Victorian Railways 4-6-4 ‘Hudson’ R Class – R711 by Ben777

About Victorian Railways 4-6-4 ‘Hudson’ R Class – R711 by Ben777

The Victorian Railways R Class was first built in 1951. R711 entered revenue service on the 13th August 1951 with its retirement on the 2nd August 1965, after only 14 years in service. In 1981 a deal was done between VicRail and Steam Age Australia to swap R711 with R766 which was then in a park outside Bendigo Station. R711 would remain in this park until 1995 when West Coast Railway showed interest in obtaining the loco for restoration and use on its Saturday 'Westcoaster' service to Warrnambool. In March 1995 R711 was removed from the park and moved to Ballarat where restoration commenced. Included in the restoration was conversion to oil firing fitting a twin 'Lempor' exhaust system, a power reverser and a diesel multiple unit control stand. Restoration was completed in 1998 and the loco returned to steam. R711 continued to haul the regular Saturday service until the end of 2002 when the loco was brought in for maintenance. During this, the passing of WCR Director Gary McDonald in April 2003 saw WCR concentrate on their regular operations and R711 was stored. A year later, WCR folded and R711 was transferred along with R766 to Newport. Steamrail was given approval to return R711 to service by the Bendigo Council. As part of this work the loco was repainted into blue & yellow and most of the West Coast modifications were removed. Though first steamed in 2007, it was not until 2011 that the loco would return to service.