Puffing Billy Railway

Puffing Billy opened in 1900 as one of five narrow-gauge lines built to open up rural Victoria, closed after a landslide in 1953, and was reopened by volunteers who have run it since, making it one of the oldest preserved steam railways in the world. The line runs about twenty-four kilometres from Belgrave through Menzies Creek and Emerald to Gembrook, climbing through mountain ash forest and tree fern gullies and crossing the Monbulk Creek trestle, a curving wooden bridge that is the railway's emblem. Passengers traditionally rode with their legs out of the open carriage windows, a practice suspended for safety reasons and since replaced with modified seating arrangements.

History

The line opened in 1900, one of five narrow-gauge lines of the Victorian Railways, to carry timber from Gembrook, farm produce and the Nobelius nursery's trees, and in the 1920s holidaymakers bound for Belgrave became a large part of its traffic. It never made a profit, services dwindled after the Second World War, and a landslide between Selby and Menzies Creek stopped it in 1953, with formal closure in 1954; the Puffing Billy Preservation Society, formed on 1 October 1955 by Harold L. Hewett, kept trains running on weekends, and after the line to Belgrave was converted for electric suburban trains, volunteers, helped by Rover Scouts of the 7th World Rover Moot, reopened it from Belgrave to Menzies Creek on 28 July 1962 (Wikipedia, Puffing Billy Railway).

Highlights

• The trestle bridge - the curving wooden viaduct over Monbulk Creek.
• The steam locomotives - restored narrow-gauge engines from the early 1900s.
• The fern gully route - forest and tree ferns along the twenty-four-kilometre line.
• The volunteer operation - a railway run largely by its preservation society.

When to go

Year-round, with services most days; school holidays and weekends are busiest and book out. Steam operation can be replaced by diesel on total fire ban days, which are common in summer. Autumn and spring give the best forest conditions.

Practical notes

Tickets are not cheap and the full run to Gembrook takes most of a day return. Carriages are open-sided and cold in winter. The famous window-sitting has been restricted, which disappoints returning visitors. Book ahead in holidays.

Nearby

Belgrave connects to Melbourne's suburban network; the Dandenong Ranges villages are close.

Key facts