The Spirit of Progress was the premier express passenger train on the Victorian Railways in Australia, running from Melbourne to the New South Wales border at Albury, and later through to Sydney.

From its introduction in November 1937 until April 1962 the train service ran on 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad gauge line from Melbourne's Spencer Street station to Albury, on the New South Wales / Victorian border, where passengers changed to a New South Wales Government Railways train (the Melbourne Limited Express), running on 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge track to complete the journey to Sydney.

Such was the commitment of VR Chief Commissioner Harold Clapp to introducing a world-class train service to Victorian Railways, virtually no detail was overlooked.

VR's three-cylinder S class 4-6-2 steam locomotives were assigned to haul the train, which typically had an eleven-car trailing load of 544 long tons (553 t),[7] over the 1 in 50 gradients between Melbourne and Albury.

Although the locomotives had been in service since 1928, their appearance was dramatically altered with the addition of streamlining, along with royal blue and gold livery designed to seamlessly match the carriages of the train.

[8] The locomotives were also equipped with long range tenders, with enough water and coal capacity to enable the train to travel the entire 190.5-mile (306.6 km) journey between Albury and Melbourne non-stop, at an average speed of 52 miles per hour (84 km/h),[9] a schedule that was the longest non-stop train journey in Australia, and held the record as the fastest for the next twenty years.

[11][12] In an elaborate launch ceremony at Spencer Street station, Premier Albert Dunstan opened the Parlor Car with a gold key.

[13][14] While not officially acknowledged, the steam-hauled Spirit of Progress is reported on occasion to have reached speeds as high as 86 mph (138.4 km/h) while in regular service.

As well as cleaning of carriages and servicing of the locomotive, staff would also reverse the train back across the Murray River bridge to a turning triangle at Wodonga.

This ensured that the locomotive and parlour car were facing in the correct direction for the return trip to Melbourne, which departed at 07:55 the following morning and arrived at Spencer Street station at 11:35.

[17] A 1:7 scale model of Spirit of Progress rolling stock made up part of the Australian Travel Exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair.

[30][31] When the inaugural standard gauge Spirit of Progress from Melbourne reached Albury, the VR diesel locomotive was detached and NSWGR 3830 and 3813 completed the journey to Sydney.

[33] From April 1962 the Spirit of Progress' role as the premier train on the route was usurped by the new stainless steel, all-sleeping car limited stops express, the Southern Aurora.

[39] Much of the original Spirit of Progress rolling stock remained in use on regular long distance intrastate service for VR and its successor V/Line, and for a period of time the private rail operator West Coast Railway.

For the 60th anniversary, on 22 November 1997 a commemorative service ran, running in a mix of liveries with nine S type carriages from West Coast Railway and V/Line, and two S class diesels hauling the train.

[citation needed] In 2007 the new Hume Highway bridge built over the Murray River as part of the Albury bypass was named the Spirit of Progress in recognition of the former train service.