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V/Line F7A

V/Line is an Australian company that operates regional passenger trains in the state of Victoria. The brand was launched in August 1983 after the split-up of Victorian Railways, which had been trading as VicRail since 1974. Initially they were operating both passenger and freight services, but today they are focused solely on running passenger trains. V/Line operates a mix of DMU and locomotive-hauled services out of Melbourne, running to regional cities such as:

Ballarat
Bendigo
Geelong
Seymour

Confusingly there are both standard (4ft 8.5inch) and broad (5ft 3inch) gauge tracks in the state of Victoria, and V/Line runs on both gauges. For example, their Sprinter railcars run solely on broad gauge

This re-skin is based on the classic (but no-longer used) V/Line orange and grey livery, which was standard on the company's diesel and electric locomotives in the 1980's and 90's. It was launched with the V/Line brand itself in 1983, and went on to be carried by a wide variety of locomotive types.

In 1995, V/Line split-up their freight and passenger divisions, with freight engines retaining the orange and grey livery. Meanwhile passenger engines were repainted in the then-new blue and red V/Line Passenger livery. More recently some of the company's N class locomotives have been painted in an ugly purple and yellow livery, and now carry the Public Transport Victoria.

I was in Melbourne for about six days in October 2013, and during that time I went to Southern Cross station. While I was there, I ended up seeing some V/Line locomotives. Two of them were ex-Victorian Railways Y class shunters in the blue and red livery. The other were N's 452 and 475, and they were painted in a mostly red livery with yellow cab window surrounds.