W243 has recently been requisitioned from Ballarat East loco whilst repairs are carried out on the resident W workshops shunter at Ballarat North. This morning W243 was observed wandering out of the workshops onto the mainline before setting back on to a rake of repaired and repainted wagons ready to be released back into service.
Once shunting was complete, W243 left the wagons on the Maryborough line to be collected by the workshops pilot. The rake of wagons consisted of a QH, VHSY, VLCX and a GY.
10 minutes later, Y153 artives on the workshops pilot pushing (as permitted in the general instructions) two departmental HR wagons and a red carded VHJA gypsum hopper from Ballarat yard.
The Y pushes the wagons into the workshops sidings and then returns to mainline. These wagons will be shunted into the workshops during the afternoon where the HR wheel transport wagon will be loaded with wheels destined for lathe at Newport workshops and the HR open wagon with parts for Jolimont workshops.
The workshops pilot usually ran around 12:30 - 1:30pm when there was a lull in services on the mainlines, and the pilot was available from shunting duties in Ballarat yard.. The pilot would convey red carded wagons requiring repairs or departmental wagons transferring parts between the workshops. If I'm looking to run trains for 10 to 15 mins outside of an operating session I'll quite often shunt the workshops or Ballarat yard and run the workshops pilot, while running a goods or passenger train on the mainline (without affecting the operating sequence).
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