Walhalla Goldfields Railway
Encyclopedia
Thomson River (Victoria)
The Thomson River is a river in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. It starts below Newlands at the north western end of the Baw Baw Plateau at an elevation of 972 m, where it shares a watershed with the Yarra River and Tanjil River, and ends at an elevation of 1.55 m merging with the Latrobe River...
and Stringers Creek valleys in Gippsland
Gippsland
Gippsland is a large rural region in Victoria, Australia. It begins immediately east of the suburbs of Melbourne and stretches to the New South Wales border, lying between the Great Dividing Range to the north and Bass Strait to the south...
, Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, near the former gold-mining town and tourist destination of Walhalla
Walhalla, Victoria
Walhalla is a small town in Victoria, Australia, founded as a gold-mining community in early 1863 and at its peak home to around 2,500 residents. Today, the town has a population of fewer than 20 permanent residents, though it has a large proportion of houses owned as holiday properties. It...
.
History
The Walhalla line was the last of four experimental narrow gauge lines of the Victorian RailwaysNarrow gauge lines of the Victorian Railways
The former Victorian Railways, the state railway authority in Victoria, Australia built a number of experimental narrow gauge railway lines around the beginning of the 20th century. Although all were closed by the early 1960s, parts of two have been reopened as heritage railways.- Background :A...
, the Moe-Walhalla railway commenced in 1904, but was not completed until 1910. The railway was expected to be a boon for Walhalla, which was in a state of decline with gold mining operations becoming uneconomical. The largest gold mining company closed in 1914.
After the closure of the Walhalla mines, substantial timber traffic was carried from sawmills around Erica until the late 1940s. Freight and passenger traffic declined, with the railway closed in sections from 1944 with the final section from Moe
Moe, Victoria
Moe is a city in the Latrobe Valley and Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. It is about east of Melbourne and at the 2006 census had a population of 15,582 . It is administered by the City of Latrobe council....
to Erica
Erica, Victoria
Erica is a town in Victoria, Australia, located on Rawson Road, in the Shire of Baw Baw.The area was generally known as Upper Moondarra in the early 1900s, the township of Erica beginning to grow after construction of the railway line from Moe to Walhalla, which passed through the area...
closed on June 25, 1954. The tracks and buildings were removed by 1960, leaving only the roadbed and a number of bridges.
The former station building at Walhalla was re-located to the Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
suburban station of Hartwell. The centre span of the National Estate
Register of the National Estate
The Register of the National Estate is a listing of natural and cultural heritage places in Australia. The listing was initially compiled between 1976 and 2003 by the Australian Heritage Commission. The register is now maintained by the Australian Heritage Council...
listed Thomson River Railway Bridge was formerly part of a road bridge over the Murray River at Tocumwal (NSW).
Reopening
Recognising the outstanding potential of the railway, several attempts to reopen the line for tourist traffic proved unsuccessful, until the early 1990s. The Walhalla Railway Taskforce formed in 1991, become the Walhalla Goldfields Railway, Inc., in 1993. The former roadbed was overgrown with blackberries and heavy scrub, with numerous sections of the trackbed collapsed and all the bridges either derelict or in ruinous condition. Restoration began with the establishment of Thomson Station and its accompanying yard on the site of the original station. The railway commenced operations in April, 1994, within the Thomson Station yard. Gradually the line progressed, first over the nationally-heritage-classified Thomson River Bridge in October 1994, pushing up the Stringers Creek Gorge to Happy Creek. This became the terminus until the six bridges in the last kilometre into the Walhalla Station yard were completed, and opened on 15 March 2002. The operating line is 4 km in length.Due to bushfires in the nearby mountains, services on the railway were suspended as from the weekend of 9 December 2006. By 18 December 2006 fires reached the outskirts of Walhalla, and on 22 December 2006 fire destroyed the three-span trestle bridge ("bridge 7") adjacent to the former temporary terminus known as Cascade Bridge Halt. Services resumed between Walhalla and Happy Creek on 31 December 2006.
On 10 March 2007, the Victorian State Government announced funding of $A195,000 to rebuild the destroyed bridge and repair/upgrade the track. The bridge was completed in early April 2007 and normal operations between Thomson and Walhalla recommenced on Saturday 7 April.
Current operation and rollingstock
The Walhalla Goldfields Railway operates regular tourist services between Thomson and Walhalla stations, using diesel
Diesel locomotive
A diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...
locomotives. Notably, the railway carries far more passengers as a tourist railway, than during its time as an operating revenue line. Around 30,000 passengers travel on the service each year - compared to around 1,000 annually during the latter years of the original railway's operation.
Due to the unavailability of original rolling stock from the railway (some of which is still in use on the Puffing Billy Railway near Melbourne), locomotives were acquired from a variety of locations, including two small industrial diesel engines from the Gippsland area, a larger diesel engine from the Emu Bay Railway in Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
and in November 2010, a DH Class diesel from the Queensland Railways.
A small Henschel & Son
Henschel & Son
Henschel & Son was a German company, situated in Kassel, best known during the 20th century as a maker of transportation equipment, including locomotives, trucks, buses and trolleybuses, and armoured fighting vehicles and weapons....
steam locomotive built in Kassel
Kassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
was used between 2002-06 but was removed from the railway due to contractual issues with its interstate owner. As part of the celebrations for the railway's centenary, the Puffing Billy Railway loaned steam locomotive 7A (which ran on the original line) for special public operations on the weekend of 29/30 May 2010. 7A is last believed to have operated through to Walhalla in 1936.
The passenger rollingstock was constructed from the frames and bogies from coal wagons from the now closed 90cm gauge Interconnecting Railway between Yallourn and Morwell
Yallourn 900mm Railway
The Yallourn 900mm Railway was a 900 mm narrow gauge railway operated by the State Electricity Commission of Victoria in the Latrobe Valley of Victoria, Australia. The railway was built for the haulage of brown coal and overburden between the Yallourn open cut mine, briquette works, and power station...
, 40km south of Walhalla. The buildings and new rollingstock designs reflect the original Victorian Railways design as much as possible.
While the railway did not use historical rolling stock at the time of reopening because all extant examples were owned and required by the Puffing Billy Railway, the collection is a significant piece of industrial railway
Industrial railway
An industrial railway is a type of railway that is not available for public transportation and is used exclusively to serve a particular industrial, logistics or military site...
history, and the WGR provides a valuable tourist train service for the regional economy.
Locomotives
| Number | Name | Image | Wheel arrangement | Date built | Builder | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | Spirit of Yallourn |  |
0-6-0DM | 1951 | John Fowler & Co., Leeds Leeds Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial... , England England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental... |
Former SECV State Electricity Commission of Victoria The State Electricity Commission of Victoria was a monopoly electricity generation, transmission and supply utility located in Victoria, Australia... diesel engine from the interconnecting railway between the Yallourn and Morwell open-cut brown coal mines. Donated to the WGR after the closure of the Interconnecting Railway in 1995. Regauged from 900mm. |
| 030 | Kasey | 0-4-0 | 1970 | EM Baldwin & Sons Pty Ltd, Sydney | Originally used by Melbourne & Metropolitan Board of Works, in the construction of the South Eastern Trunk Sewer, Thomson-Yarra tunnel and Western Trunk Sewer construction. Used on the Coal Creek Heritage Village's bush tramway, before being sold to the WGR. | |
| 1001 | Spirit of Emu Bay | B-B | 1963 | Walkers Ltd. Walkers Limited Walkers Limited is an Australian engineering company, based in Maryborough, Queensland, which built ships and locomotives. It is still in the locomotive-building business as part of Downer Rail.-History:... , Maryborough Maryborough, Queensland Maryborough is a city located on the Mary River in South East Queensland, Australia, approximately north of the state capital, Brisbane. The city is serviced by the Bruce Highway, and has a population of approximately 22,000 . It is closely tied to its neighbour city Hervey Bay which is... , QLD Queensland Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean... |
Used on the Emu Bay Railway Emu Bay Railway The Melba Line is a narrow gauge railway on the west coast of Tasmania. The line was originally constructed as a private railway line named the Emu Bay Railway and was one of the longest lasting and successful private railway companies in Australia... (no. 1001) in Tasmania until the EBR was sold to Tasrail TasRail Tasrail was the brand name of the Australian National Railways Commission's operations on the mainline railways in Tasmania, formed when Australian National absorbed the former Tasmanian Government Railways in 1978... in 1998. In storage from 2000, then sold to WGR in April 2001. Regauged from 1067mm. |
|
| DH37 (MMY37) | Currently unnamed | B-B | 1969 | Walkers Ltd. Walkers Limited Walkers Limited is an Australian engineering company, based in Maryborough, Queensland, which built ships and locomotives. It is still in the locomotive-building business as part of Downer Rail.-History:... , Maryborough Maryborough, Queensland Maryborough is a city located on the Mary River in South East Queensland, Australia, approximately north of the state capital, Brisbane. The city is serviced by the Bruce Highway, and has a population of approximately 22,000 . It is closely tied to its neighbour city Hervey Bay which is... , QLD Queensland Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean... |
Previously used by Queensland Railways, bought by WGR in November 2010. Stored pending future regauging from 1067mm. | |
| 103 | Spirit of Baw Baw | 0-6-0 | 1956 | Henschel & Sohn Henschel & Son Henschel & Son was a German company, situated in Kassel, best known during the 20th century as a maker of transportation equipment, including locomotives, trucks, buses and trolleybuses, and armoured fighting vehicles and weapons.... , Kassel Kassel Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :... , Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... |
Originally worked at Chonburi Sugar Mill in Thailand as no. 103. Privately owned, the locomotive was restored and regauged from 750mm before occasional use on the WGR from 2002-06. Not currently in use by the WGR. |
Future expansion plans
The WGR is planning to extend the line to Erica, where the railway's permanent workshop complex will be built. Engineering assessments and a business plan have now been completed. The first stage would extend to Platina and onto the site of O'Shea & Bennett's Siding at Boola Road, which formerly crossed the railway on a bridge. After the railway was closed, the deep cutting through which the line ran under Boola Rd was used as a municipal garbage dump, which needs to be excavated before any further extension towards Erica can begin. There is also a large trestle bridge which requires reconstruction across Jacobs Creek, shortly before Erica station.The Baw Baw Shire Council considered in late 2007 selling a large section of the Erica station site to the caravan park operators currently leasing the site, which would retain only an 18 metre-wide easement for the eventual reconstruction of the station by the Walhalla Goldfields Railway. The in-principle decision was later revoked.
Reconstruction of the line from Erica to Moe would likely be impractical and uneconomical, as the original right of way was sold in many places, and is partly covered by the waters of the Moondarra Reservoir.
Stations
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