Buy an individual print copy of July 2023 Newsrail here

Our cover photo (taken by Scott Gould) accompanies the news that, with 23 additional VLocity sets funded in the 2023/24 State Budget, the H sets are expected to be withdrawn from service over the next couple of years. Our News section includes details of other budget spending, which also includes funds to increase the frequency of weekend services.

The calendar anniversaries on our open page include two key dates for the Daylesford Line; July 2023 marks both 70 years since the closing of the route from North Creswick, and 45 years since the closing of the route from Carlsruhe, with an absolute cracker of a photograph of Carlsruhe by Geoff Winkler.

One of our feature articles is devoted to another key anniversary; the 100th anniversary of Victoria’s (and Australia’s) first electric railway locomotives, the steeple-cab locos 1100 and 1101. Technologies commonplace in locomotives today, including electric traction motors and multiple-unit operation, debuted in this country in those two locos.

Our major feature was written by David Parsons, whose name is well-known to South Australian railfans for his achievements in establishing the National Railway Museum following a rail career spanning several decades. David grew up in Victoria, was a keen trainspotter, and kept detailed records of his sightings. He also frequently travelled on holidays to Woori Yallock, and took photographs of some of its trains. Decades later, his highly detailed recollections of the line add a new dimension to our collective memory.

45 years after 17-year-old Jenny Krenz became the first woman in Victoria (and indeed Australia) to qualify as an ‘engineman’, we have an article by Peter Medlin looking back on the first nine women to join locomotive crews in Victoria.

This month, our Tourist and heritage rail column looks at the remarkable circumstances that saw locomotive S307 donated by Pacific National to Seymour Railway Heritage Centre, its journey from Port Augusta back to Victoria, and the efforts to rapidly return it to operating condition that have unfolded in just two months.

Our other regular sections are there:

• General works
• Operations and sightings
• Tramways
• PTV service quality
• Where is it?
• Taildisc