For October 2026, Newsrail heads south east in direction and four decades back in time to visit the South Gippsland Line, also known as the Great Southern Railway, in the the V/Line era.

Newsrail readers may remember our January 2026 edition and the excellent article penned by Andy Main, who drove the very last rail motor passenger service out of Wonthaggi Station in December 1977 and wrote about his experiences of working on that line during its final years. Our readers loved the article, so much so that we asked Andy if he would consider writing another one.

Andy has obliged with a wonderful account of his years at the Korumburra Locomotive Depot. He transferred to the depot in conjunction with the return of passenger rail services to Leongatha in December 1984 and left when the depot closed following the suspension of all rail services in July 1993. Andy drove trains on both the first and last days of V/Line passenger service, and between these two dates he fought for the survival of the railway, even meeting with municipal representatives and freight customers to try and find ways that V/Line could increase business on the route. Sadly, these efforts were ultimately in vain, and Andy’s story is understandably a bittersweet recollection of his time at Korumburra. The article is illustrated with an amazing collection of images from photographers including Bryce Leydon (who captured the superb front cover image) Frank Jones, Graham Edwards, John Dare, John Dennis, Kelvin Russell, Mark Cauchi, Neville Gee and Peter Enlund.

We also have another of our Photo in focus series, and this time we’re looking at Castlemaine in 1874, and an extraordinarily sharp image that was taken shortly before major changes were made to what became a very important junction station. Geoff Winkler, assisted by Ross Jepson, presents a detailed explanation of the myriad detail in this exceptional early photograph.

In other news, we have a article on return journey of K160 from Newport to Castlemaine and Maldon after spending many years at Newport Workshops undergoing a very far-reaching overhaul. We interviewed Murray George, who drove the loco from Newport to Castlemaine, and his colleague Paul McDonald, who took it onwards to Maldon. Both drivers confirm that the locomotive is now in superb condition, but also attest to the way that each K Class locomotive has its own personality, and the way that K160, even after such a far-reaching overhaul, still drives as only K160 did.

And our usual other columns are there: