Bellarine Peninsula Railway
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| Mornington Railway | |||
| Puffing Billy Railway | |||
| South Gippsland Railway | |||
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| Walhalla Goldfields Railway | |||
| Yarra Valley Tourist Railway | |||
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The Bellarine Peninsula Railway is a volunteer-operated steam-driven tourist railway located in Victoria, Australia. It operates on a 16km section of a formerly disused branch line on the Bellarine Peninsula between the coastal towns of Queenscliff and Drysdale, near Geelong.
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[edit] History as a working railway
The original line was commissioned in September 1878, and opened on May 21, 1879. It connected Queenscliff with South Geelong station, the terminus of the Geelong line, and junction of the Warrnambool line. It was acknowledged at the time that the passenger traffic alone might not justify a railway line, but also that the military traffic from both the port and Fort Queenscliff - a key defence installation - would warrant the construction of the line. It initially carried passenger, goods and military traffic, and continued to do so for several decades.
In the first months of operation, the line was only used by one service per day, but at its peak, in January 1885, four trains per day ran in each direction, which enabled the line to be used by commuters. However, this was decreased to three not long after, and was cut back to two trains a day in 1910. Traffic on the line continued to fall over the next twenty years, and in 1931, passenger services were dropped completely - excluding the occasional Sunday excursion train. Goods services continued to run, although they were cut to back to first to twice-weekly, and then weekly operation. The line saw a revival during World War II, carrying mines from the Swan Island military base, but returned to pre-war levels afterwards. After the war, services became less and less common, with passenger services being dropped altogether, apart from occasional special trains, and goods services cut back to one a fortnight. The line was closed permanently on November 6, 1976.
[edit] Preservation and re-opening as a tourist railway
In 1968, when the Queenscliff line was still officially open, one of the quarries at Fyansford, near Geelong, closed its small goods branch. They donated all their steam rolling stock to preservation groups, and Australian Railway Historical Society's Geelong division, which was still in its infancy, received two engines. While Drysdale station was looked upon as a preferred site, this proved difficult to arrange, and a temporary site at the Belmont Common was used. The Geelong division of the ARHS registered itself as the Geelong Steam Preservation Society in 1970 and an attempt was made to construct and operate a small tourist railway, the Belmont Common Railway, on the Common. However, the site faced ongoing problems due to adjacent developments and its location on a flood plain, and by 1976, it was apparent that continuing on the Belmont Common site would be likely unfeasible. When it became clear that Victorian Railways intended closing the Queenscliff line, the GSPS stepped in, and when the line was closed permanently in 1976, they began shifting operations to Queenscliff station.
During 1976 and 1977, the Society engaged in fundraising efforts and began regauging a short section of track around Queenscliff station, in order to enable their rolling stock to operate on the line. With the help of some government funding, they succeeded in operating their first services - from Queenscliff to Lakers Siding, in May 1979, and to Drysdale not long after.
[edit] Current operations
The railway currently operates services between Queenscliff and Drysdale, along the southern shoreline of Swan Bay and through grazing land, with an intermediate stop at Lakers Siding, every Sunday of the year and several days a week during school holidays. They also run a special "Blues Train", featuring live music, each year during the Queenscliff Music Festival. The remainder of the line between Drysdale and South Geelong has fallen into disuse, and the GSPS has not attempted to extend their operations back to Mannerim, Leopold or South Geelong. Some sections of the former route from Drysdale to South Geelong, along with a track adjacent to the still extant Queenscliff-Drysdale line, now form the Bellarine Rail Trail, accessible to cyclists and walkers.
