Welcome to my 1st page about trains.
 

I hope I will make it on this small journey, that I will present to you with my own pictures from the area I live in.I am in Melbourne, Australia, here and many years, since 1995 to be exact. I lived here previously, when I was younger, but that is another story.

In the start, I hope to start with the local trains, commonly known as commuter trains. Over here, the majority of the system is electrified, ONLY for the city and its suburbs. The network is old, but extensive. I will not go in to details, at least for the time being, in the history of the network.

There are 4 types of electric trains, externally different. I say this, since one of the models got refurbished internally, when we had two different companies here.

Short / summary of history:

It was public, and belonged to the state government of Victoria. After it was sold to two companies. One of them French, the other Canadian (both were consortiums if I am not mistaken), if I remember correctly. In this period, there were two trains. The "Hitachi" and the "Comeg/ Alstrom" (spelling?). Because the Japanese trains were fairly old, and the others getting old too, the decision was taken to modernize the newer ones.

 The thing is, that there are two companies, so what does logic say? Each to his own model/ specs! Different internal arrangement and electronics, and different the other. Hay what, both of them to have the same, no way! Also, they are slightly different externally too, but internally a very lot! Now, since we are refurbishing, lets order new trains too... you understood correctly! The one is French, and the other German... Siemens, of which half the fleet was put aside around December 2006/ January 2007, since they had a brake issue after about 2 years of use. If I remember correctly from the newspaper, the automatic braking system was to blame and they had disconnected it, and left all the responsibility to the driver. I am unaware at this stage what the outcome is, if it has been properly rectified or not.

Now for you that had noticed my word play earlier, I mentioned that «the majority of the system is electrified», you understood correctly. It is not all of it! We have some parts that get serviced with diesel engines.

Below, are some photo's/

Of the new Siemens. Yes, it is "cleaned" from Graffiti.

One of the same. This is going to town (Flinders Street)/ centre.

Wow! Where did this come from! The rascal, it was hiding on the other line and I didn't catch it! This train does NOT have passengers yet! At this moment it is going for Frankston. Of what I have understood, it goes all the way to the city, does a circle and comes back.

It always goes with one wagon (carriage). While it is normally on the route  Frankston - Stony point, of which has not yet been electrified, they do have the capability to take the engine and put it on the other end of the train to connect with the other carriages. It is normally connected with three carriages when it leaves Frankston. In the background, the Frankston side of the Chelsea platform can be seen.

One of the refurbished trains of "Bayside / M>Train"[1], now "Connex". Here it is pulling in to Chelsea Station (towards the City aka City bound).

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Of the new Siemens. Yes, it is "cleaned" from Graffiti.

These are some  « casual » that I took.Enjoy them.