July 18 2024: Nine Photos added to the Taradale page.

June 25 2024: Des Jowett photos added to the following pages: Balmoral line , E class , flat top T,  Upfield line, Sandringham line.

May 27 2024: It is with great sadness to inform that Des Jowett passed away this morning. Des was a former workmate but also a VR historian of note. Des was a pioneer in the field of archival research. Commencing long before the age of digitisation, he would spend countless hours trawling through the vast quantities of documentation held at such places as the Public Records Office, meticulously cataloguing and indexing his findings. This information, he was more than willing to share with fellow researchers and enthusiasts alike. He co-authoured the book "Return to Rosstown ". Des was always willing to share his photos and many of them appear on this site. The last time I talked with him he wanted to know all the details about the HCMT trains that I had recently qualified in, he was curious to the end and he will be greatly missed.

May 15 2024: Several people have sent me various VR publications over the years but some of them never seemed to fit anywhere on the website. So I have added a new page, VR PUBLICATIONS which will be a sort of catch all for any miscellaneous publications. I have also added a page full of the well known "GOES BY" ads that used to run in Victorian newspapers in the 1970s, and perhaps earlier. Many thanks to Donald Sharp, Norman Houghton and Des Jowett for supplying the publications.   

May 8 2024: New photos added and existing photos re-scanned on the Upfield line page. Photos added to QB page and BW page.

Apr 2 2024: 12 new photos of WW workmens sleepers have been added to the WW page.

Dec 6 2023: Iain Rowley has kindly made available a 1947 plan of Crib Point, it is in the location index.

Dec 4 2023: I have created a new page for wooden bodied U vans, with the help of Phil Dunn. The N diesel page has been cleaned up.

I have recently purchased a Drone, I have put some of the videos up on my Youtube page.

 

Nov 29 2023: Apologies for the recent seven day outage. I have finally dumped the web hosting company I had used for 20 years. The site is now being hosted in Australia by Straight Up IT, Trevor Staats, who is a VMRS member, has worked tirelessly to migrate the site over to his companies hosting service and we won't see the website going offline ever again! The speed that the website loads has improverd dramatically as a result of the server being in Australia!

Oct 22 2023: Timetables added to the WTT and Public timetables pages. Plans and diagrams added to the Location Index pages.

May 15 2023: The latest VMRS newsletter gives the link to the TROVE website that archived Rob O'Regan's popular website that showcased his extensive rollingstock photo collection.

May 8 2023: Plans & Sections of Alberton to Won Wron added to the South Eastern grades page. 

May 3 2023: The CJ cement wagon page has been made mobile device friendly with many re-scans and some new photos.

April 19 2023: Photos added to the E class electric, Broadmeadows line, W workmens sleeper and WZ weed spray wagon pages. 

April 17 2023: The P explosive van page has been made mobile device friendly with many new and re-scanned photos added.

April 12 2023: New photos added to the following pages, all three T van pages, H  and 1st series T diesel loco, Ararat to Dimboola page. A few diagrams added to the index pages, A-C,  D-H. 

April 4 2023: I have created a pdf of drawings kindly supplied by Colin Rutledge of circa 1870 drawings of slotted arm signals and associuated hardware as used on the North East line. It can be found in the Signal homepage.

April 3 2023: ZF guards van page and N ballast plough page have been made device friendly,  photos added and some re-scanned. The circular C 8/15 has been added to the Signal homepage. This is a significant document as it introduced and described 3 position signalling on the VR.

March 21 2023: Plan & Sections for Kilmore to Lancefield added to N&M grades page.

March 14 2023: The L sheep wagon page has been made device friendly and many new images added. The family of George Newitt has provided a 1965 Outstation roster book on the Roster Book page.

March 8 2023: Four years of the publication "The Victorian Railways Scholars club bulletin" have been added to the Timeline page. Doug Miles has scanned an interesting book from 1921 that details how enginemen are to deal with various breakdowns and mechanical defects, it is on the Motive Power page. Plans for Ararat - Portland added to W&SW page. The CA guards van page has been refreshed with some new scans and made mobile friendly.

March 4 2023: A copy of the 1937 instructions for Engine Cleaners has been added to the Motive Power page, courtesy of the family of George Newitt.

March 1 2023: Photos added to AE, BW, Overland, Broadmeadows line and uploaded a 1936 Westinghouse Loco Brake Instructions to the Motive Power homepage

Feb 22 2023: I found some new, to me, pics of T and Z vans on the PROV website yesterday that are worth posting. Photos of T 295 and T 331 with 6 wheels circa 1930 added to the 2nd series T van page. A 1930 photo of Z  569 on the Z van page. Six new photos of Overland cars added to the Overland cars page. A photo of B 60 on the Cairn Curran bridge taken on one of my first rail enthusiast tours.

Feb 16 2023: The recently uploaded 1984 STA grades book has been reassembled by Ross Jepson. Plan & Sections of the Albion to Broadmeadows loop line added to the Metropolitan page. The Kerr Stuart steam railmotor page has been made mobile friendly with new photos. Photos added to the WW and W pages.   

Feb 10 2023: The short wheelbase steel U van page has been refreshed and made mobile friendly, photos have been re-scanned and diagrams added.

Feb 9 2023: Peter Enlund has scanned the 1984 STA grades book, this shows the system at the end of the Victorian Railways. Photos added to the Dining car page. 

Feb 8 2023: The BCE page has been refreshed and made mobile device friendly with new photos and plans added. Photos added to the Coleraine page, WW page (WW 5), L class page, and a 1958 Western & South-Western working timetable to the WTT page courtesy of  Mick Bennie and Peter Rhodan

Feb 6 2023: Doug Miles has kindly scanned a 1966 VR booklet that briefly describes the VR goods wagon fleet. It is at the bottom of the Goods Wagons homepage. Two new photos added to the D van page.

Feb 5 2023: A new page for D baggage and mail vans has been added to the Passenger car page.

Feb 4 2023: Correspondence regarding the construction of B vans and the reason for the curtailment of the conversion program as well as a blueprint for B 1 added to B van page. 

Plans for Baxter to Mornington added to Metropolitan grades page. Thanks to Ross Jepson for sourcing both the B van correspondence and the Mornington plans.

Jan 27 2023: The Metropolitan section of the grades page is up, as can be seen, there are many gaps still to be filled.

Jan 25 2023: Plans & Sections for South Geelong - Queenscliff added to Grades page.

Increasingly, photographic and scanned material on this website is being used in commercial situations and uploaded to social media websites without permission.  Australian copyright law is very clear. The person who took the photo or scanned the material owns the copyright to that image. That digital image must not be used in any way without the permission of the copyright holder.  Concerning commercial use of a photograph or scanned material, our position is that in addition to requesting permission of the copyright holder: When material is used, for example, in a publication, an offer to provide a sample of the publication it appears in is required When the material is used to promote, for example, a model, an offer to provide a model or financial remuneration is required

Jan 18 2023: Peter Enlund has scanned a fascinating document that goes into great detail about the testing of X 32 after it was converted to burn Pulverised Brown coal, it can be found on the X class page. More photos added to the M wagon page including the only photo I've seen of a wagon with a wood underframe equipped with Westinghouse air brake. 

Jan 15 2023: Peter Enlund has scanned an interesting 1926 book on goods train loads, found on the Timetable page. Photos added to the Dining car page and the M wagon page.

Jan 12 2023: Diagrams, courtesy of Peter Enlund, added to Z van page and of the Leyland railmotor.

Jan 10 2023: The GH page has been refreshed with many new much better quality scans added as well as plans.

Jan 2 2023: Plans and Sections for Irrewarra - Newtown added to the W&SW grades page. Plans for the Kerang - Koondrook line have been added to the N&M gradient page. New plan of a CE van added to CE page. Photo of a SOP sitting car added to AS page.

Dec 23 2022: The BFW and BLX/F pages have been refreshed and made mobile device friendly with 10 new photos added. The QN page hasn't been refreshed but has had photos added including ones of them in electrification projects. Lance Cross has provided a drawing on Enterprise and Perserverance on the sleeping car page.

Dec 20 2022: Over the years the Grades Book page had become a real dog's breakfast. Each district now has its own page and the various items should be a lot easier to find, the new pages are also mobile device friendly. Note, I have yet to do the metropolitan page.

Dec 9 2022: 1944 Ticket Checkers Manual added to the Timetable page. AX and QW pages have been upgraded