THE FAMOUS Victorian Railways Livery in modern times on railways in Victoria

[@NicholassTrainChannel]

Nice video mate. The VR livery is one of my favourite liveries.

[@Schony747]

That's the general feel right through the comments.

[@greghenderson6782]

Thought I was in train heaven, all tha blue and gold. Saw the end of the R', J', K's and een Colac's famous little "Beechie" then the phase in of diesel, the B's, S's, T''s and all what aime for V.R. Thanks for the "Blue & Gold" today.

[@Schony747]

SSR still give us lots of train heaven. It may not be VR but the lashup are just as impressive

[@heathertruskinger6214]

Thanks. It's good to see these old gals still having a useful life 🚂🚃🧡

[@Schony747]

I'd like to see more heritage trains but in the meantime they might as well earn some $.

[@mce_AU]

Blue and Gold flying wings for the win. Nice.

[@Schony747]

The whole livery is nice. Thanks for all your contributions

[@DirtRoad4x4]

Great memories, keep up the good work. Loved hearing the C Class again 🇭🇲

[@Schony747]

Thanks 😀😀😀😀

[@wtcpl1]

That was just awsome , thankyou

[@Schony747]

Thanks 😀😀

[@johnd8892]

I think the last Locomotives painted blue and gold for V/Line were in 1983 when two or three S class Locomotives were painted for Royal train duties. Date confirmed from Wikipedia 15 April 1983: Diana, Princess of Wales and Prince Charles from Spencer Street to Ballarat, returning empty to Melbourne. Locomotives S315 (crewed by driver Bill Steedman and fireman Danny Hallinan), S300 (leading) and S315 (trailing, hostlers end leading) headed the three-car train formed of an AZ car, observation car Norman (saloon trailing) and State Car 4 (observation deck trailing). S311 was the pilot locomotive (driver Kevin Whelan, fireman Vic Greensill) and ran between 31 and 33 minutes ahead of the Royal Train. A relief locomotive, X31, was at Bacchus Marsh (driver Ian R. Barkla, fireman Trevor Luxford) I remember at the time discussions with railways employees surprised and pleased that the request for this livery came from higher up. Was the request from who higher up?

[@Schony747]

Great info. Thanks for looking and taking the time to share the info.

[@ianwoff7000]

Nothing like the classic blue and gold VR livery!

[@Schony747]

Yes indeed. Thanks for looking.

[@jeffr100rs]

I joined VR as a fireman in '82 or 83. The A class were just being rolled out. I left after 2 years. Pretty big experience.

[@Schony747]

That would have been a great experience! N class probably weren't even thought of then either

[@jeffr100rs]

@@Schony747 I think they were G class just coming out when I left, and the N class after that? I worked at Benalla depot, and iirc took the last Y class goods to Myrtyleford. I stopped at Iron bark rest area on the Hume a while back and wandered over to the tracks. The electric light signalling and concrete sleepers made me realise I saw the end of an era from Ned kelly's time, of semaphore signals and wooden sleepers. The N.E. line was so much better back then, compared to the mess of the last 20 years. X44 was my sentimental favorite engine, S303, A82, The A class were pretty sweet, especially with the ship horn on them, lol.

[@darylcheshire1618]

I read in "The ML2 Story" about the B class that GM were a bit dubious about building double ended locomotives and the CME visited Detroit to persuade them. I guess the customer is always right.

[@Schony747]

The customer is always right and the B class is one of the most successful locos for the Victorian Railways.

[@jamesgovett2501]

What a just fabulous variety of our old VR! Wonderful video! Thanks.👍

[@Schony747]

Thanks for having a look 😀😀😀😀

[@adampage8030]

Thanks for the video. It was great to see a video just featuring VR Blue and Gold.

[@Schony747]

This one has been very popular. Thanks for looking.

[@johnd8892]

How the blue and gold scheme was developed from the Erie freight scheme, in preference to the Clyde-GM proposals, is covered very well in the book The ML2 story, the history of the Victorian Railways' famous B class diesel-electric locomotive by Peter Berningham. Published 1982 when the B was thought to not have much of a future after thirty years of intensive service. Yet here we are forty years after the book and some are still performing useful work. A hard to get book now but well worth a read. From memory Clyde-GM proposed Green with thin Red striping.

[@Schony747]

That sounds like a good read. Who would have thought B61 would be still in regular freight service all these years on.

[@MrValhem265]

Thanks Brendan, nice Footage that Bernie Baker IN B74 @Spencer aka Southern Cross Station lol :)

[@Schony747]

Thanks Rob.

[@dieseldavetrains8988]

Value Brenden, classic, that's the VR I grew up with, Blue and gold! Unlike NSW, the VR stayed with EMD for their main line loco's, loyal to the end. Excellent work, thank you.

[@Schony747]

I grew up with VR and V/Line.

[@TrainsDirectVictoria]

Great video, i love those engine sounds.

[@Schony747]

There's a video idea for you 😀😀😀😀

[@darylcheshire1618]

Love the B74 going past the former VR Head Office

[@Schony747]

Bit of a classic look that's for sure.

[@louiskats5116]

Goodday Brendan, Great video great idea & extremely well executed. I see B76 has been layed up at Dynon Rd for a fair while lately not sure what is going on there. That last shot the 2 x S Class back to back absolutely classic like something out of a 50's movie reel from the states. All class Big George fantastic too. Cheers Louis 👍

[@Schony747]

B80 is getting another run with Qube at the moment. B76 and B80 are basically used as a last resort these days.

[@louiskats5116]

@@Schony747 Hi Brendan When all else fail crack out the double B's. You watch they will put them on the steel train to Hastings when Qube get the contract. Now that is going to be intresting. Cheers Louis 👍

[@Schony747]

Nothing would surprise me with the new contracts on the go.

[@dodgemondiesels5125]

Great Video. Roger 😎 UK 🇬🇧

[@Schony747]

Thanks Roger. Always happy to hear from you.

[@GoldM4official]

I love vr

[@Schony747]

That's the general consensus through this video 😀😀😀😀

[@markaylott1780]

Awsome! Thanks for posting. I like the way you left your explanations up long enough to read, thank's for that. It was also good seeing S313 back in blue and gold compared to that silly paint scheme it use to be.

[@Schony747]

That Steamrail livery for what it was worth was a bit odd that's for sure.

[@youtubeviewer7030]

briliant

[@darylcheshire1618]

I like how the non VR livery locos have grafitti on them.

[@Schony747]

Even the VR locos get graffiti from time to time. Artists aren't too fussed what they target.

[@greghenderson6782]

correction, 'what a time' for V.R.

[@johnd8892]

The Erie RR freight scheme inspiration for the VR is seen in the first few seconds of this film. kzbin.info/www/bejne/eJmpd3uco86Af68 Although the Erie used a black base it looked like royal blue to me because of being used to the VR scheme.

[@Schony747]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing the info and link.

[@andyrob3259]

I am a traditionalist. I think the blue and gold with wings looks classic AND classy and doesn’t date. Hate the modern Vline branding - they all date horribly and use ‘colours that are fashionable’ so date very fast and have to be changed more often. I really could picture all the Vlocities in the blue and gold with the wings on the front.

[@vsvnrg3263]

andy r, there have been comments around the place from yank viewers that the vr paint scheme is exactly the same as one of the yank railroads. and it is! emd got their artistic section to design paint scheme options for the customers. there are only so many ways to paint the things before they look like other paint schemes.

[@MrValhem265]

personaly i cant stand sprinters velocitys etc. they arent real engines trains or whatever people want to call them, they are boring to look at.

[@andyrob3259]

@@MrValhem265 agree. However Vlocities are what we have unfortunately.

[@andyrob3259]

@@vsvnrg3263 yes. I have actually seen the paint job you mention but can’t recall the rail company.

[@MrValhem265]

@@andyrob3259 hi andy im trtying to find a channel i used to subscribe to train guy from geelong Rays or something like that if you find it can you send it to me via this ta he does uploads around geelong mainly gheringhap batesford cheers

[@frederickschulkind8431]

It looks like they like to retain old paint schemes. I saw Erie, CSX and Kansas City Southern in there.

[@Schony747]

The old VR livery for preservation at least. The preservation locos then end up on hire to freight companies for short term hire.

[@johnd8892]

The VR Blue and Gold scheme was inspired by the Erie freight scheme. The local VR staff were more attracted to it than the proposals put forward by Clyde-GM before they built the first B class diesels. Good choice on their part.

[@jimcambron1328]

Is that lead locomotive at 1:23 what we Americans call an "Alco 'A' unit"??

[@Schony747]

Probably similar to the E or F unit. The front B class was designed specifically for the Victorian Railways who asked for a double ended cab.

[@johnd8892]

All big power on the Victorian Railways here are EMD powered. These are 567 and 645 units. All the streamlined Locomotives are local versions of the EMD F7 but longer and riding on six wheel all wheel powered SD trucks. The twin engined E units were never run in Australia. Unpowered idler middle axle trucks of the E units found no sales in Victoria due to less adhesive pulling power. These may look American but are a foot or so less in width and height. Nearby state of New South Wales was a much bigger user of Alcos. Some running today.

[@jimcambron1328]

@@johnd8892 Cool! Interesting to know!

[@gojivr369]

I don’t like the blue and gold livery it looks too new I like the orange and grey

[@Schony747]

Teacup was pretty cool as well.