707 Operations First Standard Gauge Tour - The Winelander to Inverleigh | T387 & N469

On Australia Day 26th January 2024 707 Operations held their first ever standard gauge tour to Inverleigh in western Victoria. Known as the Winelander; guests visited the Inverleigh Hotel and several wineries around the area. The train was hauled by locomotives T387, and N469 on hire from V/Line with an ex-V/Line SG N Set in tow that used to be used on the Albury service.

We start the video at the North Melbourne flyover where we see two other standard gauge passenger trains; being The Overland to Adelaide with NR83, and the XPT to Sydney, before seeing the Winelander head towards Southern Cross Station. We then head off to the Bunbury Street tunnel where we see the Winelander as it departs Melbourne. Afterwards we see the train trackside at the end of Elders Loop in Corio on the outskirts of Geelong. By chance the train crossed with V/Lines N467 heading back towards Melbourne on a test run with a H Set.

We finish the video with some static shots of the train sitting in the siding at Inverleigh. I was hoping to film the return trip back to Melbourne later in the day, but unfortunately my camcorder suffered a major malfunction and was unable to film any additional footage (the last shots at Inverleigh were filmed with my phone). Oh well, at least I had an excuse to go home and relax for the rest of the day and do nothing. The camcorder will be sent off for repair and I still have my old camcorder which I kept as a backup camera, so it won't set me back too much.