East Gippsland Rail Trail

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The East Gippsland Rail Trail is a rail trail located in the East Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. The trail begins in Bairnsdale and extends to Orbost, following the route of the former East Gippsland railway line and is a popular cycling route.

The trail is 100 kilometres (62 mi) long and passes a variety of forest and farmland landscapes with occasional views of the Gippsland Lakes.

1 Route Description
2 External links
3 References

[edit] Route Description

[edit] Bairnsdale to Nicholson

The trail does not begin at the Bairnsdale railway station as one might expect. Due to the poor condition of the old rail bridge over the Mitchell River the trail begins on the south side of the Princes Highway opposite Howitt Park at McEacharn Street. It is accessible from the town via the footpath on the Princes Highway bridge nearby. The trail surface is sealed as far as the Nicholson River bridge in Nicholson, 9 km away.

[edit] Nicholson to Nowa Nowa

The trail has a fine gravel surface, although there are a couple of sandy sections. In the Colquhoun Forest, another trail, the Gippsland Lakes Discovery Trail provides a connection to Lakes Entrance.

About 3 km east of Nowa Nowa is the spectacular Stoney Creek Trestle Bridge. Unfortunately due to its poor condition the bridge is inaccessible and trail users must travel down and up the steep slopes of the creek valley to reach the far side.

[edit] Nowa Nowa to Orbost

The 36km Nowa Nowa to Newmerella (other side of Snowy River to Orbost) section opened in January 2006. The surface is fine hard compacted gravel that is easy riding on a hybrid bike. The trail is wide enough for three bikes except in a few sections where the camber seems a bit excessive. The trail has quite a lot of shade making summer riding quite pleasant.

There are three major wooden trestle bridges in the section which have had to have low level diversions. This gives a good view of the bridges but the approaches are quite steep, particularly at the largest middle bridge.

At Nowa Nowa the new trail connects to the existing section via a path onto the Princes Hwy. There is plenty of parking on the old station site. Visitors should note that the Bruthen to Nowa Nowa Rd is being turned into the Princes Highway so some major roadworks may still be ongoing during 2007. A new pedestrian/cycle bridge is also planned.

At Newmerella the access point is at Burn Rd. Coming from Nowa Nowa, Burn Rd is on the left as the Princes Highway starts to descend to the river flats. It is about 2km short of the original terminus of the line, which never actually crossed the Snowy River into Orbost. At this stage the committee do not have any plans to reopen this section which is mostly wooden trestle bridges crossing the river flats.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

v • d • e Rail Trails in Victoria

Melbourne	Belgrave Rail Trail, Bellarine Peninsula, Capital City Trail, Hawthorn to Kew, Lilydale to Warburton, Outer Circle Trail, Powelltown Tramway, Red Hill, Rosstown Railway Heritage Trail, Sandridge Railway Trail, Webb Dock Bridge

Gippsland	Bass Coast, East Gippsland, Great Southern, Tyers Valley Tramway, Warburton Trail, Gippsland Lakes Discovery Trail, Grand Ridge, Noojee Trestle Bridge, Walhalla Goldfields, Tyers Junction, Moondarra, Moe to Yallourn, Gippsland Plains

North Victoria	Goulburn River High Country, Murray to the Mountains, High Country, O'Keefe, Marysville Tram Lines, Mt Samaria Tramway, Plain Creek Tramway Trail

Western Victoria	Old Beechy, Crater to Coast, Great Divide, Domino Trail, Andersons Mill Tramway, Ballarat - Skipton,