Historical Gradients for Yea Railway Line

|Michael Minter/Lance Adams| Last week I received an email from local resident Lance Adams. Lance was one of the last drivers to drive trains on this line. Along with the email came some fascinating scans of Railway Gradient diagrams for the Yea-Mansfield Line and the Cathkin to Alexandra line dating back to 1927.

Following are excerpts from Lance's email explaining the diagrams...

Please find attached a copy of the respective 1927 Gradients & Curves diagrams as issued to Locomotive Drivers of the Victorian Railways, before being certified to drive a train across a portion of line. These were issued in book form, and the pages listed are 92,93,& 94. I have these diagrams as I am a Locomotive driver, and drove some of the last trains to traverse this Railway back in 1978. I thought they might be worthy of inclusion, as items of interest on your site. A form of this book is still in use today, although in metric, and only current to today’s Victorian track usage.

They show the following information:

• The year the line was opened
• Height above sea level of all stations
• Progressive and local mileages
• Gradients in feet in all locations
• Curves in chain radius (either left or right)
• Creeks and River crossings
• Level crossings
• Position of hand operated gates along the line
• Commencing & finishing distances in Miles, chains and links

This email has inspired me to start a "Historical Items" section where articles like this will be permanently available. This will be carried out shortly.

You can view the gradient diagrams here. Due to the width of the diagrams and to maintain readabilty you will have to use the horizontal browser bar.

Fascinating Images from Our Rail History

|Michael Minter| Lance Adams has generously supplied me with some rare images of how it was when Yea and other towns in the area had a rail service.

The images span a period from 1960 to October 1978 when the line was closed.

There are 24 images in all and I have spread them over 3 pages for ease of viewing. One of the most interesting images shows the last train to travel on the line. There is also an image of the second last train to Mansfield going over the Bonnie Doon bridge, which shows the water level only a few metres under the line, something I'm sure we'd all love to see now.

The images will become permanently available in our "Historical Items" section on the top left menu.

Thanks Lance.

You can view the images by clicking on the links below.

Rail Images 1
Rail Images 2
Rail Images 3

Yea to Melbourne and back for $1.03

|Michael Minter| Well thats what it cost in 1905. Rail historian Lance Adams has once again supplied me with some of his historical treasures.

This time yea dot commers can view rail timetables from 1905 and 1945. The 1905 timetable includes fares. A return First Class ticket from Mansfield to Yea in 1905 was 14/2d, or in modern terms $1.43, and from Yea -  Melbourne and return 10/3d or $1.03 second class, and 15/4d or $1.55 first class. Of course inflation has not been included.

Travel time to Melbourne in 1905 was a bit over 4 hours. In 1945 travel time was 2 hours and 50 minutes.

You can view the timetables here.