Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Railmaps @railmaps.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy · 21h

Exact same spot nowadays. B2 class tram also showing Not Taking Passengers!

A downtown city street with tall modern buildings on the opposite side, a few cars travelling each way, and an articulated B2 class tram travelling away from us on the far track - displaying 'Not taking passengers'

Railmaps @railmaps.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy · 22h

Today, regular passenger trams do now run along this section of track. Route 86 trams between Docklands and Bundoora RMIT via Bourke Street carry passengers along here.

Whilst a handful of W class trams have been retained for operation of the City Circle service today, none of them are from the […]

Original post on mastodon.online

mastodon.online

Railmaps @railmaps.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy · 22h

This section of Spencer Street north of Lonsdale Street at that time carried no regular passenger routes. Routes 48 and 75 run up Spencer Street from the south but terminated at Lonsdale Street.

The track continuing north and turning east into La Trobe Street was used only for non passenger […]

Original post on mastodon.online

mastodon.online

1

Railmaps @railmaps.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy · 22h

Today's historic photo of the day: Melbourne W5 class #tram no 759 heads south on a non-passenger-carrying run in Spencer Street, Melbourne, August 31, 1983.

Tram no 759, built in 1936 as a W5 class, was converted to an SW5 in 1985 by fitting of two […]

[Original post on mastodon.online]

A Melbourne W5 class dropcentre tram in green and cream livery with three open doors in the centre section enclosed only by canvas blinds, heads away from us along a city street. The rear destination is displaying SPECIAL and a yellow supplementary board with the lettering NOT CARRYING PASSENGERS is hanging from the rear driver's cab. A large brick industrial building of brutalist design looms over the scene in the background with large lettering on it displaying THE AGE.

2 1 2

Railmaps @railmaps.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy · 22h

Well well well.
Transport for NSW have an RFT titled "Regional Overnight Sleeper Service- Rolling Stock Technical Advisor Services" and are seeking provision of minimum critical rollingstock specs and a business case for continuing Sydney-Melbourne sleeping car trains […]

Original post on mastodon.online

mastodon.online

1 4

Railmaps @railmaps.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy · 1d

The Canberra Monaro Express ran for the last time in the late 1980s and the line south of Queanbeyan to Cooma last saw trains in 1989. These days, this section of track sees three NSW Trainlink XPLorer passenger trains each way each day between Sydney and Canberra.

Railmaps @railmaps.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy · 1d

DEB sets were introduced in 1951 to run daylight express trains across NSW, and they served across the State, predominantly on main lines, but particularly after the introduction of XPTs in the early 1980s they were relegated to some extent and the Canberra Monaro Express was one of their last […]

Original post on mastodon.online

mastodon.online

1

Railmaps @railmaps.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy · 1d

Today's historic photo of the day: Exactly 40 years ago today, power car HPF951 trails the Canberra Monaro Express onto the Canberra branch at Queanbeyan, NSW, October 12 1985

The Canberra Monaro Express was a 6 days per week day-return #train from Sydney to […]

[Original post on mastodon.online]

A 7-car streamlined DEB set diesel multiple unit passenger train in Candy livery runs away from us on the rightmost of a pair of standard gauge railway tracks at the throat of a provincial railway yard. The rear car of the set, which has a curved end, is displaying the road number 951 in white numerals on its nose and is displaying a circular white taildisc. A siding track branches from the nearer of the two main lines in the lower foreground. The tracks are passing through a small cutting with a steep edge rising on the left and a shallower cut on the right leading up to an industrial facility upon which stand a number of tall white storage tanks.

1 1 3

Railmaps @railmaps.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy · 1d

The first electric train to Byford is en-route from Perth now and will arrive at 10:03WST.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-12/final-stage-perth-metronet-byford-rail-extension-opening/105876182

Timetables are online at Australian Rail Maps at timetable […]

[Original post on mastodon.online]

Screencap of Perth Rail Map from the Australian Rail Maps website showing the re-opened Armadale line and the extension to Byford.

2 1

Railmaps @railmaps.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy · 2d

The line through Malmsbury to Bendigo was re-built as part of the Regional Fast Rail project in 2005. With the track north of Bendigo converted from double track to single track with long passing loops, Malmsbury finds itself nowadays on a single track section with that track now running through […]

Original post on mastodon.online

mastodon.online

Railmaps @railmaps.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy · 2d

These units ran for many years on both standard and broad gauge. They hauled VLine passenger trains into the 1990s, and some ran with West Coast Railway into the 21st century. Whilst most have been withdrawn, just 7 of the 18 have been lost entirely: two were destroyed in the 1969 Violet Town […]

Original post on mastodon.online

mastodon.online

1

Railmaps @railmaps.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy · 2d

S307 is one of 18 S class diesel locos purchased by Victorian Railways from GM's Australian licensee, Clyde Engineering of Granville, NSW. Built in two tranches, the first ten (S300-S309), delivered in 1957 and 1958, were classified GM model A7, and the final eight (S310-S317), classified model […]

Original post on mastodon.online

mastodon.online

1

Railmaps @railmaps.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy · 2d

Today's historic photo of the day: Exactly 39 years ago today, #train 9025, the Saturday afternoon VLine Bendigo goods headed by loco S307 with a Y class in tow, runs through Malmsbury, Vic, October 11 1986

Malmsbury is 102km north of Melbourne on the main […]

[Original post on mastodon.online]

1 4 3

Railmaps @railmaps.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy · 3d

The evidence from this photo suggests that Henty is south of the Barassi line; the great cultural faultline that cleaves Australia in two.

Railmaps @railmaps.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy · 3d

This one's not really a rail photo, but I snapped it immediately prior to the image above. I suspect some of the lads on that train tour out to Rand that day ducked into the Doodle Cooma Arms whilst the Alco was running around its train, but I stayed outside taking photos of the oncoming storm.

A two storey brick hotel building on a corner block in a country town with a fierce storm brewing in the sky behind it.

1

Railmaps @railmaps.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy · 3d

The last train to Rand ran in 1987, and the line closed in 1989. A 1km section of the line at Henty, remained in use for some time afterwards as a siding to serve grain silos on the outskirts of Henty. That short section was then disused for quite some time, but in recent years it has been […]

Original post on mastodon.online

mastodon.online

1

Railmaps @railmaps.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy · 3d

The loco seen here was running a special day trip that ran on both the Corowa and Rand branches. In those days, there were many grain-only branch lines still operational across NSW, but there was a sense of inevitability that their time was limited, so special passenger trains such as this were […]

Original post on mastodon.online

mastodon.online

1

Railmaps @railmaps.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy · 3d

The Rand branch line opened in 1920 following the return of soldiers from WW1 to serve the burgeoning grain growing industry. Trains on the line carried all manner of inward and outward goods, as well as passengers. Whilst passenger trains were withdrawn in the wide-ranging statewide cuts of […]

Original post on mastodon.online

mastodon.online

1

Railmaps @railmaps.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy · 3d

Today's historic photo of the day: The candy livery on Alco diesel #locomotive 4875 stands out on a very dark afternoon against a backdrop of ferocious storm clouds at Henty, NSW, January 29, 1984.

It's not often the speed of a shunting 48 blurs an image […]

[Original post on mastodon.online]

A predominantly bright red liveried hood style branchline Alco diesel locomotive runs light engine from to left to right across the scene in a rural town in front of a backdrop of very dark storm clouds that fill the sky.

1 1 1

Railmaps @railmaps.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy · 4d

Carriage 43BPL is one of a fleet of 141 lightweight wooden-bodied carriages built from 1917 on the underframes of even older carriages. Used all over Victoria, the BPLs were nicknamed 'Bouncing Passenger Lounges' because of their rough riding. They were withdrawn through the 1970s and 1980s with […]

Original post on mastodon.online

mastodon.online

Railmaps @railmaps.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy · 4d

Today, whilst the DERMs no longer operate regular trains, nine of the ten survive and some are available for heritage and special trains. 63RM herself is now domiciled on the Daylesford Spa Country Railway and regularly operates heritage trains between Daylesford and Bullarto.

1

Railmaps @railmaps.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy · 4d

DERMs are self-propelled passenger rail vehicles that often ran as single vehicles, coupled together or sometimes towing a trailer. Introduced by the Victorian Railways between 1928 and 1931 witg petrol engines, they were used initially to run on lower patronised country branch lines. As trains […]

Original post on mastodon.online

mastodon.online

1

Railmaps @railmaps.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy · 4d

Baddaginnie station, the platform of which once stood in the foreground, had closed to passengers in 1978 and all that remained by 1987 were the two single track main lines: broad gauge this side and standard gauge behind.

In 2010, the Mangalore to Albury, and Benalla to Oaklands broad gauge […]

Original post on mastodon.online

mastodon.online

1

Railmaps @railmaps.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy · 4d

Today's historic photo of the day: Victorian #railways Diesel-Electric Rail Motor (DERM) 63RM towing carriage 43BPL on an enthusiasts special day tour from Seymour to Mulyarra (on the Oaklands line just north of Mulwala) stops at Baddaginnie, Vic, March 14 […]

[Original post on mastodon.online]

A broad gauge diesel-electric railmotor in VR blue and gold livery hauling a red-liveried wooden-bodied BPL passenger carriage stands on a mainline in a provincial location at the site of a closed and removed railway station. The cleared site of the former platform and station building is in the lower foreground. A second track is just visible in the background, slewed away from the nearer track to pass behind the former broad gauge crossing loop.

1 1

Railmaps @railmaps.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy · 5d

@nr Thank you.