W class

The much maligned W class diesel hydraulics performed much of the shunting in and around the Ballarat area for many years. By 1983, Y class had largely replaced W class on pilot duties although there were still a few W's in use at Ballarat. Y150 to Y154 were allocated to Ballarat and operated most of the pilots as well as the Ararat and Maryborough roadside goods on the mainline, and the goods on the Skipton and Newlyn branchlines.

A list of W class fleet appeared in the December 1982 issue of Newsrail and indicated that the following W class were at Ballarat.

W242 at Ballarat

W243 at Ballarat

W247 pilot at Ballarat North Workshops

W248 at Ballarat 

W250 at Ballarat under repairs

W252 at Ballarat under repairs

W253 at Ballarat workshops under repairs

W257 at Ballarat North Workshops under repair

W260 pilot at Ballarat

Mark Bau's Victorian Railways website lists that W248 was withdrawn in Sept 1982, W252 in Jan 81, W253 in Sept 1982 and W257 in Feb 1982. From this information I assume that those listed at Ballarat were active on pilot duties, while those listed under repairs would have remained in this state and wouldn't have returned to service.

I recently received a IDR W class as a 50th birthday present and had to choose a number for the loco. Both W243 and W260 appear regularly in observations in Newsrail from 1983 and were often captured in photographs. I assume that these were the W's in the best condition so were therefore used more often. W247 appears to have ended its operating days within the confines of Ballarat North workshops. W250 and W242 don't appear in Newsrail observations in 1983 so I assume that they had been setaside and stored at Ballarat East or Ballarat North workshops. W250 reappeared on pilot duties in 1984 (with a silver funnel) so was perhaps getting repaired at workshops during much of 1983. There is also an undated photo of W247 and W242 at Ballarat North Workshops so perhaps W242 had been moved to the workshops to assist on pilot duties. W260 had been painted in a lighter shade of blue when last overhauled so I decided on W243.

On the layout W243 will share Ballarat pilot duties with the Y class. Depending on W243 performance, I will probably add other W's to the fleet as funds permit, to capture those that were operating in the period modelled.

On the day of the Royal train to Ballarat W260, W243 and an unidentified Y class were captured resting in the Carriage shed sidings between shunting duties at Ballarat, (15th April 1983).