengers

Today, 4th October marks the 40th anniversary of the New Deal for country passengers and the significant changes to Vic Rails country timetable.

On weekdays the two N sets that were introduced with the new timetable ran combined on the 6:50am service from South Geelong. On arrival at Spencer Street station the sets were separated with one running to Horsham and returning in the afternoon before runs to Geelong and back and then back to Geelong that evening. The second set ran to Ballarat in the morning returning to Melbourne by lunchtime and then ran to South Geelong.

Timetable from the launch of the New Deal services. On Saturdays one set travelled to Horsham and then back to Melbourne while the second set made 4 return trips to Geelong. On Sundays the 2 sets ran combined from Melbourne to Swan Hill and return and then to Geelong in the evening. At this time the sets each comprised of two BN cars and an ACN (the BRNs weren't introduced until mid 1982). Below I have included some of the promotional material that was released to celebrate the launch of the new cars and new timetable.

My layout attempts to capture the significant changes that occurred to the country passenger car fleet with the New Deal, My operating sessions cover the period from October 1982 through to January 1984. As I move through the months I altered the consists of trains and their schedules to reflect the corresponding changes that occurred in the working timetable.