Seven-o-Seven & VGR | Slow Rail Journey to Maldon! with; R707, T413, P20, J549 & Y157 | 2024

On the 14th of September 2024, a historic event took place by operator 707 Operations from Southern Cross Station in Melbourne to the countryside town of Castlemaine. This event marked the first time diesel loco P20 making an appearance on the mainline, P20 was also painted from FA to 80's V/line orange and gray livery. Along with this, diesel locomotive T413 tagged along in being its first tour aswell. T413 was purchased second hand from the Australian Portland Cement quarry which had a railway within its quarry. It was numbered D 1 by its original owner and bought back by the Victorian Railways in 1969. T413 still carries its history as one of its logos displays as 'ARC' instead of VR which is still displayed on the other end. All this made the heritage trip a triple-header, and definitely made for an awesome chase.

Along with 707, the VGR (Victorian Goldfields Railway) operated their steam locomotive J549 in assistance with Y157 from Castlemaine to Maldon. 707's carriage consist was used on the VGR hence the need for the assistance of the Y class.

Timeline:
00:00 - Introduction
00:13 - R707 P20 T413 8594 Seddon (Transfer)
01:18 - Southern Cross
02:36 - 8095 West Footscray
03:23 - (Introduction 2) - Gisborne Station Arrival
03:43 - Gisborne Station Departure
04:45 - J549 - 8095 Castlemaine Arrival
05:53 - (Introduction 3) - Castlemaine Shunt Back
06:17 - Y157 & J549
06:21 - (Introduction 4) - R707 P20 T413 Shunt Onto VGR
07:21 - R707 P20 T413 Shunt to Sheds
08:12 - 701 J549 Y157 Castlemaine Departure
09:05 - Muckleford
09:55 - Maldon
11:01 - (Introduction 5) Maldon Yards
11:18 - Maldon Turn Around (J549)
11:42 - Leaving the Turntable
12:28 - Shunting onto other tracks
12:58 - 702 Maldon Departure
13:59 - Muckleford
14:49 - Muckleford Departure
15:48 - Castlemaine Arrival
16:25 - R707 P20 T413 shunting
17:11 - Shunting back
18:23 - Shunting to platform 2 (Castlemaine)
21:27 - 8096 Castlemaine Departure
22:15 - Taradale Viaduct
23:10 - Malmsbury Viaduct
23:24 - Woodend Station
23:50 - Gisborne Station
24:16 - Sunbury Station
24:30 - Outro
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
I would also like to give a shoutout to the following people for coming along with me for this event.
‪@junkyardigan3‬, ‪@VicRailProduction‬

This event was also made possible by my Dad who drove me and 707 Operations who operate amazing tours like this one. Please visit their website via the link below so you don't miss out on any of their upcoming tours. https://www.707operations.com.au/

With all said, enjoy the video!

Social Media:
  / victorian.rails  
  / victorian.rails24  
  / victorian-rails