The Victorian Railways' (VR) Royal Trains operated to transport members of the royal family on their numerous tours of Australia on the Victorian rail network. The same carriages were also used for a number of vice-regal trains for the governor-general of Australia and the governor of Victoria. The last Royal Train ran in 1988.
Royal trains usually operated with special carriage stock set aside for the purpose. Most trains operated with double headed locomotives to reduce the chance of the train being stranded due to locomotive failure, with a third locomotive running in front of the train to ensure the track was clear. A special headboard with the royal coat of arms was usually affixed to the front of the leading locomotive.
In the history of the Victorian Railways there were five special carriages designated for royal train and other special services, designated State Car 1 through to State Car 5.
From 1954, the carriages were painted in the standard royal blue with gold (chrome yellow) trim of the Victorian Railways, created for Spirit of Progress in 1937, with the exception of the 1988 Royal Tour. Operated by its successor V/Line, this trip was operated by two freshly cleaned, partially repainted (below footplate) and polished locomotives in the standard V/Line orange and grey livery, with the carriages painted in a one off 'executive' livery of grey and white, with orange and green trim. [1]
For the tour of Elizabeth II and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the Royal Train ran over a period of six days in early March in two separate divisions. The first conveyed the couple, ladies-in-waiting and other dignitaries, and consisted of a combination of six steel and two wooden carriages, all in blue and gold livery, hauled by state-of-the-art diesel-electric locomotives B60 and B85. The second division consisted of Tait-era red sleeping, dining and ancillary carriages, conveying the media and other support staff behind the first division.
From the official operating circular, supported by photographs, the make-up of the 1954 Royal Train was:
The locomotives were crewed by:
On 2 March, a shortened train (single B with four carriages, including state car 4 trailing) conveyed the Duke from Melbourne to Flinders Naval Depot. It was turned via the Crib Point triangle – a rare piece of track infrastructure on Victorian Railways – and returned to Melbourne. The Duke, a former navy officer, presented new colours to one of the units. Returning, he alighted at South Yarra, then by car to Government House. Next day, 3 March, the couple flew to Sale, Gippsland. The train ran empty to Sale to pick up the Queen and the Duke and return them to Melbourne, with a side trip to Yallourn. The following evening, at 5 pm on 4 March, the train took the royal couple to Goorambat, 132 miles from Melbourne on the Yarrawonga line, north of Benalla. The train was stabled there overnight.
The following day, the train returned to Benalla, where the royal couple left the train and travelled to Tatura with a road-motor convoy. The train then ran empty to Seymour, reversed, proceeded along the Goulburn Valley main line and diverged at Toolamba along the Toolamba–Echuca railway line, bound for Tatura. Here, the couple were picked up, and the train continued to Echuca, reversing there and heading south to Bendigo via the main line. After Bendigo, the train continued south to Castlemaine, then west via the cross-country line to Maryborough. The train then ran south to Waubra Junction, short of Ballarat, reversed and ran the short journey down the Waubra branch line to the Ballarat Racecourse Platform at approximately 81 miles (locally known as Dowling's Forest Racecourse). The train was again stabled overnight.
The following day, the train departed the racecourse and ran into Ballarat. The train then ran to Melbourne via Geelong, pausing at Aircraft station (adjacent to RAAF Laverton) before continuing though Melbourne to Warburton, where the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh exited the Royal Train for the last time. The two divisions then returned empty to Spencer Street and stabled. [22]
V/Line is a statutory authority that operates regional passenger train and coach services in the Australian state of Victoria. It provides passenger train services on five commuter lines and eight long-distance routes from its major hub at Southern Cross railway station in Melbourne. It also provides bus services across Victoria and into New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and South Australia. In addition, V/Line is responsible for the maintenance of much of the Victorian freight and passenger rail network outside of the areas managed by Metro Trains Melbourne and the Australian Rail Track Corporation.
Rail transport in the Australian state of Victoria is provided by a number of railway operators who operate over the government-owned railway lines. The network consists of 2,357 km of Victorian broad gauge lines, and 1,912 km of standard gauge freight and interstate lines; the latter increasing with gauge conversion of the former. Historically, a few experimental 762 mm gauge lines were built, along with various private logging, mining and industrial railways. The rail network radiates from the state capital, Melbourne, with main interstate links to Sydney and to Adelaide, as well as major lines running to regional centres, upgraded as part of the Regional Fast Rail project.
The Victorian Goldfields Railway is a 1,600 mm broad gauge tourist railway in Victoria, Australia. It operates along a formerly disused branch line between the towns of Maldon and Castlemaine.
The V/Line VLocity, sometimes called the VLocity 160, is a diesel multiple unit train built by Bombardier Transportation and later Alstom in Dandenong for V/Line, the regional rail operator in the Australian state of Victoria. Continuously in production since 2003, the VLocity is the highest-speed train in the V/Line fleet, with a top speed of 160 km/h (99 mph). As of February 2024 with set 114 entering service, 112 3-car sets are in revenue service, 2 collision damaged sets are in storage, and 25 more are under construction on the current confirmed orders.
The Spirit of Progress was the premier express passenger train on the Victorian Railways in Australia, running from Melbourne to the New South Wales border at Albury, and later through to Sydney.
The A2 class was an express passenger locomotive that ran on Victorian Railways from 1907 to 1963. A highly successful design entirely the work of Victorian Railways' own design office, its long service life was repeatedly extended as the Great Depression and later World War II delayed the introduction of more modern and powerful replacement locomotives.
The Victorian Railways H class was an express passenger steam locomotive operated by the Victorian Railways from 1941 to 1958. Intended to eliminate the use of double heading A2 class locomotives on The Overland services on the steeply graded Western line to Adelaide, wartime restrictions led to only one locomotive being built. Nicknamed Heavy Harry, H220 was the largest locomotive ever built in Australia and the largest non-articulated steam locomotive to run on Australian railways.
There have been a number of train accidents on the railway network of Victoria, Australia. Some of these are listed below.
The N Class are a class of diesel locomotives built by Clyde Engineering in Somerton for V/Line between 1985 and 1987.
The Sprinter is a diesel railcar built by A Goninan & Co in Broadmeadow, NSW for V/Line between 1993 and 1995.
The C Class are a class of diesel locomotive built by Clyde Engineering, Rosewater for the Victorian Railways in 1977–1978.
The S type carriages are a corridor-type passenger carriage used on the railways of Victoria, Australia. The first carriages were constructed by the Victorian Railways in 1937 for use on the Spirit of Progress, with additional carriages built for other trains until the mid-1950s.
The New Deal for Country Passengers was a timetable introduced on 4 October 1981 in Victoria, Australia which revolutionised the provision of country passenger railway services in that state. Thirty-five little-used passenger stations were closed, rolling stock utilisation was improved, and new rolling stock introduced. The timetable and associated service changes resulted in an average patronage growth of 8.7% per year, from 3 million in 1981 to 5.6 million passengers in 1990/91.
The mainline passenger locomotives, later classified as B class, ran on the Victorian Railways (VR) between 1862 and 1917. They used a 2-4-0 wheel arrangement, which provided greater traction on the new, more heavily graded Geelong–Ballarat railway and the Melbourne-Bendigo-Echuca railway, as opposed to the 2-2-2 arrangement previously selected for the relatively level Geelong line. The B class locomotives are regarded as the first mainline VR motive power, and were highly successful in passenger operations.
The Geelong Flier was an Australian named passenger train operated by the Victorian Railways, running from Melbourne to Geelong. As the first officially named flagship service of the Victorian Railways, the train took pride of place on the timetable, and operated with some of the best available locomotives and rolling stock.
The W class are a diesel-hydraulic shunting locomotive ordered and operated by the Victorian Railways of Australia.
The V type carriages, introduced from 1897, were the first group of Victorian Railways passenger rolling stock to have their own distinct class.
The first passenger carriages of the Victorian Railways (VR) were fixed-wheel, with a mixture of first- and second-class bodies on either four- or six-wheeled underframes. They were built to the British side-loading, swing-door, cross bench compartment (non-corridor) style; later a saloon style was used to a limited extent, featuring fewer doors per side and perimeter seating - which increased total capacity by allowing more standing passengers.
The Train of Knowledge was an Australian school camp on wheels, allowing students and teachers to visit multiple locations around Victoria without having to organise accommodation or transport.
