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| W243 shunts VFNX050 into Ballarat's bluestone goods shed for unloading. |
50 VFNX bulkhead flat wagons were built at Newport workshops in 1979. These wagons were basically a flat wagon with fixed bulkheads and a moveable tarpaulin following European practice. The main use of the VFNX was in freight centre traffic and paper traffic from Maryvale papermill in the Latrobe Valley. During construction two wagons were fitted with experimental yellow plastic tarpaulin (VFNX 11 and 50).
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| VFNX 011 with yellow tarp, East Yard, 28/10/1979, . (Photo source Rob O'Regan oRXO) |
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| VFNX 050 with tarpaulin open at one end.VFNX, Canal Storage Yard, 28/10/1979. 050 differs from 011 in that the hoops are painted wagon red instead of silver. (Photo source Rob O'Regan) |
I have wanted to model one of the VFNX with the yellow tarpaulin for a number of years. I was fortunate to have David Hill from the Hobbyman donate a tarpaulin shell for this build. I scratchbuilt the underframe and bulkhead ends out of Evergreen styrene sheet. Brass wire was used to produce the steps and handrails. The bogies are Steam Era Models XC bogies.
The wagon was painted with Revell no.37 for the ends and underframe and Humbrol 69 gloss yellow for the tarpaulin.
The black VR was an old BGB decal, which had to have the arrows reduced in length to fit. The wagon number and the bogie exchange X were left overs from Railmotor models J series hopper kit. The wagon has been weathered with powders.
On the layout VFNX wagons are used in Freight centre service, arriving overnight on 9101 Melbourne Yard - Ballarat Fast Goods and then shunted to the goods shed by the yard pilot for unloading. Once unloaded they are usually shunted to one of the adjacent tracks before returning to the shed in the afternoon to receive the outward Freight Centre loading. It's then shunted into the consist of the 9170 Ballarat - Melbourne Through Goods, departing Ballarat at 8pm.
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| W243 shunts VFNX050 in Ballarat yard with the freight centre loading. |
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