Gippsland Railway
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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.
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Services
The Victorian Government finished a railway to Gippsland in 1878. The first train to Warragul (99km) started running in March 1878. Warragul was the hub for the Noojee Line (opened 1919, closed 1959). In 1987 suburban services started to Warragul.
Moe (130km) was a major hub with the narrow-guage line north to Walhalla (part preserved by WGR see Walhalla Goldfields Tourist Railway (http://www.walhallarail.com/)) (opened, closed 1954), Yallourn and Thorpdale lines (opened 1888, closed 1958).
Morwell (144km) (opened 1877) was the hub for the Mirboo North line (32 km, opened 1886, closed 1974) and the Maryvale paper siding. There was a major upgrade in 1954 with the duplication and electrification to Morwell mainly for the brown coal "Briquettes".
The line to Traralgon (158km) opened 1877. The line branched at Traralgon to Stratford (222km), with one line via Sale (207km) (opened 1877), the other via Maffra. It continued to Bairnsdale (274km) (reopened 2004) and Orbost. The Victorian Fast Rail project upgraded one of the two lines in 2004, between Pakenham and Traralgon.
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.
Tourism Railways and Rail Trails
Many of the lines in Gippsland have closed because they had become uneconomic. Some of these have been turned into tourism railways including:
- the Walhalla Goldfields Railway between Moe and Walhalla; and
- the South Gippsland Railway between Leongatha, Korumburra and Nyora.
Other stretches of line have become rail trails for use by bicyclists. These include:
- the Noojee Trestle Bridge Trail in the upper reaches of the Latrobe River;
- Collins Siding to Tyers Valley Rail Trail near Moe;
- Moe to Yallourn Rail Trail;
- Mirboo North to Boolara Rail Trail;
- Great Southern Rail Trail from Leongatha to Stony Creek;
- Bass Coast Rail Trail Kilcunda to Wonthaggi;
- East Gippsland Rail Trail from Bairnsdale to Nowa Nowa; and the
- Gippsland Plains Rail Trail from Stratford to Maffra.
External links
- City of Monash page on the Gippsland Railway (http://www.monash.vic.gov.au/history/section-a-4.html)
- Gippsland Rail Trails (http://www.railtrails.org.au/states/vic/gippsland.htm)
- Monash University gazeteer on Oakleigh (http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/ncas/multimedia/gazetteer/list/oakleigh.html)
- Monash University gazeteer on Moe (http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/ncas/multimedia/gazetteer/list/moe.html)