Rach Cottle

Visited Castlemaine A signal box recently. Fascinated by the technology.
#VictorianRailways #RailwayHeritage #Signalling #Castlemaine

Started the new year the right way with a ride on a 100 year old steam roller.
#steam
#steamheritage

A new t-shirt from my support crew for Christmas.
#PhDLife
#OneYearToGo

Can’t wait for Parkville. So tired of *that* Tram.

#DisabilityHistoryMonth starts today!

The Railway Work, Life & Death project is an important resource for understanding occupational disability in the past, via the railways.

Read more about just a few of the people whose life stories we've explored:

www.railwayaccidents.port.ac.uk?s=disability

Newspaper advert with image of train and text “Enter a new era in Victoria’s public transport”.

Smells like hot Melbourne days and a misspent youth.

That’s a “no paparazzi” glare, if ever I saw one!

Colour photograph of a white USB stick. Printed text on the USB stick reads: '...this is not an archive.'

Currently doing some marking. A reminder to everyone involved in archives and collections: digitisation is not preservation. If I digitise a box of records and put the files on a USB stick I haven't preserved a thing. It's all about what you do with the files post-digitisation. #archives #digipres

Having flashbacks to the $**** I spent getting my colloquium document back from a corrupted hard drive. Thesis is now in the cloud and on a backup drive and emailed to myself and typed out on an old fashioned typewriter.

Have you ever tried telling a library its catalogue needs correcting. I’m currently banned from entering six repositories.

YouTube video by National Railway Museum The Lost Art of Railway Posters: A Journey Through Time | Off the Rails

Hello, if you've got a spare fifteen minutes we've put together a video on the emergence of the railway poster as a visual medium from the 1840s-1930s that you might enjoy!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5is...

Screenshot of a webpage headed "Georeferencing maps from the State Library of Victoria". The page includes an image of a historic map overlaid on a modern digital basemap, and a big blue button that invites visitors to "View the project dashboard to see the latest progress". The introductory text reads: "This is an experimental project developed during my time as Creative Technologist-in-Residence at the SLV LAB. While playing around with IIIF and AllMaps, I wondered if it might be possible to connect a few things up and make it easy for people to georeference SLV's digitised maps. This is the result!".

Help me turn the State Library of Victoria's digitised maps into data! https://wragge.github.io/slv-allmaps/ (bit of a soft launch, so let me know if you see any errors in the documentation...)

Postcard showing boys from the London and South Western Railway Servants’ Orphanage undertaking a gymnastic display outside, possibly in front of Woking mosque.

Interior view of a signal box, with man sat on a stool looking out, next to wheel that operates gates of level crossing.

Man stood in front of railway level crossing and signal box, holding postcards.

Delighted to have worked on a lovely & important story over the last few weeks!

Part of the Portsmouth Area Railway Pasts project, we've worked with Gordon Churchill on they story of his father, Arthur - including time in a railway orphanage:

www.railwayaccidents.port.ac.uk/portsmouth-a...

Slightly different to my usual programming, but we were given the keys to the decommissioned Ararat Signal Box A on the weekend. Felt like stepping back in time.
#VictorianRailways #Signalling #Ararat #RailwayHeritage

Lifted my self-imposed ban from the Royal Historical Society of Victoria’s bookshop for some early Xmas presents - for me! @historyvictoria.bsky.social
#books #melbourne #northmelbourne #history

Little paper cups for drinking water from VicRail train. Tea cup on paper cup.
#ephemera
#VicRail
#TeaCup
#VictorianRailways

Locomotion No 1 triumphantly recreates Stockton and Darlington Railway opening After a replica Locomotion No 1 steamed from Shildon to Stockton, Chris Lloyd reflects on a fitting weekend celebrations marking S&DR200.

Locomotion No 1 triumphantly recreates Stockton and Darlington Railway opening

Mike Esbester

If #Railway200 has sparked or rekindled your interest in #RailwayHistory, and you fancy study at Masters or PhD level - then come & study with Dr Mike Esbester at the University of Portsmouth!

An expert in railway, transport & mobility history:

www.port.ac.uk/about-us/str...

Pick me, pick me!

Cover of the Journal of Transport History. A dark blue background, white sans-serif text, with 10 small images of various forms of transport & mobility – an airship, a bridge, a compass, a shoe, a propeller aeroplane, an early pneumatic tyre, bicycle gears, a steam locomotive boiler, a tunnel and a late pneumatic tyre.

🚨What's that?🚨

You want FREE access to 17 brilliant #RailwayHistory articles from the @jtransporthist.bsky.social?

All yours!

For #Railway200 the JTH has put together a virtual collection of articles, & until 15 October they're free!

Download & read now: journals.sagepub.com/topic/collec...

Booooo

Unfortunately the train wasn’t that “special” - Collingwood lost by 37 points. 😭
#AFL #VFL
#Football
#VictorianRailways
#Collingwood
Geelong Advertiser, 5 July 1967, p 11

I’ve returned to the archives and found another 100 boxes from the Victorian Railways. I am resolved that this thesis could take another ten years to write.
#VictorianRailways
#Archives
#PhDLife

I particularly enjoyed the 5 minute stand-off we had with this right turning lane. I’m voting for hook turns in Bendigo!

Posting a photo of a tram in Bendigo just for @drdrehistorian.bsky.social
We went for a ride but I still argue that the paddle steamer is a superior form of travel.
#BendigoTramway
#Tram

Save the date!
The AEHS 2026 Conference - “Local History: thinking outside the archival box” - will be held 18 July 2026 in Lilydale.
Tickets on sale early 2026.
#SaveTheDate #Conference #LocalHistory #AEHS

A new notebook also would’ve done the job. *waves to pile of notebooks

Victorian Railways experts - advice on best places to research VR uniforms.
#VictorianRailways
#Uniforms
#Research

I’m no longer being asked what my thesis is about, rather am I using AI to write it. The answer is NO - I did not come this far to get a machine to do my work. Thesis writing is hard work but rewarding.
Now if AI could do my washing, housework and feed me - that would be fab!
#PhDlife #AI

Reminds me of our chat at the bakery in Port Adelaide. Can vouch - you know your pastry 😅