Australian Railways:1982 Victorian Railways with EMD products working hard. Part One

1982 digitised cine film with dubbed sound mostly between Ballarat and Stawell with EMD noisy products slaving uphill bringing in the grain harvest. Passenger trains were wearing the so-called Tea-Cup livery. Classes include B, C, S, T, W and Y.

[@jamieteal2107]

Great to watch seems like yesterday for me thanks the trip down memory lane 👍🇦🇺

[@858493]

What a gem thank-you for sharing and yes look at the mess now crazy, V Line cant even run and service all of Victoria let alone run a few passenger trains, when the VR did it all freight, passenger and track maintenance together under one business model. regards Doc

[@darylcheshire1618]

At that time, LNP pollies were saying that we can’t afford the rail mode of transport and were in favour of transitioning to road transport. However after the Lonie Report, the LNP knew that it would be political suicide to carry out the recommendations in full.
It was a classic case of not commissioning a report unless you know what it will say.
Many lines that were recommended for closure were closed over the next ten years. Some by Labor party.
It was like Victoria’s own Beeching report.
There was a cartoon in the Melbourne Sun where (conservative) transport minister Robert Maclellan was saying to Santa in his sleigh, “Sorry Santa, everything on rails has got to go!”

[@ianomeara6263]

Just before they went about closing it all down. And went to the road.

[@stely_official]

That stupid lonie report was already showing its effects, only a matter of time after this that these areas would never see a normal passenger or goods train ever again

[@Skull-Beneath-The-Skin]

Ya gotta love a B class...

[@NoBody-ht1oh]

Y class Why indeed