Newsrail’s November 2025 edition is packed with three feature articles. Our striking cover image of a brand new X Class locomotive X39 sets the scene for our first feature, which is the recollections of engineman Fred Rochow of working on the mighty X Class steam locomotives of the VR. Fred was interviewed by Nick Anchen, and Nick has provided us with this interview as an excerpt from his new book, The Art of the Engineman.

We publish the second part in Greg Michael’s articles on the removal of level crossings on the Seymour Line. Greg starts this latest instalment with the former Swamp Road (today’s Dynon Road) crossing at North Melbourne. It is mind-boggling to consider that as late as 1886, there was a level crossing at North Melbourne Station, which even in those days had hundreds of passenger and goods trains passing through every day. Greg also looks at other more recent removals of Hume Highway crossings at places such as Tallarook and Craigieburn, all richly illustrated with historic and current-day photos.

Our third feature is a story about a mishap that occurred in 1958 on the Gippsland Line when a ganger’s trolley ran away from a works location on the Maffra Line and found its way onto the main line to Melbourne. Des Coghlan was one of the workers at the Traralgon loco depot who scrambled into action, racing out in a car to intercept the trolley and derail it before a more serious incident potentially occurred.

Our News pages this month look at the ATSB report into the recent Clifton Hill derailment, a program by the NSW Government to investigate the retention of sleeping car service on the Melbourne to Sydney route, and recent comments by Public Transport Victoria at the West of Melbourne summit held in October.

And our usual other columns are there:

• Operations and sightings
• Tourist and heritage rail
• Infrastructure (formerly our General works column)
• Tramways
• PTV service quality
• Where is it?
• Photo in focus
• Taildisc