707 Operations is a railway preservation group based in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia. The volunteer organisation was established in 1980 to restore R class locomotive R707. The company has its own section of the

Newport Workshops The Newport Railway Workshops is a facility in the Melbourne suburb of Newport, Victoria, Newport, Australia, that builds, maintains and refurbishes Rolling stock, railway rollingstock. It is located between the Williamstown railway line, Willia ...

that is used for storing carriages and locomotives when not in use for trips (charter or regular). They are located in roads 7 and 8 of the Newport West Block Workshops. 707 Operations run regular trips across the broad gauge rail network in Victoria and also charter trains. People who motorcade the train to photograph it are asked to consider donating $10 towards the costs of running the train. This has been controversial among the railway fraternity. For the donation, 707 Operations provide a detailed schedule and tour notes 24 hours prior to departure and SMS updates should the train fall behind schedule in excess of 30 minutes.

History

In 1980, a committee of six men got together to inspect the withdrawn steam locomotive R707 at

. This locomotive had been withdrawn from service in 1974. After close examination of the locomotive, which showed some disrepair, a proposal was put forward to VicRail for restoration with work commencing in 1981. The restored locomotive made its debut on a return trip to

Bacchus Marsh Bacchus Marsh (Wathawurrung: ''Pullerbopulloke'') is an urban centre and suburban locality in Victoria, Australia located approximately north west of the state capital Melbourne and west of Melton, Victoria, Melton at a near equidistance to th ...

in July 1985.R707 City of Melbourne Restoration
707 Operations

Operations

Today 707 Operations run heritage special trains in Victoria. In 2020 most trips were cancelled due to COVID restrictions however in 2022, 707 Operations is running a number of popular mainline day trips and sleeping car trips around Country Victoria and Tocumwal (NSW). Destinations include Bendigo, Bacchus Marsh, Quambatook and the Silo Art Trail, Tocumwal, Ballarat, Swan Hill, Echuca and Seymour.

Fleet

After the restoration of R707, the organisation expanded their fleet further with R753 being bought as well as diesel locomotives F204, T413 and Y127. The organisation owns former

West Coast Railways West Coast Railways (WCR) is a railway spot-hire company and charter train operator based at Carnforth MPD in Lancashire. Using buildings and other facilities previously owned by the Steamtown Carnforth visitor attraction, in June 1998 the comp ...

S and

Z type carriage The Z type carriages are an air conditioned steel passenger carriage used on the railways of Victoria, Australia. The carriages were constructed by the Victorian Railways from 1957 for use on intrastate services. Two major types of carriage ...

s as well as South Australian Railways carriage 708 for use on special trips. No

liveried cars remain with all S and Z type cars having been repainted in 707 Operations red. A list of the entire fleet of rolling stock is shown below. * R707, R753 * W241, W244 (W241 Sold to Mornington Railway, W244 given back to Victrack for Re-Allocation urplus to use * Victorian Railways F class (diesel) S306 * T387, T392, T413 * Y108, Y127 * H3, H5 * A62 * Power Vans: PCP294, D318 *Victorian Railways S type carriage">S and Z carriages: ACZ255, BS205/212/215, BRS224, BZ270 *VicRail N type carriage">ACN 45, ACN 48, BRN 43, BN 5, BN 22 *ex ''The Overland">Victorian Railways Z type carriage">Z carriages: ACZ255, BS205/212/215, BRS224, BZ270 *VicRail N type carriage">ACN 45, ACN 48, BRN 43, BN 5, BN 22 *ex ''The Overland'' and ''The Vinelander'' carriages: SJ284, JTA6 (Kuldalai) Victoria *ex South Australian Railways carriage 708, purchased from Northern Rivers Railroad and 783 (Lowanna), purchased from the

Victorian Goldfields Railway The Victorian Goldfields Railway is a broad gauge tourist railway in Victoria, Australia. It operates along a formerly disused branch line between the towns of Maldon and Castlemaine. History The original line was opened on 16 June 1884, open ...

in 2022. * E sleeping carriages: Wando, Buchan *

Commonwealth Railways stainless steel carriage stock In July 1965, Commonwealth Railways placed an order with Commonwealth Engineering, Granville for eight air-conditioned stainless steel sleeping carriages and one dining carriage for use on the '' Trans Australian''. The first was delivered in Ju ...

: DF935 (not operational)

Locomotives

Operational carriages

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
Heritage railways in Australia 1980 establishments in Australia