Historical information

The "Spirit of Progress' was constructed at the Railway Workshops, Newport, Victoria, and placed into service between Melbourne and Albury on 23rd November, 1937. It was the first completely streamlined, airconditioned, all steel train in the Southern Hemisphere. It travelled non-stop daily in both directions between Melbourne and Albury.

On its daily run a speed of one mile a minute was averaged for much of the 1,904 mile journey. Eighty m.p.h. was exceeded in tests, but in normal running a 70 m.p.h. restriction was imposed. The average load of the "Spirit of Progress" was 499 tons, and it could carry 240 first-class and 192 second-class passengers.

A luxurious dining car was a feature of the “Spirit of Progress” with Queensland beech walls and leather upholstered seats. It had a well-equipped kitchen with walls of stainless steel, a slow combustion coke-burning range and a modern air circulation system.

The "Spirit of Progress" was hauled by one of the four giant "S" class steam locomotives. Each was named after a man famous in Australian History: Matthew Flinders, Edward Henty, Sir Thomas Mitchell and C.J. Latrobe.
After World War II the locomotives were converted to oil burners and were hauled by “S” class diesel-electric locomotives.

In a normal year, the "Spirit of Progress" travelled about 146, 000 miles and carried over 300,000 passengers, while approximately 126,000 meals and 45, 000 serves of light refreshments would be provided in the dining car.
The Spirit of Progress ran for the last time on 2nd August 1986.

Significance

This item is significant because it provides a description and information about an important locomotive which served the Wodonga District

Physical description

A small leaflet of six pages plus cover outlining information about the Spirit of Progress. The cover features a picture of the Spirit of Progress. Printed on buff coloured paper in black ink.

Inscriptions & markings

SPIRIT OF PROGRESS