Historical information

George Padgett was born into a railway family in Numurkah, Victoria on 3 February 1890. He began working for the Victorian Railways as a junior clerk in Maryborough and gained his Driver’s ticket in 1914 at North Melbourne. He was based at Ararat for some time, then transferred to Dimboola in 1926. In 1927 George drove the pilot train ahead of the Royal Train between Ballarat and the South Australian border.

In November 1937 when the “Spirit of Progress” made its first run from Melbourne to Albury, George was moved to Wodonga. From the train's first return trip he took over the driving. During his career, he made an average of 92 round trips a year and this article reports that he made his 1,100th round trip in 1948. By the time of George’s retirement he had travelled over 500,000 miles at the wheel of the “Spirit”.

George made his last trip on the “Spirit of Progress” on 4 February 1955 prior to his retirement. He died in Wodonga on 19 February 1967.

Significance

These articles are significant because they give an account of the long-serving career of a locomotive driver who lived in Wodonga.

Physical description

Two newspaper articles written about George Padgett, long term driver of the Spirit of Progress
Article 1 - "Spirit" Driver Plays trains too" was published in The Sun News-Pictorial Sat 28 Aug 1948 on Page 8
Article 2 - "THE ENGINE-DRIVER: MR PADGETT'S engine" was published in the Melbourne Herald Saturday 24 July 1948 on page 7