In this video we visit Melbourne's Southern Cross Station to see V/Line's N Class locomotive hauled services during the afternoon peak. Here we see the N Classes operating long-distance intercity services to Bairnsdale, Swan Hill and Warrnambool with N Set carriages, and short-distance interurban services to Bacchus Marsh and Geelong. During the afternoon there were 10 scheduled N Class services to depart Southern Cross and we see all of them in the video.
25 N Class locomotive was built between 1985 - 1987 and have served as the backbone of V/Line's long-distance intercity services for decades, as well as assisting in the peak hour commute running short-distance interurban services. However the role the N Class has played on Victoria's rail network has diminished in recent years as more modern and faster Vlocity DMU's enter service.
Since 2018 the Vlocity has replaced most intercity services to Bairnsdale, and in 2022 completely replaced all intercity services to Albury and Shepparton. N Classes are also finding less use on interurban services as the Vlocities offer superior performance for these types of services.
In some respects we're approaching an end of an era for locomotive hauled trains in Victoria as there's plans in the near future to replace N Classes to Warrnambool and the remaining Bairnsdale and interurban services in the next several years. Infact one service I recorded; the 16:19 Bacchus Marsh service has already been swapped with a Vlocity. This video was an effort to record regular N Class trains at Southern Cross station while I still can.
Date:
August 2023.
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