Our November edition, another 40-page special, celebrates the 150th anniversary of the opening of the North East Line to Wodonga with a wonderful cover photo by Vicki Wangman of the SRHC-operated commemorative special.

We mark the sesquicentenary of the line with an article on a notable aspect of its operation that is often overlooked: its introduction of the Train Staff and Ticket safeworking system to Victoria. Introduced to ensure safe operation of trains on a single-track railway, the system has been a feature of Victorian rail operations for a century and a half, and is still in use on V/Line’s Bairsdale and Ararat passenger routes.

We conclude our epic two-part article on Melbourne’s E Trains. Part Two explores the use of Swing Door electric passenger cars to haul freight around the Melbourne suburban network, some accidents and incidents involving the trains,  as well as the commemorative runs that followed the end of E Train operations.

Our News section reports on the commencement of train operations using High Capacity Signalling between South Yarra and Clayton.

Our tourist and heritage rail column features a report from Newport Railway Museum’s Nick Hewitt on the extension of its main roof canopy, which will soon enable another seven exhibits to be protected from the elements.

Our other regular sections are there:

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

For October, we have another big 40-page Newsrail that we’re calling our special Electric Edition.

Mark Cauchi, Ray Ryan and Des Jowett have produced perhaps the definitive work on the E trains. A once-familiar sight to Melbourne commuters, the E trains were pairs of Swing Door motor cars that hauled country passenger or goods trains over the electrified suburban network, in effect acting as a locomotive, in lieu of a conventional steam locomotive. We present the first part of their article in this edition, with the second part to appear in our November edition. As well as an exceptionally well-researched article, there is a simply magnificent selection of photographs dating from the 1930s to the 1960s.

And for those who wanted just that little bit more of Melbourne’s beloved “red trains”, there’s a short feature by Jim Foley on an artwork commissioned to commemorate ‘The Mickey’, the affectionate nickname given by locals to the Kew electric train.

Our News section features a story on the North East Line, where the 130 km/h Class 2 line standard is potentially at risk of reverting to ARTC freight standard due to a lack of agreement between State and Federal Governments over responsibility for maintenance funding.

We also have a major report from Railway and Tramway Heritage Victoria on an exciting new development for our tourist and heritage rail sector. Vast quantities of ballast that was once headed for landfill is now being cleaned for reuse on our state’s tourist and heritage branch lines. And used main line rail retrieved from projects such as level crossing removals is now being cascaded through the sector, enabling major upgrades and extensions to proceed.

Our other regular sections are there:

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

For September we have a 40-page edition packed full with interesting content.

Our front cover headlines the news that V/Line is looking to repurpose the N Class locomotive fleet for broad gauge freight use. Our News and announcements section has details of the current EOI process, with up to 19 of V/Line’s N Class and all three its P Class locomotives up for grabs by broad gauge rail freight operators.

1 September 2023 marks exactly 125 years since NA Class locomotives 1A and 2A were added to the Victorian Railways register. As our article discovers, they had been put together in an incredibly rapid time; from VR signing a contract with the local agent of Baldwin Locomotive Works on 1 April 1898, Baldwin had the locomotives drawn up, built, tested, photographed and ready to be shipped to Australia by the end of May!

The locomotives came supplied in a highly varnished olive-green livery from Baldwin, with detail touches such as real gold leaf lining and planished iron boiler cladding. They also featured some wonderfully American touches such as huge wooden cowcatchers, fitted front and rear. With thanks to David Fletcher, we have drawings that show exactly what the Baldwin livery looked like.  Both a simple expansion and Vauclain compound version were supplied, and our article includes a copy of comparative test results.

This edition has two features on VR’s transport of petrochemicals. We have a large feature from Ken Russell which will probably be THE definitive article on the VR and V/Line fleet of bitumen tankers, which once transported bitumen from oil refineries to the far flung corners of the state for use on road projects. The transport of bitumen involved a whole range of special logistical arrangements, which Ken discusses.

We also have a feature by Chris Banger on the World War 2-era inland fuel store at Violet Town, served by a rail siding roughly one mile on the Melbourne side of the station.

Rounding out our special features, there’s also a summary of the recent ATSB final report on the 2020 Wallan derailment.

Our other regular sections are there:

• • Tourist and heritage rail (with a special report on the turntable delivered to Yarra Glen)
  • General works
  • Operations and sightings
  • Tramways
  • PTV service quality
  • Where is it?
  • Taildisc

Our cover story for August concerns the recent reactivation of A62 by Seven-O-Seven Operations. We’ve been following this project at Newsrail for a while, and had previously reported on the prime mover being started, and the locomotive then moving under its own power for the first time. On 1 July, A62 ventured out on to the main line for the first time in preservation. Read the details in our Tourist and heritage rail column in the August edition, along with some updates from the Bellarine Railway on a couple of their key projects.

Our News and announcements section looks at the first trains entering the new Metro Tunnel, a proposal recently discussed in the South Australian Parliament to replace The Overland with a high-speed tilt train, and some of the varying consequences of the recently-introduced $9.20 (now ($10) price cap for regional public transport in Victoria.

Our main feature article this month is by Graham Bishop, a man who began his VR career in the 1950s as a member of the Malmsbury Track Gang. Graham takes us back to another era, long before track maintenance was outsourced to contractors, with some interesting anecdotes and humorous tales along the way. Graham’s track gang was responsible for the line over both Malmsbury and Taradale Viaducts, and Graham tells us some rather interesting details about the construction of the Taradale Viaduct.

With the new Glen Huntly Station having just opened, Dave Macartney presents a story on its predecessor and its goods yard. Dave’s article is illustrated with a beautiful selection of photos, including a number that Dave took himself.

We also have another instalment in the Photos in Focus series, with Trevor Penn this month looking at repeating signals in a couple of locations.

Our other regular sections are there:

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

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

Buy an individual print copy of June 2023 Newsrail here

The cover story for our June edition notes the sad passing of the Association of Railway Enthusiasts, which after sixty years of operations has decided to wind up. However, rather than fading away, the ARE has gone out in style with two final tours, including a steam-hauled journey to Seymour that features on our front cover, in a stunning photograph taken by Daniel Sciberras. We spoke to ARE President Alan Williams about the ARE, its many highlights, and the reasons behind the decision to close.

Our major feature article this month concerns the Inner Circle Line, and specifically the arrangements around the line’s electrification. Author Ian Cook notes the history of the electrification project, the impressive substation at North Fitzroy, and the many remnants of infrastructure that remain, decades after the line was lifted.

We also have another feature on the former Kew Line from authors Michael Guiney and Mark Cauchi. They present the story of the level crossing at Hildebrandt Crescent that was abandoned before the railway was even opened, but not before a gatekeeper’s house had been constructed. 135 years later, the railway line is long gone, but the gatekeeper’s house still exists!

Our News column looks at the international design awards recently won by the rebuilt Glenroy Station, the decision by ONRSR to charge a driver involved in a 2021 near miss at Seymour, the building of a network arch-type rail bridge at Kilmany (a first for Victoria) as well as NTT’s loss of the myki contract, and early reports on the impact of V/Line’s new capped fare structure.

Our other regular sections are there:

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

Buy an individual print copy of May 2023 Newsrail here

We’re marking three years of Newsrail at Victorian Rail Publishing Inc. with a big 44-page edition!

Two stand-out feature articles make this edition a special one, as does the superb cover photograph (by Neville Gee) of the Down Yarram Mixed crossing one of the Tarwin River bridges on the former Great Southern Railway. Mark Cauchi has written a special feature article on the Yarram to Woodside extension of this line, which was completed 100 years ago next month and closed 70 years ago this month. Little has been previously published about this particular railway, and Mark has put forward an extensively-researched article and some very rare photographs of the line.

Photographer George Coop, whose rail photographs from the 1950s and 60s have already illustrated many other articles in Newsrail, has now written an article of his own. George recounts the five years he lived in Echuca, and presents an absolutely stunning collection of colour and black and white photographs of rail operations in the days when R Class steam locomotives regularly thundered between Bendigo and Echuca on freight services, K and J Class locos ventured across the iron bridge into NSW, and D3s ran the School Train, along with a variety of railcars.

Our Tourist and heritage rail column has an update on Steamrail’s restoration of locomotive B72. Last month we looked at the locomotive being craned back onto its bogies after lots of work by Steamrail volunteers to refurbish them. This month we cover yet another miletstone in the project: the engine being fired up for the first time in 36 years!

Our News column looks at the independent review into the Inland Rail project.While initially costed at $4.7 billion, the review has found that due to poor management. the cost is likely to top $31 billion. We also speak to the PTUA’s Paul Westcott about the possible shelving of Geelong Fast Rail, take a look at Metro Tunnel, the forthcoming Croydon Station, and the interesting decision to rename the new Glenhuntly Station as Glen Huntly.

Our other regular sections are there:

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

Buy an individual print copy of April 2023 Newsrail here

Our cover has, for the first time in many years, a locomotive in VicRail teacup livery in the form of Steamrail’s B72. Steamrail has just made a major investment of time and money in the ground-up refurbishment of the locomotive’s bogies, possibly the largest single area of work required for the locomotive’s return to service. In an extended four-page article, Alex Hansen and Aiden Parlby give us the run-down on this major project.

Once again, we have an interesting selection of feature articles that we believe our readers will love.

We’ve published the second of Phil Dunn’s series of articles on the standard locomotive designs of the late 19th Century. This time Phil turns his attention to the E Class 2-4-2T tank engine, and in particular, the curious design difference between the original drawings and the actual built configuration of the last remaining example, E236 as preserved in the Newport Railway Museum.

We also have another article by Chris Banger. This month, Chris presents a concise history of the Spring Vale Cemetery Line, with some fascinating photographs and diagrams provided by our Features Editor Mark Cauchi.

Trevor Penn has provided another wonderful interpretation of a historic photograph for our semi-regular Photos in focus column.

Our other regular sections are there:

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

Buy an individual print copy of March 2023 Newsrail here

Our cover for March 2023 features a beautiful photograph of J515, by Graeme Kaufman, which leads into our story about the renewed push by Seymour Railway Heritage Centre (SRHC) to return this locomotive to operating service. We speak to John Crofts, SRHC President, who details the new “two locomotive, three boiler, three tender” strategy that now frames J515’s restoration project, a project given extra impetus with the appointment of Alan Gardner as its lead. Alan has a very notable recent run on the board for his work in the restoration and regauging of ex-South African Garratt locomotive NGG16 No. 129 for Puffing Billy Railway.

We are very excited to inform our readers that Nick Anchen is busily putting together another of his fantastic books on Victorian Railways, and he has very kindly allowed us to publish one of the many stories to appear in the new book. Nick presents magnificent photographs and an fascinating interview with Barry Dunn, who recalls his time working on the Warburton Line from 1957 to 1963. A great read!

Also in this edition, we take a look at some accidents, including two instances of Swing Door trains crashing into the buffer stop at Alamein (and decades later, that buffer stop still stands!) as well as the spectacular 1989 derailment at Bacchus Marsh of a ballast train, hauled by B61, that lost its brakes descending Ingliston Bank.

Chris Banger has written another short feature for us, this time on a famous little loco: the one-third scale model of B60.

Our regular columns are all there. Our News column features developments in the saga of the XPT replacement program, which recent reports suggest may be running up to three years behind schedule and a billion dollars over budget! We also look at potential changes to Inland Rail following a review by the new Federal Labor Government, Hurstbridge Line duplication, and much more!

Our other regular sections are there:

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