Victoria was the first state in Australia to open a steam railway, and
also
the first to use electric traction. Most of the early railways were
privately
owned, with all being taken over by the government by the end of the
1870's.
Now, the wheel has turned full circle, as the government put V/Line
Freight
and Passenger up for sale, as well as the rest of the Victorian public
transport
system (doing this so that by having separate parts, they can make the
most
money when they flog it all off - and of course this is gross
incompetency).
At least Freight Australia are going well following privatisation; the
same
cannot be said now for the public transport operators in Melbourne.
V/Line was broken up into V/Line Passenger and V/Line Freight prior to
sale;
the allocation of locomotives was originally as follows:
V/Line Passenger:
A60,62,66,70; all N class; P11-18; Y129, 156, 161, 163. S302 (ex-West
Coast) was later added.
Freight Australia (former V/Line Freight then Freight Victoria):
Remainder of A, P, Y classes; all G, H, S, T, X classes, and V544.
Because of a motive power shortage, Freight Australia has leased over
time
locos from CFCLA, Northern Rivers
Railroad in NSW, as well as others from preservation groups (these
include B80; S313; T320, 356, 364, 378, 413 as well as ex-AN GM36).
Finally, FA also have 3 RTLs (Road-Transferable-Locomotives); these are
basically
prime-movers with rail wheels, allowing them to be driven along train
tracks;
suitable for lines with a light axle loading.
Freight Australia (FA) consists of Rail America, Macquarie
Bank, Fluor Daniel, and Goninan. However, FA has now been sold to
PacNat. Their livery is yellow and dark green (AKA "wheelie bin"). FA
have
repainted nearly all of their fleet; so far, the locos repainted
are:
A71, 73, 77-79, 81; G511-515, 519-533, 536-543; H1-5; P19-23; S301,
303; T371,
374, 379,
388, 390, 396, 399-400, 402, 408, 409; X31, X33-49, 51-52; Y115,
118-119, 122,
142,
147, 151-152, 157, 165, 169, 171, 174. Also in this livery is V544.
With the PacNat takeover, G527, 532-533, 535, 540; H1; S306-307; T371,
379, 392,
399-400;
X41,
50,
XR551, 555,
557-558,
& XRB560-562 are in
PacNat livery.
V/Line Passenger was "given away" to UK company National Express
(along
with half of Melbourne's train and tram services). With NX's financial
problems, the State Government is now (AFAIK) in charge. All of their
locos have now been painted
in the "blood-and-bone" livery.
One unique feature about Victorian locomotives is that, apart from
the F class shunters, Clyde Engineering has a monopoly on the
diesel-electric locos.
Freight Australia operate around 100 locos while V/Line Passenger
operate about
40. The current drought has some effect on the number of FA locos in
service.
Freight Australia locos are also used on SCT (all the way to Perth).
They
also operate into NSW, for log, grain, and fuel traffic, partly in
conjunction
with Lachlan Valley Railfreight.