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 Higinbotham 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 to the Victorian Railways.
Because of political turmoil in the Victorian Government, Higginbotham was one of 137 officials removed from office on Black Wednesday on 8 January 1878 when the Government was denied supply. He, like a number of other senior officers, was not reappointed.Sands & McDougall's Melbourne and Suburban Directory, 1865, 1870, 1885 Robert Watson then took over as Engineer-in-Chief. But in 1880, a new Ministry expressed a wish to redress the injustice by re-instating Higginbotham. However, at the sudden death of Higginbotham in 1880, William Elsdon took over for two years before his retirement in 1882, and Watson then returned to his former position as Engineer-in-Chief, which he held up to the time of his death.
On 1 November 1883, assent was given to the Victorian Railways Commissioners Act 1883, 47 Vic., No.767, to construct, maintain and manage the state's railways. The staff of the Department of Railways came under the authority of the Railway Commissioners, which became commonly known as Victorian Railways. The elaborate headquarters at 67 Spencer Street were opened in 1893.
Growth
Victorian Railways grew to service all parts of the state, even extending some lines into New South Wales under the 1922 Border Railways Act. In the late 19th century, the railways became something of a political football with politicians demanding new lines to be built in places where traffic levels never justified it. In 1864, there was just 254 miles (409 km) of railway. The system expanded rapidly to reach 2,900 route miles (4,670 km) by 1891 and to its greatest extent of 4,755 route miles (7652 km) in 1939. The result was that by the beginning of the 20th century, no Victorian (apart from those in the mountain regions) was more than 25 miles (42 km) from a railway line. The period from the end of the 1930s saw a slow decline in route mileage as unprofitable branches were closed.
Conversion of the Melbourne suburban system to electric operation commenced in 1919 and was completed by 1930, creating what was claimed at the time to be the world's largest electric suburban rail system. 1937 saw the introduction of the streamlined Spirit of Progress passenger train, with air conditioning and all steel carriage construction. Diesel power was introduced in 1951 with ten F-class diesel-electric shunting locomotives, followed by B-class mainline diesel-electric locomotives in 1952/53. A standard gauge line connecting to the New South Wales system was constructed in 1961 allowing through trains to operate between Melbourne and Sydney, Australia's two largest cities, for the first time. The last steam locomotive was withdrawn in 1972.
Demise In May 1973, the Railways (Amendment) Act 1972 passed the management of the Railways from the Victorian Railways Commissioners to a Victorian Railways Board. In 1974, the Victorian Railways was rebranded as VicRail, but the royal blue and gold livery used on rolling stock was retained until 1981.
In 1983, VicRail was divided into two—the State Transport Authority taking responsibility for the provision of country rail and road, passenger and freight services, and the Metropolitan Transit Authority taking over suburban passenger operations.
The State Transport Authority traded under the V/Line name, while the Metropolitan Transit Authority used that name until the Public Transport Corporation ("The Met") was formed in 1989. Between 1996 and 1999, V/Line and The Met were privatised. V/Line Passenger was franchised to National Express, returning to government ownership in 2002. The V/Line Freight division was sold to Freight Victoria and is now owned by Pacific National. The infrastructure is now managed by VicTrack with the interstate rail freight infrastructure leased to the Australian Rail Track Corporation. Metro Trains Melbourne now operates the suburban railway network.
Management
When first formed in 1857, the management of the Railways Department was initially vested in the President of the Board of Land and Works, this situation remaining until 1884. With the passing of the Victorian Railways Commissioners Act 1883, a board of four commissioners was put in charge, responsible to the Minister of Railways (the Minister of Transport from 1935 onwards).
The Chairman of Commissioners of the Victorian Railways were:
Richard Speight: 1883 to 1892 Richard Hodge Francis: 1892 to 1894 James Syder: 1894 to 1896 John Mathieson: 1896 to 1901 William Francis Joseph Fitzpatrick: 1901 to 1903 Thomas James Tait: 1903 to 1910 William Francis Joseph Fitzpatrick: 1910 to 1915 Charles Ernest Norman: 1915 to 1920 Harold Winthrop Clapp: 1920 to 1939 Norman Charles Harris: 1940 to 1950 Robert George Wishart: 1950 to 1955 Edgar Henry Brownbill: 1956 to 1967 George Frederick Brown: 1967 to 1973
After the Bland Report of 1972, in May 1973 the Railways (Amendment) Act 1972 passed the management of the Railways from the Victorian Railways Commissioners to a Victorian Railways Board. The board could have up to seven members, with six being initially appointed. This remained until 1983 when the board was discontinued under the Transport Act 1983.
Fleet
The Victorian Railways operated a wide variety of locomotives and rolling stock to provide passenger and goods services. This included equipment acquired from the private companies that built the first railways in Victoria. The majority of the fleet was broad gauge, with a specialised fleet used on the narrow gauge lines. In later years, gauge conversion was used to place stock from the main VR fleet onto standard gauge.
In 1936, the company owned 590 locomotives, 38 railcars, 819 coaches, 716 brake vans and 20,945 goods wagons.
The first locomotives used in the state were small steam locomotives, the majority being imported from the United Kingdom, with later years seeing larger units being built locally. Electric locomotives were acquired with the electrification of the suburban railways, with more powerful units acquired when the mainline to Traralgon was electrified. Dieselisation occurred from 1951, but the B class of 1952 revolutionised main line operations. Apart from the F class shunters, Clyde Engineering had a monopoly on Victorian diesel-electric locomotives, as the Australian licensee of General Motors EMD engines and traction motors, fitting them into locally designed bodies.
Early passenger services were operated with 4 and 6 wheeled "dogbox" passenger carriages, but larger bogie rollingstock started to appear from the turn of the century. On the Melbourne suburban network electric multiple units were introduced speeding up services. Experiments were also made with various diesel and petrol railcars for use on smaller branch lines. By the late 1970s, country passenger services were run down, and older wooden rolling stock was now approaching their use by date. As a result, the New Deal saw modern steel carriages introduced from 1981.
Early wagons were built on four wheeled under frames, but from 1871 bogie vehicles begun to appear. The last four wheeled open wagons were built in 1958, but were not scrapped in large numbers until the 1980s when new bogie wagons replaced them. By 1987, the bogie wagon fleet numbered 5000.
When the Victorian Railways (now known as VicRail) was divided into two in 1983, the Metropolitan Transit Authority received the suburban electric multiple unit fleet, while the State Transport Authority took responsibility for remainder for the provision of country passenger and freight services.
Rolling stock
Railcars ClassImageTypeGaugeTop speed (km/h)BuiltNumberIn serviceNotes Rowan Steam Broad 1883–1888 2 1883–1904 Kerr Stuart 1912 1 1913–1924 McKeen Petrol 1911 2 1912–1919 Converted to passenger carriage AEC 1922–1925 19 1922–1956 Leyland 1925–1926 4 1925–1954 Brill 1928 1 1928–1947 Petrol Electric Railmotor (PERM) /Diesel Electric Railmotor (DERM) Petrollater Diesel 100 1928–1931 10 1928–1991 Converted from Petrol to Diesel Electric Railmotors Kerang Tramway Railmotor Petrol 1943 1 1952–1958 First entered service on the Kerang–Koondrook Tramway 102hp Walker Diesel 70 1948–1955 12 railmotors1 power unit 1948–1978 153hp Walker 80 1948–1954 15 railmotors1 power unit 1948–1981 280hp Walker 95 1950–1954 12 railmotors1 power unit 1950–1980 Diesel Rail Car (DRC) 115 1971–1973 4 1971–1994
Locomotives (diesel/electric) ClassImageTypeGaugeTop speed (km/h)BuiltNumberIn serviceNotesBDiesel-electricBroad1331952–1953261952–1982CDiesel-electricBroad, standard1331977–1978101977–1995FDiesel-electricBroad321951–1953161951–1987HDiesel-electricBroad1001968–196951968–1999SDiesel-electricBroad, standard1331957–1961181957–1961TDiesel-electricBroad, standard1001955–1968941955-2000XDiesel-electricBroad, standard1331966, 1970, 1975–1976241966–1999YDiesel-electricBroad651963–1968751963-presentMDiesel-hydraulicBroad20195921959-?VDiesel-hydraulicBroad16195911959-?WDiesel-hydraulicBroad321959–1961271959–1982EElectricBroad651923, 1928–1929121923–1984LElectricBroad1211953–1954251953–1987
Locomotives (steam) ClassImageTypeGaugeTop speed (km/h)BuiltNumberIn serviceNotes No.1 (1857) later Broad 1857 1 1858–1904 Later rebuilt as 2-4-0 No.100 (1871) 1872 1 1872–1916 Allocated as Class E in 1886, became unclassed again in 1889. Commissioners locomotive No.103 & 105 (1873) 1873 2 1874–1924 Old A (1884) 1884 10 1884–1924 First entered service as Unclassed New A (1889) 1889–1891 15 1889–1925 AA (1900) 1900–1903 20 1900–1932 A2 (1907) 115 1907–1922 185 1907–1963 Ran the Geelong Flier, reducing times from Geelong to Melbourne to 63, and then 55 minutes B (1861) 1861–1880 34 1862–1917 First entered service as Unclassed C (1878) 1871–1883 26 1878–1916 6 first entered service with Melbourne and Hobson's Bay United Railway Company (1871–1878). All first entered service as Unclassed C (1918) 96 1918–1926 26 1918–1962 Ran during the war on the North Eastern, Ballarat, Bendigo, and Geelong lines D (1876) 1876 2 1877–1907 First entered service as Unclassed. Class also known as "Rodgers". Named Neil and Neil's Sister D (1887) 1887–1888 20 1887–1928 DD (1902) 1902–1916 261 1902–1974 Class split in 1922: D1 class comprising all the original saturated steam locomotives D2 class comprising all the superheated steam locomotives