Yarra Valley Tourist Railway

VictorianRailwayLineInfobox
type = tourist
name = Yarra Valley Tourist Railway

size = 99
yearcommenced =
yearopened =
yearcompleted = 1888
yearclosed = 1983
yearreopened =
fate =
lengthkm =
stations = Healesville to Tarrawarra
tracks =
users =
servicepattern =
RollingStock =
connections =
formerconnections =

The Yarra Valley Tourist Railway is a tourist railway operating on a section of the former Healesville railway which operated between Lilydale and Healesville in the Yarra Valley area northeast of Melbourne, Australia.

History

The Lilydale-Melbourne railway was extended from Lilydale to Yarra Flats (now known as Yarra Glen on the 15th May 1888 with intermediate stations at Coldstream and Yering. Part of the structure included a long timber viaduct with 502 openings near Yarra Glen, spanning the Yarra River and the adjacent flood plains. The extension of the line from Yarra Glen to Healesville required a 1 in 40 climb into a 154.4 metre tunnel with a corresponding descent at nearly the same grade. The Healesville Station opened on March 1, 1889 with an intermediate station at Tarrawarra.

Traffic on the line included timber, livestock, milk and dairy products. Early timetables included regular goods services specifically for transporting milk.

The last regular steam passenger service was hauled in August, 1964. From this time until closure of the line in 1980 passenger services were run using Diesel-Electric Rail Motors. After December 9 1980 no services operated beyond Coldstream and the line was officially closed to all traffic on March 10, 1983.

Current operations

The railway is currently running Trolley Trains from Healesville to the Tarrawarra Winery, crossing the Watts River, under the Donovan's Road overbridge and through the historic tunnel.

There are plans in place to improve the line from Healesville to Tarrawarra to a suitable standard for the running of Rail Motor passenger services, with further goals being reconstruction to Yarra Glen and Lilydale.

The railway is in possession of a number of locomotives, including two Victorian Railways J-class steam engines, a T-class Diesel-Electric Locomotive, a W-class Diesel- Hydraulic Locomotive and one Diesel Electric Rail Motor. 4 members of the organization own B75, which is being restored.

Line map

Services to Healesville mostly departed from Lilydale.

References

External links

* [http://www.yarravalleyrailway.org.au Yarra Valley Tourist Railway]
* [http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/railways/search.aspx Gallery of historic photos along the Healesville line]