The Victorian Railways built the GY class all steel wagons for the wheat harvest. That did not preclude their use however on other duties including the carrying of containers, farm equipment, superphosphate, timber, and oil drums being noted in photos. They were among the most numerous class of freight wagons on the VR with 6,320 members in class and reporting numbers ranging from 1 – 17030. They were built over almost 2 decades from 1939 until 1958 in Australia and by the Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Co Ltd in Smethwick in the UK.
During the wheat harvest long rakes of up to 73 GY’ wagons, could be seen moving the wheat harvest to port. When not in wheat traffic they carried all sorts of loads including containers, farm equipment, superphosphate, oil drums, and scrap metals in at least one photographed case.
When built the GY’s were painted VR wagon red. From 1948 a diagonal yellow stripe was applied to differentiate them from identical-looking but non-grain-proofed HY wagons. From 1970 GY’s were progressively painted “Hansa yellow”. It will be during that period that I’ll be modelling these wagons for a future small HO scale Victorian layout project.
Nicely, well at least for me, the weathering of the Hansa Yellow varied greatly from workshop to workshop and in-service life as it was prone to fading and discolouration due to UV exposure. So I’ll be weathering my rake of yellow GY’s in as many different shades of yellow as I can manage.
Where to next?
Part 1 of the build can be accessed here, or you can use the menu above to get to the build notes.
Resources:
- Kit instruction sheet (courtesy of Steam Era Models)
- Photos and details of the GY wagons (courtesy of victorianrailways.net)
The Martin Family 