Ian M priceless despite the resolution a great video capture we know the territory very well in detail before Sleeps Hill Tunnel and up along Sheoak Road before Fosters Corner. Love the individuals saying yay! The old The Overland broad gauge days. Alco twin single cab powering along with 967 ANR in the lead originally numbered unit 930 with SAR construction 1955 still powering along in 1988! A great catch last days for SAR Class leader 930 damaged after a shunting incident in 1989. I did the last broad gauge The Overland in 1994 with my car onboard. First Class Sleeper breakfast and newspaper. Trip was too short love train travel on the broad gauge The Overland overnight and daily. My car was washed on arrival as well! Super service. Ansett 727.
Hear, hear. The old Overland was almost an icon of my childhood and early adulthood - I really loved it. I have so little interest in the newer versions since the mid 1990s or so that I have not travelled in it, and have no interest in doing so. (It may cease at the end of this year due to the S.A. government pulling its funding.) (Well, I don't know if I'd call it a shambles, because I have not experienced it - but, from what I've read, it doesn't even begin to hold a candle to the old Overland.) I could kick myself now for not travelling in The Overland more often earlier, when I could have done so; but life gets in the way of things. Just the sight of the old train, as shown here, stirs up all sorts of early memories for me.
I had so many trips on those, including on the Mt Gambier Mixed, and sometimes changed at Wolseley, and at other times went through to Adelaide. Also had a solo 930 more than once on the then broad gauge classy train the 'East West Express' from Adelaide (main station, not Keswick) to Port Pirie to change to the standard gauge long distance trains. They were (are) great locos.
Because it's a day train that only runs two days a week in each direction Adelaide - Melbourne - Adelaide. That train from 1988 was overnight and then either six nights a week or daily, on broad (1600mm) before it was converted to standard (1435mm) gauge, and had a economy sitting cars, a combined economy sitter and takeaway buffet car, a first class sitting car - sometimes two - first class sleepers with a lounge car in the middle, plus vans and MotorRail wagon. It was operated by the combined Victorian and South Australian Railways, government owned, which at various times became V/Line (still today) and Australian National (Commonwealth not State Govt owned), latter abolished. Today's 'The Overland' has been privatised and was operated by Great Southern Rail but now it's Journey Beyond Rail Expeditions. It only has two economy sitting cars, a buffet car with some seating and two first class sitting cars plus vans.
@@edmundcarew7235 Yes it is now an overpriced privately run joke. The Overland here was the real one, and it had mainly sleeping cars actually. It was a sleeper train with sitting cars. I regularly worked on the Overland from Melbourne to Adelaide (and return of course), in the 70's when there were real trains, and it was quite a long train in both directions back then.. Like the old Mildura train, an extra engine was added to the 2 on the Overland at times if an engine was required for other work at Ballarat, and this loco was put on front of the train.The preference for the extra engine was to put it on the Vinelander but that wasn't always feasable. The Overland with 3 engines always ran quite early into Ballarat. When the Overland normally ran with it's usual 2 engines and the Vinelander had 2 locos to Ballarat, or even to Mildura as it did at times, or just one B class,( most nights it had just one T class, what a joke), the Vinelander literally caught up to the Overland and often had to slow down until the Overland left Ballarat to come into the platform there. Of course the Vinelander was a much shorter train so travelled the hilly route to Ballarat with 2 locos quite easily. It really should have had 2 locos from Melbourne every trip, but there were not enough locos available for regular 2 loco running with the gutless regular T classes.. Normally there was only one T class on the Vinelander, (except at weekends, when B classes did the trip), but with just one T class loco going up towards Ballan, you could almost have jumped out of the train and literally ran faster.
@@MartintheTinman I get where you are coming from, that is for "roadside stations" as they are called, the state governement subsidises the fares for those, and it is a requirement that the company that runs the Overland provides that service. Ararat is a roadside station, (railway term), so the fare structure is somewaht cheaper, I am referring to the cost between Melbourne and Adelaide. It is heavily inflated. As for your mother, she would have flown from Maroochydore not from Noosa itself, ad that fare is also a rip off. Many Sunshine Coast people travel fro Brisbane airport and go from there is it is way cheaper, however if the trip is at peak times of the year, such as Easter or Christmas, or school holidays, and booked at short notice, people are prepared to pay more, yet the planes are often not even full. Funny that.
@@MartintheTinman My point basically is that none of these trains should ever have been privatised. And the Overland is nothing like the "real" original one. The name of the current one should be changed, even if some of the carriages are old stock. Privatisation ruined interstate rail travel, except for Melbourne to Sydney, which fortunately is still operated by NSW state government, and melbourne to Albury is still V/Line, a government owned corporation, but as for Beyond and a couple of others cashing in on train names from the past, it is a joke.
But the trains still served roadside stations and the railway genius managers just sat on their hands and di nothing, They were quick to blame cheaper air fares for dropping patronage. Didn't have a clue. Railways in UK and Europe learnt very quickly how to compete with lower airfares and they still do it well to this day. Partly because they had pro active railway people running the show and they could see a way still to stick it to the airlines. Of course it is always quicker to travel from London to Europe by train because you start and finish almost right n the cities and do not have to travel way out to airports to catch a plane. which often takes longer than the actual flight.
@@AUSSIETRAINDRIVER Yes privatisation has ruined the iconic trains at least. I worked in various roles in Victorian Railways way back in the day, including conductor on all interstate and intrastate trains, including the Overland and Aurora, and Daylight. I later worked in management in VR and also in UK in a management. If Australia implemented privatisation the same way the UK has, it would be a lot better. But it is a different "system" overseas where private companies share the infrastructure, and if they do not meet their charter they lose contracts in the next period or even before in some cases. It is not a perfect system, nothing anywhere is, although France has a very good grasp of how governments should run rail in the 21st century. But as you say, privatisation in Victoria, and in Melbourne suburban especially, should have been removed after the economy improved. Kennett had no choice but to privatise public transport at the time he did, because Victoria was literally broke when he took over, and people do not realise how bad the state was....if it could not pick itself up, the Victorian Government would have been visiting the Governor General, saying they had no more money. Fortunately they "traded' out of it with privatisation. But as soon as the finances improved, they should have taken the private rail back to public ownership. The staff could have been transferred over to the government with little effort. but no..they just had to keep the suburban system private, saying it was cheaper to lease to private operators. The reality is it is not always feasible to remain private, especially if the contractors do not meet their customer charter. Yarra Trams is one example as you would know. Terminating late running trams before the usual termination point so as to make up time on the return trip, and leaving passengers waiting down the line stranded. Same with trains when they made stopping all stations trains a partial express, (or vice versa), on too many occasions, at short notice to allegedly keep people moving, but actually to improve on time running on paper. Very shonky actions. As for the Overland and other private trains that are now just nostalgic and overpriced heritage specials, the whole idea is one big wankfest. (personal opinion), to make big money. The government could run these trains better than these private companies, who have few, if any, proper experienced rail people overseeing them. For what it costs to travel on trains like The Ghan, and other private rubbish, you could fly to the UK and Europe and travel on heritage trains there, and quite a few at that, ( and many run daily), and still come back home with spare cash. These privatised heritage trains in Australia are one big rip off.
Ian M., do you have any more footage of the old Overland? I'd love to see more, and there is surprisingly little footage (or surprisingly few still photos, even) of that version of The Overland that shows it with any clarity. And I'd love to see good interior photos, too, especially of roomette or twinette compartments. Or, if you have no more yourself, do you know of existing material elsewhere on-line?
There were quite a few promotional films of the Overland from the 60's and 70's compiled by both the S.A. and V.R.stored in an office at Spencer street. They apparently "disappeared' just before Spencer St. station was converted to a hotel.
@@edmundcarew7235 I was young too at the time. And the youngest person working the train had to fill in for as the sitting cars conductor between Ballarat and SA border after the Ballarat conductor got off at Ballarat. People asleep in other than their allocated seat, and you had to find them to wake them up. What a shambles sometimes. Some got over carried, (not that often but enough), due to not being where they were supposed to be. and were asleep somewhere else. The Union got involved and told the railways it was not fault of train staff that people moved to other vacant seats and missed their station, and nor was it staffs job to wake people up.
@@125sloth I 'changed over' numerous times at Nhill or Diapur Loop (depending on how each train was running). It was usual for a Ballarat conductor to work from Ballarat to the changeover and back to Ballarat. I don't ever recall them not turning up for the night shift from Ballarat (but I can't claim it never occurred). The VR's Colin Hill and Wayne (surname) were both excellent. As you would know, a large percentage of AN's sitting and sleeping car conductors were of German ethnicity.
Ah, the real overland! Thanks for uploading.
Ian M priceless despite the resolution a great video capture we know the territory very well in detail before Sleeps Hill Tunnel and up along Sheoak Road before Fosters Corner. Love the individuals saying yay! The old The Overland broad gauge days. Alco twin single cab powering along with 967 ANR in the lead originally numbered unit 930 with SAR construction 1955 still powering along in 1988! A great catch last days for SAR Class leader 930 damaged after a shunting incident in 1989.
I did the last broad gauge The Overland in 1994 with my car onboard. First Class Sleeper breakfast and newspaper. Trip was too short love train travel on the broad gauge The Overland overnight and daily. My car was washed on arrival as well! Super service.
Ansett 727.
Great video takes me back
The PCO power van was usually at the front and the CO van at the rear, but occasionally they were both at the rear as on this train.
Nice video mate. Gotta love 'em twin Alocos working together!!!
Niiice...two 930s on the Overland!
The REAL Overland, today's version is an absolute shambles
+Rhys McDonald Todays version will probbably soon be yesterdays version ?
Probably, but NR's & 93's don't belong on this train hence why it was better before GSR took over it
GSR & the governments ( Australias got lots, remember) could only wish.
Hear, hear. The old Overland was almost an icon of my childhood and early adulthood - I really loved it. I have so little interest in the newer versions since the mid 1990s or so that I have not travelled in it, and have no interest in doing so. (It may cease at the end of this year due to the S.A. government pulling its funding.) (Well, I don't know if I'd call it a shambles, because I have not experienced it - but, from what I've read, it doesn't even begin to hold a candle to the old Overland.)
I could kick myself now for not travelling in The Overland more often earlier, when I could have done so; but life gets in the way of things.
Just the sight of the old train, as shown here, stirs up all sorts of early memories for me.
@@johnsergei it's still going but only thanks to Dan Andrews because he's too cheap to make a Train go to Horsham
Gotta love the old 930's!! only a few left sadly.
I had so many trips on those, including on the Mt Gambier Mixed, and sometimes changed at Wolseley, and at other times went through to Adelaide. Also had a solo 930 more than once on the then broad gauge classy train the 'East West Express' from Adelaide (main station, not Keswick) to Port Pirie to change to the standard gauge long distance trains. They were (are) great locos.
Yes, we knew the crew.
nice vid. did the train horn at you because he saw you?
Great video. I wonder why the rake is so short now?
Because it's a day train that only runs two days a week in each direction Adelaide - Melbourne - Adelaide. That train from 1988 was overnight and then either six nights a week or daily, on broad (1600mm) before it was converted to standard (1435mm) gauge, and had a economy sitting cars, a combined economy sitter and takeaway buffet car, a first class sitting car - sometimes two - first class sleepers with a lounge car in the middle, plus vans and MotorRail wagon. It was operated by the combined Victorian and South Australian Railways, government owned, which at various times became V/Line (still today) and Australian National (Commonwealth not State Govt owned), latter abolished.
Today's 'The Overland' has been privatised and was operated by Great Southern Rail but now it's Journey Beyond Rail Expeditions. It only has two economy sitting cars, a buffet car with some seating and two first class sitting cars plus vans.
@@edmundcarew7235 Yes it is now an overpriced privately run joke. The Overland here was the real one, and it had mainly sleeping cars actually. It was a sleeper train with sitting cars. I regularly worked on the Overland from Melbourne to Adelaide (and return of course), in the 70's when there were real trains, and it was quite a long train in both directions back then.. Like the old Mildura train, an extra engine was added to the 2 on the Overland at times if an engine was required for other work at Ballarat, and this loco was put on front of the train.The preference for the extra engine was to put it on the Vinelander but that wasn't always feasable. The Overland with 3 engines always ran quite early into Ballarat. When the Overland normally ran with it's usual 2 engines and the Vinelander had 2 locos to Ballarat, or even to Mildura as it did at times, or just one B class,( most nights it had just one T class, what a joke), the Vinelander literally caught up to the Overland and often had to slow down until the Overland left Ballarat to come into the platform there. Of course the Vinelander was a much shorter train so travelled the hilly route to Ballarat with 2 locos quite easily. It really should have had 2 locos from Melbourne every trip, but there were not enough locos available for regular 2 loco running with the gutless regular T classes.. Normally there was only one T class on the Vinelander, (except at weekends, when B classes did the trip), but with just one T class loco going up towards Ballan, you could almost have jumped out of the train and literally ran faster.
@@MartintheTinman Not to the extent this rip off is.
@@MartintheTinman I get where you are coming from, that is for "roadside stations" as they are called, the state governement subsidises the fares for those, and it is a requirement that the company that runs the Overland provides that service. Ararat is a roadside station, (railway term), so the fare structure is somewaht cheaper, I am referring to the cost between Melbourne and Adelaide. It is heavily inflated. As for your mother, she would have flown from Maroochydore not from Noosa itself, ad that fare is also a rip off. Many Sunshine Coast people travel fro Brisbane airport and go from there is it is way cheaper, however if the trip is at peak times of the year, such as Easter or Christmas, or school holidays, and booked at short notice, people are prepared to pay more, yet the planes are often not even full. Funny that.
@@MartintheTinman My point basically is that none of these trains should ever have been privatised. And the Overland is nothing like the "real" original one. The name of the current one should be changed, even if some of the carriages are old stock. Privatisation ruined interstate rail travel, except for Melbourne to Sydney, which fortunately is still operated by NSW state government, and melbourne to Albury is still V/Line, a government owned corporation, but as for Beyond and a couple of others cashing in on train names from the past, it is a joke.
all went downhill when NRs were introduced I assume
@Skyhawk501 yes thats what cheap Air travel has done to slow old Railways. once aopn a time the train was a quick way to get around. not now.
Yes but to journey is better than arriving
@@johncoccetti1322 8 years late...
But the trains still served roadside stations and the railway genius managers just sat on their hands and di nothing, They were quick to blame cheaper air fares for dropping patronage. Didn't have a clue. Railways in UK and Europe learnt very quickly how to compete with lower airfares and they still do it well to this day. Partly because they had pro active railway people running the show and they could see a way still to stick it to the airlines. Of course it is always quicker to travel from London to Europe by train because you start and finish almost right n the cities and do not have to travel way out to airports to catch a plane. which often takes longer than the actual flight.
@@125sloth our rail network has barely improved since the 1930s. The railways were doomed to fail, and especially once they got privatised.
@@AUSSIETRAINDRIVER Yes privatisation has ruined the iconic trains at least. I worked in various roles in Victorian Railways way back in the day, including conductor on all interstate and intrastate trains, including the Overland and Aurora, and Daylight. I later worked in management in VR and also in UK in a management. If Australia implemented privatisation the same way the UK has, it would be a lot better. But it is a different "system" overseas where private companies share the infrastructure, and if they do not meet their charter they lose contracts in the next period or even before in some cases. It is not a perfect system, nothing anywhere is, although France has a very good grasp of how governments should run rail in the 21st century. But as you say, privatisation in Victoria, and in Melbourne suburban especially, should have been removed after the economy improved. Kennett had no choice but to privatise public transport at the time he did, because Victoria was literally broke when he took over, and people do not realise how bad the state was....if it could not pick itself up, the Victorian Government would have been visiting the Governor General, saying they had no more money. Fortunately they "traded' out of it with privatisation. But as soon as the finances improved, they should have taken the private rail back to public ownership. The staff could have been transferred over to the government with little effort. but no..they just had to keep the suburban system private, saying it was cheaper to lease to private operators. The reality is it is not always feasible to remain private, especially if the contractors do not meet their customer charter. Yarra Trams is one example as you would know. Terminating late running trams before the usual termination point so as to make up time on the return trip, and leaving passengers waiting down the line stranded. Same with trains when they made stopping all stations trains a partial express, (or vice versa), on too many occasions, at short notice to allegedly keep people moving, but actually to improve on time running on paper. Very shonky actions. As for the Overland and other private trains that are now just nostalgic and overpriced heritage specials, the whole idea is one big wankfest. (personal opinion), to make big money. The government could run these trains better than these private companies, who have few, if any, proper experienced rail people overseeing them. For what it costs to travel on trains like The Ghan, and other private rubbish, you could fly to the UK and Europe and travel on heritage trains there, and quite a few at that, ( and many run daily), and still come back home with spare cash. These privatised heritage trains in Australia are one big rip off.
Ian M., do you have any more footage of the old Overland? I'd love to see more, and there is surprisingly little footage (or surprisingly few still photos, even) of that version of The Overland that shows it with any clarity. And I'd love to see good interior photos, too, especially of roomette or twinette compartments.
Or, if you have no more yourself, do you know of existing material elsewhere on-line?
If you search there's at least one video of it leaving Adelaide Parklands, plus some interior shots of the sleepers and the lounge car.
There were quite a few promotional films of the Overland from the 60's and 70's compiled by both the S.A. and V.R.stored in an office at Spencer street. They apparently "disappeared' just before Spencer St. station was converted to a hotel.
@@125sloth Sad. I probably was on some of 'The Overland(s)' you worked on, but was young in those days.
@@edmundcarew7235 I was young too at the time. And the youngest person working the train had to fill in for as the sitting cars conductor between Ballarat and SA border after the Ballarat conductor got off at Ballarat. People asleep in other than their allocated seat, and you had to find them to wake them up. What a shambles sometimes. Some got over carried, (not that often but enough), due to not being where they were supposed to be. and were asleep somewhere else. The Union got involved and told the railways it was not fault of train staff that people moved to other vacant seats and missed their station, and nor was it staffs job to wake people up.
@@125sloth I 'changed over' numerous times at Nhill or Diapur Loop (depending on how each train was running). It was usual for a Ballarat conductor to work from Ballarat to the changeover and back to Ballarat. I don't ever recall them not turning up for the night shift from Ballarat (but I can't claim it never occurred). The VR's Colin Hill and Wayne (surname) were both excellent. As you would know, a large percentage of AN's sitting and sleeping car conductors were of German ethnicity.
Very sad it's days are numbered . . .
It's been funded again for three years. It resumed in January 2021.
To me, its days were numbered around 25 years ago. The current train is (to me) The Overland in no more than name.