Morning Redan Pilot

 

On Weekday mornings the first pilot servicing Ballarat's industrial sidings is the No.67 Redan Pilot. It's scheduled to depart Ballarat at 5:30am and depending on shunting usually takes 20 to 30 minutes to reach the Ballarat Cattleyards and Redan.

Today's pilot is short with only 5 wagons, an AQBY, VTQY, VLCX, 2 x KMQ with a ZLP bringing up the rear. Here its seen running under the Armstrong Street bridge after crossing from the Up to the Down line.

After an uninterrupted run down the branch, Y153 arrives at Ballarat Cattleyards. The Y uncouples from wagons and pulls forward to the Gillies Street gates. The points are switched and the Y runs around the wagons using the loop and couples to the guards van. . 

The ABQY is uncoupled from the rest of the train and the Y pulls the wagons back towards Ballarat until they clear the junction to Redan. The junction points are switched and Y153 pushes the wagons forward and into the Ampol (Alba) oil siding. 

The wagons are coupled to the empty tanker in the siding, the Y reverses out of the siding, the points are returned to normal position and the Y pushes the empty oil tanker into the flour mill sidings. It will be retrieved later after Bendix Mintex factory is shunted. 

The Y returns towards the junction until it clears the points to the Alba siding, then pushes the VTQY into the siding for unloading. 

 

The VTQY is uncoupled from the other wagons and Y153 then returns to the Ballarat cattleyards sidings and couples to the wagons to the AQBY left in the siding. .

The wagons are left in the loop at the cattleyards and the Y runs down the branch towards the Elliot Magill Maltsters Mill. 

Once its cleared the points to Bendix Mintex factory, it reverses onto a VLCX-QMX-VLCX loaded with carparts. 

The Y then pulls the wagons forward into the mill sidings until they clear the points. The wagons are then pushed back through the junction and onto the line back towards Ballarat. 

The wagons are left here, while the Y runs forward utilizing the loop to run around the wagons brought earlier from Ballarat. 

The Y couples to the AQBY, then pushes the wagons back towards Ballarat until the loco has cleared the junction to Redan. 

The junction is switched and the Y then pulls the wagons forward into the mill sidings until they clear the points to Bendix Mintex factory, 

The Y then pushes the ABQY-VLCX-KMQ-KMQ into the sidings at the Bendix Mendix factory. 

The Y uncouples from the wagons and returns to the Mill sidings, reverses back down the line towards  reverses onto a VLCX-QMX-VLCX loaded with carparts. The wagons are pulled forward into the loop at the cattleyards. The Y uncouples and runs to the Gillies Street gates. 

The points are switched and Y153 runs around the wagons using the loop. The VLCX which is at Ballarat end is uncoupled from the rest of the wagons. The Y will use this a safety wagon between the loco and the oil tanker. The Y pushes the VLCX through the junction and down to the mill sidings and couples up to the empty oil tanker.

 The Y returns to the cattleyard sidings and shunts these onto the Ballarat end of the train. It's 7:10am when Y153 departs for Ballarat with VLCX-TWF-QMX-VLCX-ZLP.