Glen Waverley shuttles
Hi Everyone,
Today’s post, touching on the Steamrail Victoria’s Glen Waverley shuttles, operated on July 5th.
The train was rostered with two K class locos on it - the colourful duo of blue K183, and red K190 doing the honours, with K190 facing Glen Waverley.
Between the locos were a set of five E type passenger cars, with a water tank wagon for a top up halfway through the day.
Six shuttle trips were scheduled from Glen Waverley to Darling, an intermediate station with a crossover to allow trains to terminate, and head back to where they came from. In addition, the transfer from Newport, Steamrail's home to Glen Waverley, and home again in the afternoon were also available for travel, with all trips sold out! Steamrail has certainly found a popular niche with the suburban market, and provide a nice mix of motive power, carriages and destinations to keep the enthusiast, and locals looking for something nostalgic to do.
The afternoon return trips to Newport have been popular with a few friends over the last couple of years, a good train ride, and, refreshments at The Junction Hotel, just across the road from the station to finish off the day.
Janelle and I had made a spur of the moment decision to head into the city Friday night, and after a great meal, went to bed looking out over the city from the 27th floor of the Grand Hyatt.
Looking out over some of Melbourne’s landmarks, Flinders St. station, the Yarra river, St Paul’s and the Eureka sky tower.
Our room also had a view of Flinders St. station, and platform 10 where the steam special was picking up passengers from the following morning…
I managed to get a photo of the train arriving into Flinders St. a couple of minutes late, before we headed out for breakfast, and a bit of a wander.
Steaming through some Melbourne icons, K190 leads the train into Platform 10 of the stunning Flinders St. station.
Once we'd retrieved our car, we headed out towards Syndal, the second last station on the line, and at the bottom of a big dip between Mount Waverley, and another crest before the line drops into Glen Waverley.
I had a location in mind that I thought would be ok, it was a stretch of the memory banks as I hadn't been out there for quite a while.
My memory was ok, as the location was fairly much as I remembered it, if anything a bit better!
We'd timed it well, as our trip out the Monash Freeway passes Darling station, and the train was just ahead of us, so all was looking ok for the fourth shuttle of the day, before a pause while the engines were serviced.
I found out when I checked my phone after parking the car that it was actually shuttle three, running 40 minutes late, due to a mechanical issue. Not great for the train crew, or Steamrail's mechanical team, but, things were still going ok.
There was a lot of people out and about for it, not just your usual enthusiasts, but plenty of locals hoping for a glimpse of the train. This ended up causing issues later in the day with people wandering across tracks with no rail sense, or in some cases self awareness or self preservation.
I set myself up with a view down the hill into Syndal, and didn't have to wait long to hear the train departing Glen Waverley, and get stuck into the climb.
Once over the first hill, the train eased off briefly, before it was regulators open, and back into the steep 1 in 30 gradient.
Looking smart with a set of E series cars behind it K183 drags the train up the one in 30 grade out of Syndal, one of the steepest sections of line in Victoria.
It looked, and sounded spectacular in the chilly air, and as K183 burst under the Lawrence Rd. bridge, the exhaust rolled out very nicely!
With Syndal station at the foot of the grade, K183, with K190 pushing hard at the back make short - and impressive work of the steep climb.
A short drive to Mount Waverley and a spot was found for the return with the line sweeping across Alvie Rd., on another one in 30 climb up into the station.
There was a cluster of enthusiasts nearer the station, I headed down the hill to find something of my own.
In due course, the train was heard, travelling at a good clip, and K190 came past on the front looking great!
On the approach to Mount Waverley K190 is looking good on the front of the train.
Home to Williamstown after that, and confer with friends the arrangements for the afternoon, given things were so late.
Sticking to the original plan of arriving at Glen Waverley by 3:15pm, for the planned 3:35 pm departure might have seemed a bit optimistic, but with changes to watering arrangements, and some luck, anything could have happened to get things back on, or near to schedule, so it wasn't worth the risk.
Of course, things hadn't improved, if anything, had deteriorated - but that’s railway operations.
Janelle and I had been talking at crossed purposes earlier in the day about expected time back at Newport, and possible dinner arrangements, with me mentioning the timetabled 16:41 arrival, that being interpreted at 6:41 arrival.
She happily dropped me at Newport station, and headed home for the afternoon, while I headed off on my little adventure.
It turned out that we passed the fifth steam special near Jordanville, running substantially behind schedule, and had time to catch up with some friends for a beer before the last shuttle departed at 3:42 pm, an hour and 13 minutes late.
A friend on the train advised that before heading back to Newport, the train would be shunted out to the sidings to position both locos on the front, as the mechanical issue with the leading loco was still a concern.
It was certainly interesting standing on the platform watching the two K classes shunting the yard, not something that to my knowledge had ever occurred out there previously!
K183 pulling the cars forward before dropping into the sidings.
With K190 in platform 2, K183 in No.4 road, and the passenger cars in No.5 road, it’s a busy scene in the dying light at Glen Waverley.
Once the train was reassembled with the two locos tender to tender, K183 leading, it was set back into platform 2, ready for departure.
Pulling the train back out of the sidings, onto the up line into the sunset. Once the rear of the train is clear of the green signal, the points will be run for the train to come back onto the track on the right of the path.
At 17:22 we set off, considerably behind the advertised 15:35, however, with a full train of happy passengers!
It had been a while since I'd travelled behind steam in the evening, which although chilly, was a fantastic experience.
Departing Glen Waverley, with K190s smokebox just out the door.
There was still plenty of people lining platforms waiting to see the train passing through, and as a couple of our group remarked, there's nothing like a steam train to bring a smile to people's faces - especially those thoroughly surprised by it passing through while they were waiting for their train.
The run through the suburbs was great, and then into the lights of the city once we passed through Richmond. We did get to admire the city lights for a while while we waited for platform 10 to become available, before pulling into the station.
Quite a number of people left the train here, with many heading up for a last look at the locos before they departed.
Once we had a path, and headed out onto the viaduct, the drivers of both locos put on a whistle show, which echoed around the city.
Clattering through the pointwork of Southern Cross (or Spencer St. depending on where you sit in my readership), we had a smooth run back to Newport, arriving at 18:33 - near enough to on Nell's predicted time!
After thanking our hosts, and mate who had the difficult job of managing K183 all day, it was time to get out of the cold for dinner and a de-brief on what had been a really enjoyable day.
While it’s hard enough work when things are going well, how these dedicated people respond when things aren’t going to plan, but still deliver a quality service has to be called out.
Big thanks to the crews, paid or otherwise, from Steamrail, V/Line and Metro Trains who made it a successful day for all the passengers and onlookers!!!
Thanks for reading!
Scott