T386 was the first T class to be released from Newport workshops in the new V/Line corporate colours of orange and grey. Freshly repainted it ran a light engine trial to Geelong and return on Wednesday 24th August 1983, 3 days after the official launch of V/Line.
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| T386 with an Up Shepparton pass at Kilmore East 24/02/1984. This was the only T class painted in V/Line colours that retained the recesses in the side of the cab. |
For the launch day only 4 locos carried the new V/Line colours and symbols, B84, Y175, L1156 and X47. Y146 was in the new colours but didn't receive VLine logos until the 23rd August, making T386 the Sixth locomotive to receive the new livery.
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| T386 leads a block grain working to Litchfield to clear the silos ahead of predictions of a bumper grain harvest. |
At the recent Morwell Exhibition I purchased a Powerline model of T386. Looking at photos there are variations between the model and how T386 appeared after release from the workshops in 1983. The first locomotives in the V/Line livery had orange pilots without black stripes. The model is also fitted with rear view mirrors. Photos of T386 shortly after its release in orange and grey show the locomotive without mirrors (which is interesting as it had mirrors prior to the overhaul).
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| T386 leads C503 on an empty block grain train from Portland into the yard at Ararat, Feb 1984 |
The model has a black exhaust stack which I thought was incorrect, but a photo by Wayne Cook at Ararat shows that it was black stack early in 1984. Bruce McLean photo of T386 after it was repainted in 1986, shows the locomotive with stripes on the pilot and mirrors fitted, but the recesses in the cab filled in. It therefore appears that the model is a mix between how it appeared after its first and second coats of V/Line colours.
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| T386 sporting its second coat of V/Line colours at Mildura, 1st May 1986, Bruce McLean photo. |
I'm not sure if I will remove the mirrors and paint out the stripes on the pilot to make it correct for 1983, I'll probably run it as is, and make a decision at a later date.  |
| Side on view showing the cutouts in the cab that were originally intended to house staff exchanges. T386 was the only T class to be painted in V/Line colours to retain these cut outs. All other T's had the area plated over when overhauled and repainted. |
I'm not sure when T386 was released from Newport workshops, as it was still there on the 2nd September 1983. On Monday 19th September, it was on the 0645 Up Ballarat pass. B80-S309-T386 with a N set.
On Saturday 8th October 1983, T386 was placed in charge of a special for a Trinity Theological College Pilgrimage to Wangaratta, with a mixed consist of 70BPL-1BE-75BW-5BCE-71BW-73BPL-54BPL-38BPL-16BE-9CW.
By late December 1983, T386 was helping shift the bumper 1983/84 grain harvest. It was observed with dipped in orange B84 at Dunolly on string of empty GY's heading North. Two days later if was arriving at Portland behind C503 with a block grain working of VHGY's from Ararat. It was still working out west in early January being observed at Ararat locomotive depot on Sunday 1st and Sunday 8th January 1984.
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