Buy an individual print copy of December 2021 Newsrail here
December Newsrail has a striking cover photograph of diesel locomotive Y127, the first locomotive to be repainted in the once-ubiquitous V/Line Orange and Grey livery since the 1990s, emerging from Number 7 Road at Newport Workshops West Block, home of the heritage rail group 707 Operations.
Matt Gillespie, who managed the restoration and repainting project (and also snapped the superb cover photograph), provides a fascinating in-depth report on the restoration project.
2 December 2021 marks exactly 100 years since the opening of the short-lived Bittern to Red Hill railway. In our November edition, we provided an in-depth history of the line from proposals for its construction through to its closure and dismantling. This month, we present a previously-unpublished report by the legendary Victorian railway writer, Charles Gavan Duffy, who toured the line in 1939. Gavan Duffy’s report is beautifully illustrated with photos of the line from that era, kindly furnished by Newport Railway Museum, Balnarring & District Historical Society, and Rosebud & District Historical Society.
And our other main feature article is a beautiful essay by Wilson Lennard on the railfanning expeditions he undertook with his father, Ron Lennard, a railways employee who in his leisure time travelled to various vantage points to photograph the trains that were his passion. Wilson’s article is illustrated with several of Ron Lennard’s beautifully-framed photographs.
We also have some interesting photographic content, from a civil engineer’s view of works along the new Lilydale Station, through to a fitter’s view of VL357 undergoing conversion from standard to broad gauge.
Trevor Penn and Mark Cauchi also review the new book by Nick Anchen, Victorian Railways – The spirit of blue & gold.
We have all the usual columns:
- Calendar anniversaries
- News and Announcements
- Rail works
- PTV reliability
- Tramways
- Operations and sightings
- Where is it?
- Taildisc
