Victoria (Aus) Railway Reference Site

V

Vern

Trainz Maverick
Don't know if it will be of use to anyone but I stumbled across this site while doing a bit of research...

http://www.victorianrailways.net/index.html

It is an absolute goldmine of information including gradient profiles and track plans, many for lines closed years ago. Well worth bookmarking and easy to spend a couple of hours in there just soaking up all that information.
 
Hi Vern
For Victoria, there's three sites you cannot go past :)

One is 'vr.net' (the one you've found), which is a treasure trove of information on gradients, stations, rolling stock, etc. If you are building a route, the grades and curves section is fantastic.

The second is Peter Vincent's website: http://www.pjv101.net/

More of a 'rolling stock' website, it's still a fantastic resource if you are building a 'prototype' route. Use the 'search' tool to search for specific stations, and you can sometimes find some rather useful shots :) Also good for seeing how various early era trains were made up!

And for Victorian Trainz, there's VicTrainz... http://forum.victrainz.com.au/ Not so much a resource site, but a group of Victorian Railways modelers (and in general, Australian railways!) who share ideas, content, etc. Jerker is our 'master DEM builder' :)

There's also a few other sites for those interested in the VR... Most are rolling stock oriented, but...

http://www.vicrailstations.com/ - This one contains recent photos of many Victorian stations. Particularly handy to get a 'feel' for the surrounding land. Also points out landmarks, etc, that are still standing at many closed/destroyed railway locals.

http://www.signaldiagramsandphotos.com/ - another with a multitude of signal diagrams, many of which aren't on Mark's website (vr.net).

This one is a rolling stock focused one, as well as 'general' railway photography, but again can have many very interesting B&W photos to help get a 'feel' for many locations: http://www.robx1.net/

:)

Zec
 
Thanks for the additional info, Zec - an absolute wealth of resources. Of course getting something up and running into a workable route (in any sim!) is becoming more of a challenge for me these days.

My particular fascination is with recreating long closed routes, just to re-imagine what they might have looked like and Victoria certainly has plenty of those.
 
Their is also VicSig or is that Vicsig!

By the way, do Victorian lines need an Act of Parliament to officially close "physically closed" lines?

(An AOP is a way of closing a line, without actually closing it, that's why the so called "representatives" (representatives used very, very loosely!) are able to get away with saying that a closed line is not really closed)
 
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Depends on the period...

For lines closed up till around the 1970s, these were closed and torn up within a few months, and the land being sold off not long after... After this, many lines survived in some form (land still being owned by the government, and many still having track). Some are simple 'services suspended' (and are likely to stay that way without major trackwork), others ended up having land sold off. Some ended up as tourist railways (and some had all three! Depending on the section).

Yes, http://vicsig.net is another good one :) Particularly for current day.

Vern, there's quite a few lines in Vic that would fit that bill... :)

Another site that is very useful for route building... http://www.nearmap.com/ It's a Aeriel photo based map, rather than satellite photos, and can give much more detail in some areas. Example being, this one: http://www.nearmap.com/?ll=-37.224596,144.410369&z=17&t=h&nmd=20100214

The line runs from this point, along the edge of the racecourse, and then continues on (you should be able to follow the old right of way from here on). Their system also marks the old station sites. Interesting part of this line, is that it has two timber road over rail bridges. Not too many were built. However, the line closed in (I think) the 1940s, and these bridges are still standing (and are still in use!).

The fun part of modelling the VR, of course, is that we used either 5ft3in broad gauge, or 2ft6in narrow gauge. The only standard gauge was the NSWGR (New South Wales Government Railways) coming into Wodonga... That is, until 1962, when the SG to Melbourne opened :)

Zec
 
Next step is to research which lines have actually been done, the Mansfield branch looks pretty interesting and I can't see any references on the forums or DLS to it having been created. Fairly challenging length wise but could be built in two stages interspersed with other projects.

The train service would probably need enhancing for interest though as all the timetables show one a day in each direction!

Also need to think about whether to build in TS2010 or wait until I get TS12 in a few weeks time (probably via Just Trains to keep costs down) and add in the required "legacy" items via the DLS.
 
May thanks for the links, two I already had, but the rest are new to me.

Should be worth a good look, particularly the ones that focus on photography!

Anyone who's seen my work in the Aussie screenshots thread will know I need all the help that I can get.:hehe::hehe:

Matt.
 
Another line which looks scenic and interesting is the route out to Cudgewa. Ah, decisions, decisions...
 
G'day Vern,

The line to Cudgewa was/is a very scenic route even today after having been partly converted into a Railtrail (track removed and a new surface added to facilitate those wishing to walk or bicycle)! At it's highest point it was as FAIK the highest train line in Victoria and possibly Australia. It's not far from where I live and I have travelled near it many times and hardly ever without imagining a VR K Class hauling a mixed goods in either direction.

Cheers
Russell.
 
Cudgewa certainly is an interesting line. Extremely steep grades, extremely sharp curves, impressive bridges, light rails (55lb/yd for the entire length IIRC), and Shelley was the highest station in Victoria...

Locos were really restricted to K class and lighter.

Zec
 
G'day Vern,

When you've decided which line you want, give me a 'hoy' and I'll do a DEM based route of it for you...

Jerker {:)}
 
Noojee looks like another good one - though as with many of the lines closed some years ago, finding the course taken in Google Earth/Maps can be challenging. In some locations the ROW has been reclaimed or where it passed through woodland overgrown (a challenge we also face for UK routes). Luckily the GeoVic site, while not as good as some of the online topo map providers, does show an outline of where most of these lines ran.

Thanks for the offer Jerker - but I'm fully "tooled up" with Transdem and I always find the extraction stage is a very useful way to learn about the planned route. Particularly copying and pasting 50 map clippings from GeoVic!!
 
Jerker and Vern,

I'm afraid you both suffer from the same addiction towards railway cartography and its possibilities for virtual reincarnation of railway lines.

:) :) :)
 
Jerker said:
G'day Vern,
When you've decided which line you want, give me a 'hoy' and I'll do a DEM based route of it for you...
Jerker {:)}
Click to expand...

Hi Jerker,
would it be possible to do a DEM based route for the old Queensland steam era line to Tweed Heads/ Coolangatta? If possible the section Beenleigh south to Tweed Heads, although the section south of Mudgeeraba is my main interest area.

As you probably guessed, my skills in this activity means I am not capable of doing it myself.

Thanks
Peter Cokley
 
Petan said:
Hi Jerker, would it be possible to do a DEM based route for the old Queensland steam era line to Tweed Heads/ Coolangatta? If possible the section Beenleigh south to Tweed Heads, although the section south of Mudgeeraba is my main interest area.
Thanks Peter Cokley
Click to expand...

If it helps I can supply full page versions of the 1960 street directory Tweed to Tugun maps that appear on my website [remember to click to enlarge thses maps] http://www.petan.net/railway/sthcoast.htm

Thanks
Peter C
 
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