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PL Type Carriage
The PL type carriages were a series of 141 wooden passenger carriages used on the railways of Victoria, Australia. They consisted of the first class APL, second class BPL and combination second and guard's van, BCPL's. History The Victorian Railways plan for electrification of the Melbourne suburban rail network began in 1914, with the first electrically-operated trains running in 1918. The original concept involved hundreds of country and suburban carriages being rebuilt, swapping bodies and underframes, and splicing or adding compartments to achieve the required capacity, with a fairly standardised carriage design for each purpose. By 1919, so many cars had been converted away from regular country traffic that a shortage was being experienced. There were many surplus underframes from carriages that had been converted to swingdoor type driving motors. They were not suitable for the heavier electric motor equipment, but it was realised that they could be fairly easily fitted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victorian Railways
The Victorian Railways (VR), trading from 1974 as VicRail, was the state-owned operator of most rail transport in the Australian state of Victoria from 1859 to 1983. The first railways in Victoria were private companies, but when these companies failed or defaulted, the Victorian Railways was established to take over their operations. Most of the lines operated by the Victorian Railways were of . However, the railways also operated up to five narrow gauge lines between 1898 and 1962, and a line between Albury and Melbourne from 1961. History Formation A Department of Railways was created in 1856 with the first appointment of staff. British engineer, George Christian Darbyshire was made first Engineer-in-Chief in 1857, and steered all railway construction work until his replacement by Thomas Higginbotham in 1860. In late 1876, New York consulting engineer Walton Evans arranged the supply of two 4-4-0 locomotives manufactured by the Rogers Locomotive Works of New Jersey, US ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victorian Goldfields Railway
The Victorian Goldfields Railway is a broad gauge tourist railway in Victoria, Australia. It operates along a formerly disused branch line between the towns of Maldon and Castlemaine. History The original line was opened on 16 June 1884, opening up rail access from the established station at Castlemaine to the towns of Muckleford and Maldon. The area was prosperous, as Castlemaine and Maldon had both experienced gold rushes in the preceding years, and local residents had been petitioning the government for a railway since 1874. On 2 August 1884, a contract was let for an extension to Laanecoorie, however further construction was suspended after the line reached the small town of Shelbourne in 1891. The line was served by twice-daily trains for the first forty years of its life, which was increased to four-times-daily trains in 1924. However, these were cut back at the end of the 1920s due to a decrease in the local population, and passenger services were eliminated altogeth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caboose
A caboose is a crewed North American railroad car coupled at the end of a freight train. Cabooses provide shelter for crew at the end of a train, who were formerly required in switching and shunting, keeping a lookout for load shifting, damage to equipment and cargo, and overheating axles. Originally flatcars fitted with cabins or modified box cars, they later became purpose-built with projections above or to the sides of the car to allow crew to observe the train from shelter. The caboose also served as the conductor's office, and on long routes included sleeping accommodations and cooking facilities. A similar railroad car, the brake van, was used on British and Commonwealth railways (the role has since been replaced by the crew car in Australia). On trains not fitted with continuous brakes, brake vans provided a supplementary braking system, and they helped keep chain couplings taut. Cabooses were used on every freight train in the United States and Canada until the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Newport Railway Museum
The Newport Railway Museum is located on Champion Road, Newport, Victoria, near the North Williamstown station. History The museum opened on 10 November 1962, after the Australian Railway Historical Society (ARHS) Victorian Division was allocated space at Newport Workshops by the Victorian Railways to develop a collection of key examples of steam locomotives that were then in the process of being replaced by diesel and electric locomotives. By the late 1980s, the early diesel and electric locomotives that had replaced steam traction were themselves nearing end of life, and the museum expanded its collection to incorporate a number of key examples. Following a safety audit by VicTrack, the landlord and owner of most of the exhibits, the museum closed in February 2010. After various improvements, it reopened in March 2014. On 16 June 2020, it was announced that the ARHS had withdrawn from the operation of the museum and a new group, Newport Railway Museum Inc., formed by museum v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victorian Railways N Class
The N class was a branch line steam locomotive that ran on Victorian Railways from 1925 to 1966. A development of the successful K class 2-8-0, it was the first VR locomotive class designed for possible conversion from to . History In 1923, in response to the recommendations made by the 1921 Royal Commission on the matter of uniform railway gauge, VR announced a policy that all new locomotive designs were to be capable of conversion from broad to standard gauge.Pearce et al., p. 12 The rationale was that the task of converting VR from broad to standard gauge at a future date would be far easier to achieve if the existing locomotives and rolling stock could be easily modified for standard gauge operation, rather than requiring expensive re-engineering or replacement. The K class 2-8-0 built by VR in 1922-23 was a success, but with a firebox mounted between frames engineered for broad gauge operation only, it was not readily gauge-convertible. Thus when additional branch li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Australian Railways
South Australian Railways (SAR) was the statutory corporation through which the Government of South Australia built and operated railways in South Australia from 1854 until March 1978, when its non-urban railways were incorporated into Australian National, and its Adelaide urban lines were transferred to the State Transport Authority. The SAR had three major rail gauges: 1600 mm (5 ft 3 in); 1435 mm (4 ft in); and 1067 mm (3 ft 6 in). History Colonial period The first railway in South Australia was laid in 1854 between Goolwa and Port Elliot to allow for goods to be transferred between paddle steamers on the Murray River and seagoing vessels. The next railway was laid from the harbour at Port Adelaide, to the capital, Adelaide, and was laid with Irish gauge track. This line was opened in 1856. Later on, branch lines in the state's north in the mining towns of Kapunda and Burra were linked through to the Adelaide metrop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Port Pirie (Ellen Street) Railway Station
Ellen Street railway station was the second of six stations that operated successively between 1875 and the early 2010s to serve the rural maritime town (later city) of Port Pirie, 216 km (134 mi) by rail north of Adelaide, South Australia. Soon after construction of the line towards Gladstone began in 1875, an impromptu passenger service commenced. The inaugural station, Port Pirie South, was from the centre of the town. Since two tracks had already been laid down the middle of Ellen Street to the wharves, a small corrugated iron shed was erected as a ticket and parcels office. The street-side location was unusual for the South Australian Railways. In 1902, when passenger traffic had increased greatly, a stone building was erected in a striking Victorian Pavilion style. After the tracks were removed in 1967 and the station closed, the building's design assured its retention as a museum of the National Trust of South Australia. Placement Some time after the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terowie Railway Station
Terowie railway station was located on the Roseworthy–Peterborough line in the South Australian town of Terowie. History Terowie station opened in 1880 when the broad gauge line from Adelaide was completed. In 1881, it became a junction station when the narrow gauge line from Peterborough opened. This resulted in Terowie becoming an important transshipment point on the South Australian Railways network. The opening of the Trans-Australian Railway in 1917 further increased the amount of traffic, this ceased operating via Terowie in 1937 when the Adelaide to Redhill line was extended to Port Pirie. With the opening of the Leigh Creek Coalfield in the 1940s, the volume of freight transhipped increased again. This ceased with the opening of the Stirling North to Marree line on 27 July 1957. As part of the conversion of the Port Augusta to Broken Hill line to standard gauge, the line north of Terowie to Peterborough was converted to broad gauge on 12 January 1970, thus makin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bairnsdale Railway Station
Bairnsdale railway station is the terminus of the Gippsland line in Victoria, Australia. It serves the city of Bairnsdale, and it opened on 8 May 1888.Bairnsdale Vicsig Until 1987, the line continued to . This has been redeveloped as the , a shared bicycle, walking, and horse-riding track. History The railway line opened to Bairnsdale in 1888, and from 1916, continued through to |
Serviceton, Victoria
__NOTOC__ Serviceton is a small town in rural western Victoria, Australia. It is near the Victorian–South Australian border, north-west of Melbourne. Named after James Service, who was Premier of Victoria in 1880 and from 1883 to 1886, it was established when the Melbourne–Adelaide rail corridor, inter-colonial railway line between Adelaide and Melbourne was completed in 1887. The railway station served as the change-over point for train crews and locomotives of the Victorian Railways and South Australian Railways since neither could operate in the other colony. The recorded a population in Serviceton and the surrounding area of 120; there were 77 dwellings. The town is the subject of a Tom Waits song entitled "Town With No Cheer" from his album ''Swordfishtrombones''. Serviceton Post Office opened in 1886; from 1908 to 1911 it was known as Serviceton Railway Station post office. A Serviceton South office was open in 1926–1927, and Serviceton North office, on the West ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tocumwal Railway Station
Tocumwal railway station is a heritage-listed closed railway station in the town of Tocumwal, New South Wales, Australia. It was once the break-of-gauge between the broad gauge Victorian Railways Tocumwal line from the south, and the standard gauge New South Wales Government Railways Tocumwal line from the north. However, only the line from Victoria is still open. History Local agitation for a railway to Tocumwal dates as far back as 1899, when a deputation visited Melbourne, with the Minister for Railways supporting the project. The railway line from Strathmerton was opened to the south bank of the Murray River at Tocumwal on 28 February 1905. However, the railway was not extended north into Tocumwal itself and the current station until 1908, due to the lack of agreement between the two state governments. Later, other broad gauge lines into New South Wales were built under the 1922 Border Railways Act. In April 1906, the Premiers of the two states agreed that Victoria would ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
