Railmaps

Public transport across the State of Victoria to be free in April
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-29/free-public-transport-april-victoria-fuel-prices-cost-of-living/106506974

It starts on Tuesday March 31 presumably so people don't think it's an April Fools day stunt

This is a practical intervention that State governments can make. And IF people swap from their cars, there'll be real savings

In Melbourne, patronage is still below pre-Covid levels, so there is scope to absorb more. But in regional areas, particularly on the North-East line to Albury, VLine trains are chockers

Today's historic photo of the day: Looking north-west along the approach #tracks to Spencer Street station, Melbourne, Vic, August 30 1986.

At right are the Bank sidings where VLine carriages and locomotives were (and still are) stabled. In the distance is a blue and gold liveried X class diesel loco and behind it is a Comeng EMU on the electrified tracks that enter from the left not so far in front of the EMU.

Three weeks from today, on March 24, my historic pic of the day series will reach its 10th birthday.
It's getting hard to find previously published pics, so I'll bring the series to a close after that date.
I'll still post pics of trains and observations about the world, but it'll be on a more ad-hoc basis.

In the meantime, there are still 21 more historic pics of the day yet to come!

Today's historic photo of the day: The Up Canberra Monaro Express operated by a 7 car DEB Set with HPF959 in the rear enters Queanbeyan, NSW, November 1985.

The Canberra Monaro Express ran as a day return #train from Sydney to Canberra and Cooma. At various times in its existence it split and joined here at Queanbeyan, but at this time it was a 7 car set all the way from Cooma to Queanbeyan to Canberra to Queanbeyan to Sydney.

Today's historic photo of the day: SW6 class #tram no 969 runs an outbound route 64 trip in Dandenong Road at Closeburn Avenue, Prahran, Vic, November 12 1988.

No 963 is one of 120 SW6 class trams built between 1939 and 1951. In fact, entering service in April 1951, no 969 was the 120th and very last SW6 to be built. The next tram in Melbourne's fleet, no 970, entered service in July 1951 as the first of the very similar W6 class.

Today's historic photo of the day: Exactly 38 years ago today, diesel locomotive N471 and VLine passenger #train no 8134 from Ballarat bound for Melbourne just east of Ballan, Vic, November 3 1987.

Ballan is about 79km west of Melbourne on the main broad gauge line to Ballarat. In 1987 when this photo was taken, the line was also the main Melbourne to Adelaide railway, and it was also the trunk line for trains to Mildura and the north-west of Victoria.

Today's historic photo of the day: Queensland Railways 1067mm narrow gauge 1-C diesel-mechanical #locomotive DL4 sits in the yard at Townsville, Qld, July 22 1986.

The first of the four DL class Gardner engined locos, DL1, was built in 1939. Diesel railmotors and railcars pre-dated it, and there were some earlier diesel locos on a dam construction railway in NSW, a timber tramway in Victoria and maybe elsewhere, but otherwise, DL1 may have been Australia's first diesel loco on a public railway.

Today's historic photo of the day: Looking across the tracks running along the centre of Dutton street, we see the 322km post on the far side of the Rossi Street intersection, Yass, NSW, October 19, 1985.

The shiny #rails tell us that the track had recently seen trains on it, and indeed the line was then still in regular use for goods trains. Yass is in the NSW Southern Tablelands region to the north-west of Canberra.