Gippsland railway line, Victoria

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The Gippsland Railway is the general name for rail lines between Melbourne and Gippsland. Rail lines were built to Gippsland in the 1870s and initially played a crucial role in developing agricultural industries in Gippsland as well as tourism. It also played a crucial role in the development of coalmining in the Latrobe Valley in the 1920's. At its peak, the railway travelled as far east as Orbost and there are still frequent services to many of the towns. Some of the disused rail lines have been turned into tourist railways and/or rail trails.

1 Services and Branchlines
- 1.1 Branch lines
2 Significance
3 Tourism Railways and Rail Trails
4 See also
5 External links
6 References

[edit] Services and Branchlines

The Melbourne and Suburban Railway Company opened a line from Princes Bridge railway station to Punt Road (Richmond) and South Yarra in 1859. This line was extended to Dandenong, Pakenham, Warragul, Moe, Morwell, Traralgon, Sale, Stratford and Bairnsdale between 1877 and 1879. It was extended to Orbost in 1916. The line east of Traralgon was closed in 1993, but was reopened to Bairnsdale in 2004.

In 1954 the line beyond Dandenong was electrified mainly because of the expected briquette traffic from the brown coal mines in the Latrobe Valley, and over the next two years most of the line between Dandenong and Pakenham was duplicated and provided with power signalling, although Narre Warren to Berwick was not done until 1962. In due course, the rail transport of briquettes petered out as homes were converted to other forms of heating and electrification was cut back to Warragul in 1987, when suburban services started to Warragul. Electrification and suburban services were cut back to Bunyip in 1998. The Victorian Regional Fast Rail project upgraded one of the two lines in 2004, between Pakenham and Traralgon.

[edit] Branch lines

A branch line was built north from Warragul in stages from the 1890s, reaching Noojee in 1919. This was closed in 1959.

A branch line was opened from Moe to Thorpdale in 1888, which was closed in 1958. A narrow gauge (762 mm) branch line was completed across mountainous country from Moe to Erica and Walhalla in 1910. It closed north of Erica in 1944 and altogether in 1954. The northern-most section between Thomson and Walhalla stations has been reopened as a tourist railway by the Walhalla Goldfields Railway. A branch line was opened from Hermes Oak (between Moe and Morwell) to Yallourn in the 1890s. This was replaced by a line from Moe to Yallourn in 1953, because its route was required for brown coal mining, but the new line closed in 1987.

A branch line was opened from Morwell to Mirboo North in 1886 and it closed in 1974. ^[1]. The Maryvale paper siding also connected to the line at Morwell.

A loop line was opened from Traralgon to Heyfield, Maffra and Stratford in 1887 and closed in stages from 1987. A branch line was opened from Maffra to Briagolong in 1889 and closed in 1953.

[edit] Significance

The expansion of the railroad in the late 1870's helped to develop Gippsland. It enabled milk from western Gippsland to be sold fresh into Melbourne while the dairy industry of east Gippsland provided cheese and butter. It also enabled development of west Gippsland's market gardening and orcharding industry for sale in Melbourne markets.

It also encouraged the development of a tourism industry notably at Lakes Entrance. It did however end coastal shipping traffic and the use of Sale and Bairnsdale as ports.

In the 1920s, the Gippsland railway played an important role in developing the mining of lignite coal and the development of the LaTrobe Valley for power generation primarily serving Melbourne and Victoria. This saw the development of industry in towns such as Yallourn, Morwell, Traralgon, Moe, Warragul and Drouin.

The development of the Gipplsand Railway helped fuel the Melbourne land boom in the 1870s. The original departure point for the railway was Oakleigh with the line connecting Oakleigh and Melbourne not built until 1879. The Victorian railways bought land in Oakleigh for use as workshops. Oakleigh became a centre of what was known as "railway fever" as developers developed and marketed houses close to rail lines between Oakleigh and other suburbs for use of workers travelling to and from their job. At the height of the land boom in 1888, land sales were being held two or three times a week in the district. The collapse of the land boom in 1889 led eventually to banking collapses in 1893 and the major depression of the 1890s.