South Gippsland railway line

The South Gippsland railway line opened in 1892, branching from the Gippsland line at Dandenong, and extending to Port Albert. Much of it (the section up to Leongatha) remained in use until July 1993, however only a small portion is in use today, as the suburban Cranbourne line. In addition to the Cranbourne line, the section from Nyora to Leongatha is used by the South Gippsland Tourist Railway and Leongatha to Toora and a portion of track at Koo Wee Rup have been converted into the Great Southern Rail Trail.

History

The Melbourne and Suburban Railway Company opened a line from Princes Bridge railway station to Punt Road (Richmond) and South Yarra in 1859 and extended to Dandenong in 1879. The South Gippsland railway line (also known as the Great Southern Railway) was opened from Dandenong to Cranbourne in 1888 and extended to Koo Wee Rup, Nyora and Loch in 1890, Korumburra and Leongatha in 1891 and Welshpool, Alberton and Port Albert in 1892. The section from Alberton to Port Albert was closed in the 1940s. A branch line was built from Alberton to Yarram and Woodside in 1921.

The line was well known for its sharp curves and spectacular scenery and was also one of the last lines to offer a 'Mixed Passenger and Goods' service in Victoria. The section from Yarram to Woodside was closed on 26 May 1953, with the section from Welshpool to Yarram closed on 26 October 1987 when the superphosphate freight services ceased. From this point until 30 June 1992, the track beyond Agnes, referred to as Barry Beach Junction received minimal usage, although a short branch leading from Agnes to Barry Beach was used extensively for goods traffic to serve the oil platforms in Bass Strait. After the withdrawal of this freight service the railway line beyond Leongatha would be closed. This section of track was then dismantled in 1994, in which required the strengthening of the line's derilcit trestle bridges in order to allow the track removal machine to dismantle the tracks.^[1]

On 24 July 1993, the last regular V/Line passenger train operated to Leongatha with P Class diesel locomotive number 18 hauling the return passenger train with a set of 4 H-Set carriages. Just after the withdrawal of all rail service beyond Koala Siding, the section from Nyora to Leongatha was transferred to the South Gippsland Railway in 1994, in which were originally founded as the 'Great Southern Railway Society' based in Nyora in 1990 with the intention to preserve the line in case of closure. On 15 January 1998, all regular V/Line services would cease on the line after the withdrawal of the Australian Glass Manufacturing Sand train that operated from the AGM siding at Spotswood and the sand works siding at Koala Siding situated between Lang Lang and Nyora railway stations. Since April 1998, no trains have operated beyond Cranbourne.^[2]

Branch lines

South Gippsland Line

Legend 32.500km Gippsland line at Dandenong 33.419km Bombardier Siding 34.742km Greens Road 34.750km D/nong Through Siding 35.337km Eumemmerring Creek 36.914km Abbotts Road 38.362km Lyndhurst 38.590km D/nong-Hastings Road 39.500km Lyndbrook Loop 41.593km Evans Road 42.350km Merinda Park 42.526km Thompsons Road 44.679km Camms Road 45.122km Cranbourne 45.277km Sth Gippsland Highway 45.472km End of overhead 46.227km Narre Warren–Cranbourne Road 46.945km Ford New Holland Siding Cranbourne East (Proposed) 48.106km Berwick–Cranbourne Road 50.047km Clyde–Five Ways Road 50.738km Clyde 51.140km Ballarto Road 54.733km 56.310km 56.333km Manks Rd 58.176km Tooradin 58.378km 58.403km Tooradin Station Road 60.065km 60.117km Adams Road 61.116km 61.161km Dalmore Road Dalmore 62.661km - 62.945km 66.084km - 66.430km 67.148km Koo Wee Rup Strzelecki Line 67.346km Rossiter Road 68.135km 68.944km 69.447km 70.392km Monomeith 70.596km 71.323km 71.833km 72.268km Caldermeade 74.077km Caldermeade Lane 76.303km 77.205km Western Port Road 77.404km Lang Lang 78.487km McDonalds Track 79.767km 83.416km 86.115km Koala Siding 88.685km 90.507km Nyora 90.703km Poowong Road 91.476km Wonthaggi Line 93.107km 93.570km 95.041km Loch 95.315km 96.250km Loch - Poowong Road 97.189km 99.241km 99.672km 100.930km Jeetho Road Jeetho 101.177km 101.593km 104.260km Bena - Kongwak Road 105.620km Bena - Poowong Road 105.792km Bena 106.493km Chapmans Lane 107.441km Bena Road Whitelaw 109.380km 111.406km Warragul Road 111.896km Korumburra 112.180km Bridge Street Outtrim line 113.315km O'Neils Xing 115.808km 116.138km Fairbank Road 116.339km Kardella 116.865km 120.751km 121.299km Leongatha Road 121.510km Ruby 121.867km 122.368km 123.092km 126.077km Turner Street 126.511km McCarten Street 126.735km Leongatha Koonwarra Tarwin Meeniyan Stony Creek Buffalo Boys Fish Creek Hoddle Foster Bennison Toora Agnes Barry Beach Welshpool Welshpool Jetty narrow gauge Hedley Gelliondale Alberton Woodside line Port Albert

A 5 km-long narrow-gauge horse-drawn tramway was built from Welshpool to Welshpool Jetty in 1905. It was closed in 1941.

The mountainous Strzelecki branch line was built from Koo Wee Rup to Strzelecki which opened in 1922. This line was closed in stages throughout the 1930s, '40s and '50s.

The Wonthaggi branch line was built from Nyora to Wonthaggi opening in 1910 to serve the State Coal Mine, a small extension to the line was opened in 1917. The Wonthaggi line was closed in 1978.

The Outtrim branch line was built from Korumburra to the coal mine at Outtrim in two stages, the initial stage to Jumbunna was opening in 1894 with the final stage to Outtrim opening in 1896, The line was closed in two stages the first from Jumbunna to Outtrim on 4 September 1951 and then from Jumbunna to Korumburra on 1 October 1953.

Services

Passenger services operated on the line since opening. Services from Melbourne to Leongatha and Yarram were withdrawn on 6 June 1981, with replacement buses starting three days later.^[3] The Yarram train was a loco hauled mixed train, while the Leongatha train was a DRC railcar hauling MTH carriages. To fill the gap, local trains were introduced on a three-month trial from Dandenong to Lang Lang, but were withdrawn on 3 October 1981, due to insufficient patronage. Services to Leongatha were restored on 9 December 1984, with free train shuttles to Korumburra to mark the occasion.^[4] The timetable included two round trips per day on Monday - Saturdays, and one round trip on Sundays.^[4] However, the services were again withdrawn on 24 July 1993.^[3] The line became unused beyond Cranbourne with the withdrawal of freight services from Koala siding in January 1998. The exception was a tourist operation which would become known as South Gippsland Railway which commenced operation between Nyora and Leongatha. In 1995 the section between Dandenong and Cranbourne was electrified and a station added at Merinda Park, as part of a $27 million Federal Government funded project.^[5]

The Barry Beach freight service ceased in 1992 and with it all usage of the train line beyond Leongatha. V/Line passenger services ceased to Leongatha on 24 July 1993 with last train to Melbourne. By the mid-1990s only T, Y and P class diesel locomotives were used on the line from this time due to their low axle loads, with a 15 km/h speed limit applying to parts of the track.^[2] This continued until 15 January 1998, when the Koala Siding (near Nyora) to Spotswood sand train ceased operation.^[2] It took an average passenger train 2 hours and 15 minutes to travel from Spencer Street Station to Leongatha during its final 10 years of service, with the current bus service completing the journey in a similar time of 2 hours and 30 minutes on average.

Steamrail, railfan enthusiasts trains

A number of special railway enthusiast services were operated along the line during the 1980s and 1990s, since the line was near closure. The last steam hauled train to run beyond Leongatha was on 13 November 1988, when steam locomotives D3.639 and K.153 traveled to Foster. This would be the last time the locomotive turntable at Foster would be used before its relocation to Korumburra railway station for the operating purposes of the South Gippsland Tourist Railway. Annual chartered special diesel and Railcar hauled trains operated beyond Leongatha that were supported by local Melbourne community groups until 1991.^[6] K.153 hauled the last steam special to Yarram on 24 October 1987, as well as another to Foster on 6 September 1987.

During the 1990s, steam tours would only operate as far as Leongatha with the first occurring on 9 September 1990 again hauled by steam locomotive K.153.^[7] In 1993 there were two notable trips to Leongatha that were steam hauled. Both specials operated by Steamrail Victoria hauled 11 car consists of Victorian Railways E-Type and W-Type wooden carriages ran numerous shuttles between Korumburra and Leongatha stations for the public to experience. The first one was on 2 May, which was supposed to be a triple header of K Class steam locomotives. However, one of the locomotives scheduled to haul this train, K.190, suffered a defective main internal steampipe failure at Caulfield, leaving locomotives K.153 and K.183 to double head the train.^[8] On 25 July 1993, the apparent 'Last Lament to Leongatha', operated with K.190 and K.183 After the withdrawal of passenger services to Leongatha, a few more steam hauled trips were organised before the remainder of the line became booked out of regular use between Cranbourne and Nyora. On 17 April 1994, K.190 & K.183 again traveled to Leongatha with the 'South Gippsland Ramber', but with a much smaller consist of 7 wooden carriages for the occasion.^[9] Steam locomotive J.515 journeyed to Leongatha for the first time since 1987 years on 14 October 1995, which was organised by the Seymour Heritage Railway Society & ARHS. During the tour, J.515 derailed due to a missing guide rail on the newly installed locomotive turntable at Korumburra that had been relocated from Foster along the former Yarram line beyond Leongatha.^[10]

The last locomotive to traverse the South Gippsland mainline before its closure was steam locomotive K.190 operated by Steamrail Victoria. It returned to Steamrail Victoria's base at Newport on 29 April 1998, after it was leased to the South Gippsland Tourist Railway (SGTR) in December 1996.^[11] The South Gippsland Tourist Railway had first loaned the locomotive during the summer of 1995-1996. The locomotive again returned for the summer of 1996-1997. K.190 was leased to the South Gippsland Tourist Railway on 7 December 1996, when Steamrail Victoria operated another steam special to Leongatha.^[12] Diesel loco T Class number 345 was also loaned out to the tourist railway at the time and was part of the train from Newport workshops. K.183 double headed with K.190 to Nyora with T.345 attached to the special. K.190 & T345 were detached at Nyora station. Shortly afterwards K.183 journeyed solo to Leongatha. K.190 followed with a consist of the tourist railway's carriages to Leongatha. T.342, T.345 and DERM.55 combined for a Saturday tourist railway service. Later on, K.183 returned with the Steamrail Victoria train back to Newport workshops. However, steam locomotives D3.639 and K.183 combined for the last steam excursion to traverse the South Gippsland rail line on 25 September 1997. During this time D3.639 along with K.190 were both on loan to the South Gippsland Tourist Railway.^[13]

Current status

The track beyond Leongatha to Yarram and the Barry Beach branch line was dismantled in 1994, but removal of other infrastructure along the line such as level crossing signals took place around mid to late 1992, soon after the last train ran to Barry Beach. The section between Leongatha - Foster was turned into the Great Southern Rail Trail in 1998. In 2011, the Tarra Rail Trail from Alberton to Yarram was completed. As of September 2013, the section between Foster and Toora had been complete leaving the final section from this point to Alberton currently under construction of being converted into the Great Southern Rail Trail.

The section from Dandenong to Cranbourne was electrified in 1995 and is now part of the suburban rail network as the Cranbourne Line. The first level crossing on the closed section of the line, the South Gippsland Highway crossing in Cranbourne has since been paved over. The Victorian Transport Plan of 2009 has stated that the Cranbourne line will be extended 2 kilometres to a new station at Cranbourne East by 2015. The new Cranbourne East station will be built near Renyard Street and the Casey Complex.^[14] The line from Nyora to Leongatha is now used by the South Gippsland Tourist Railway. The branch line from Nyora to Wonthaggi was closed in 1978 and later dismantled by 1990, now forming the Bass Coast Rail Trail. Since its closure, a significant section of the former Wonthaggi Line has been leased or sold to farmers, while other sections have been cut away to widen highways and main roads in the coastal South Gippsland region. As of September 2013, the former branch lines to both Outtrim and Strezlecki have become a distant memory.

The remaining section of track from Cranbourne to Nyora is disused but mostly still intact. A length of track was pulled up at Koo Wee Rup in 2009 to put toilets at the nearby bus and coach stop. The Wonthaggi desalination plant pipeline has also made it necessary to remove three more sections of the line. The first section is about 100 metres on the down side of Monomeith Road where about 50 metres of track have been removed. The second is on the up side of Caldermeade Road where about thirty metres of track have been removed and the third, is about halfway between Caldermeade and Lang Lang stations.

Much of the operational and safeworking infrastructure remains in place in this section, including signalling equipment, level crossings, and easements not having been otherwise leased or sold. Station platforms are also in place, but mostly without station buildings, such as Lang Lang, Koo-Wee-Rup, and Tooradin. Parts of the track have warped due to erosion or movement of the supporting groundwork and displacement of sleepers, these are especially evident near Lang Lang, Tooradin and north of Koo-Wee-Rup. Other potential problems include questions on safety of certain bridges and culverts along the route.

Prior to the 1999 Victorian election, the state Labor Party made a promise to return passenger services to Leongatha. In 2008 a report commissioned by the Victorian Department of Transport found the cost of returning passenger services to Leongatha to be unjustifiably high, at an estimated $72 million, and that only 20 per cent of respondents surveyed about their transport needs considered restoring train services to be the main priority. Instead $14.7 million will be spent on road coach service upgrades.^[15][16] The former Minister for Public Transport Lynne Kosky had stated that the State Government had provided funding for development of a rail trail between Cranbourne East and Nyora to support tourism in South Gippsland in May 2008.

On February 24, 2016 South Gippsland Shire Council unanimously carried motions to support the return of rail services to Leongatha on the back of a petition initiated by the South & West Gippsland Transport Group, which attracted 2,420 supporters. The successful motion means that the data gathered from the petition and documents prepared by South Gippsland Shire Council investigating the returning rail to South Gippsland have now been passed onto Public Transport Victoria with a call to provide for South Gippsland rail services in the forthcoming Regional Network Development Plan. After the disbandment of the South Gippsland Tourist Railway on January 16, 2016 it had also been announced that VicTrack will continue to leave the disused rail line between Cranbourne and Leongatha intact and available for future use by freight and passenger trains.^[17]

Political Context

Reopening the South Gippsland railway line as far as Leongatha is continuing to feature as a prominent issue for the region.^[18] A South Gippsland Shire Council Priority Projects documents released in June 2013 acknowledged that the return of rail as a major community priority where funding and support are sought from all forms of level government.^[19] In early 2014, a report into the extensions of the Melbourne metropolitan rail system identified the population growth corridor from Cranbourne to Koo-Wee-Rup along the disused Leongatha line as a key planning priority.^[20] The South and West Gippsland Transport Group, a public transportation and rail lobby group established in April 2011 that is closely associated with the South Gippsland Shire Council and local forms of government has continued to campaign for an integrated transport plan in the region, which includes rail at the forefront of the proposal.^[21] Previously, the group was classified as the South Gippsland Transport Users Group and had amalgamated with numerous rail lobby groups in 1994 shortly after the rail passenger service to Leongatha was withdrawn in July 1993 and the line to Barry Beach and Yarram was formally closed in June 1992 and dismantled by December 1994.^[22] One notable milestone that this group achieved in the past was running a successful campaign that saw passenger rail services reinstated to Leongatha on December 9, 1984.^[23] Despite the political promise to revive the railway line for freight and passenger services by the Steve Bracks led Victorian state Labor government in 1999 being abandoned in 2008 by his successor John Brumby, a public community campaign involving the South and West Gippsland Transport Group is continuing to lobby and work collaboratively with key stakeholders and governments to reinstate rail services that focuses on improving transport accessibility in the region.

References

External links

• Statistics and detailed schematic map at the vicsig enthusiast website
• Photos: Between Cranbourne and Clyde stations
• Bikes make tracks for Gippsland
• South & West Public Transport Group
• South Gippsland Railway Videos by Graeme Reid