The Fred Rochow Railways Collection incorporates photos related to the operation of the Wodonga Railway Station including different types of trains and railways staff C. 1930 – 1990. It was donated to the Wodonga Historical Society by Fred Rochow, a railwayman who spent many years based in Wodonga. He joined the Victorian Railways on 17th June l947 and retired in 1988. For some time, he was a member of the Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Enginemen and served a term as a member of the Trades Hall Council. He had an extensive knowledge of the struggles that took place to achieve better conditions for railway workers. Fred worked for many years as a fireman and then worked his way up the ranks to driver, experiencing many changes from the days of steam locomotives through to diesel trains, locomotives and even the modern XPT train. He worked throughout Victoria at different stages of his career, with his final working years focused on the northeast of Victoria and the Albury to Melbourne line. After his retirement, Fred continued to share his love of steam miniature trains with the community.This collection has local and statewide significance as it captures images of trains, locomotives and personnel who operated the railway services in Wodonga and throughout Northeast Victoria. The railways played a critical role in opening up Victoria and connecting Australia for trade, business, social communication and transport.George Lynch standing alongside a DD Locomotive. This locomotive is fitted with two C-Class compressors used for testing air brakes on the extended length of a train. The DD Class locomotives entered service in 1902 as a new express passenger and mixed traffic steam locomotive class. They were the most numerous locomotive class on the Victorian Railways, with a total of 261 DD locomotives built. Originally introduced on mainline express passenger services, they were quickly superseded by the much larger A class and were relegated to secondary and branch line passenger and goods service, where they gave excellent service for the next 50 years. With some modifications made to the original design, the DD class locomotives ran on railways throughout Victoria until 1974railways wodonga, fred rochow, wodonga railwaymen, george lynch, dd class locomotives

The workshops were opened in November 1917 by the Victorian Railways. It opened in response to political pressures from provincial groups for decentralisation, with the Victorian Railways preferring the cheaper option of expanding the existing Newport Workshops in suburban Melbourne. Furthermore, unemployment had risen in both Bendigo and Ballarat due to a decline in mining operations. The main work carried out was repairs and maintenance of existing wagons and locomotives, however during 1919-22 thirteen new steam locomotives were also built - eight DD class (1033 - 1037, 1047 - 1049) and five A2 class (1078 - 1082). From the 1950s onwards, numerous steam locomotives were scrapped at the workshops. During the years immediately following nominal dieselisation in 1968, they were, at times, cutting up locomotives at the rate of one every two to three weeks. The workshops were also the site of the first VR brass foundry, which was transferred to Newport by the 1960s. Also, throughout 1965, VLX louvred vans were constructed at the workshops, at a rate of one a week. Other tasks included spring manufacture, construction of stainless steel footwarmers, and assembly of pantographs for electric trains, with a staff of 720 employed during 1966. By the 1980s, refurbishment work was also being carried out on Melbourne suburban electric multiple units. The 1980s were also a time of restructuring, and on the breakup of the Victorian Railways the workshops passed to the State Transport Authority and then the Public Transport Corporation. With privatisation the workshops were closed, with the loss of 262 jobs. In February 1996, the workshops were taken over by A Goninan & Co. In October 1999 the workshops were purchased by Great Northern Rail Services, with A Goninan & Co remaining as a tenant. In February 2001 A Goninan & Co vacated the site. The workshops were redeveloped in 2002 at a cost of $6.5 million - $4 million from VicTrack, $2 million from the State Government Regional Infrastructure Development Fund and $500,000 by the City of Greater Bendigo. The Bendigo Rail Workshops at North Bendigo are currently used by Southern Shorthaul Railroad to maintain broad gauge rolling stock for Pacific National, V/Line, Metro Trains Melbourne and CFCLA.Typed document. A4 page folded in half. On tan paper. Document pertaining to Bendigo V/Line workshops open day. Map on inside of folded page. Undated document.train, v/line, workshops, open day