Port Fairy railway line, Victoria

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Port Fairy railway line, Victoria

Line details
Opened	1857
Completed	1890
Tracks	Double broad gauge track to Geelong, single beyond. Single standard gauge to North Shore
Used by	V/Line passenger services, freight traffic
Connections	Western SG, Geelong - Ballarat
Former connections	Queenscliff, Geelong Racecourse, Wensleydale, Forrest, Cressy, Beech Forrest, Alvie, Timboon, Mortlake, Port Fairy, Hamilton lines
Rail transport in Victoria
List of stations Closed railways

The Port Fairy railway line (also known as the South West line) is a railway serving the south west of Victoria, Australia. Running from the state capital Melbourne though the cities of Geelong and Warrnambool, it once terminated at the coastal town of Port Fairy until truncated to Dennington (outside Warrnambool). The line continues to see both passenger and freight services today.

1 Services
2 History
3 Line guide
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Services

Connex Melbourne operates suburban passenger services along the inner section of the line as the Werribee Line, while V/Line services operate as the Interurban Geelong Line and the Intercity Warrnambool Line. For 11 years from 1993 until August 31, 2004 the Melbourne to Warrnambool services were run by the private West Coast Railway company.^[1] Freight services also use the line, operated by Pacific National and now El Zorro.

[edit] History

The Geelong line was originally built by the private Geelong and Melbourne Railway Company and opened on June 25th 1857, the line being sold to the Victorian Railways in 1860.^[2] The line was built as a single track, with the being progressively duplicated from the 1950s to the 1980s.^[3]

The line was later extended south-east, to Winchelsea in 1876, Colac in 1877, Camperdown in 1883, Terang in 1877 and Warrnambool, Dennington and Port Fairy in 1890. This line is now closed beyond Warrnambool.^[4] A branch line was also built from Koroit (between Warrnambool and Port Fairy), Penshurst and Hamilton (on the Ararat - Portland railway) in the 1890s. A connection was also opened between Penshurst and Dunkeld (also on the Ararat - Portland railway) in about 1900.

Branch lines also followed, from South Geelong to Queenscliff in 1879, both Moriac (between Geelong and Winchelsea) to Wensleydale and Terang to Mortlake in 1890, Birregurra (between Winchelsea and Colac) to Forrest in 1891, Camperdown to Timboon in 1892, Irrewarra (east of Colac) to Cressy in 1910, and Colac to Alvie in 1923.

A narrow gauge (762 mm) branch was also opened from Colac to Beech Forest in 1902 to carry timber, and extended to Weeaproniah and Crowes in 1911.

The branch lines begun to be cut back from the late 1940s, the Wensleydale line being the first in 1948, followed by the Forrest line in 1957, the Irrewarra line in 1953, the Alvie line in 1954, the Beech Forest line in 1962, and the Timboon line in 1988.