April Speaker Topic - Puffing Billy

The speaker at the April Meeting was Paul Woodward, Education officer and Head Conductor at Puffing Billy. Paul (who gave permission for his photo to be published) can be seen at right during the Question and Answer session.

The Puffing Billy railway was one of four low-cost 2'6" (762mm) gauge lines constructed in Victoria in the early 1900s to open up remote areas. The other three lines were Lilydale – Warburton, Wangaratta – Whitfield and Colac – Beech Forest. The 18-mile (29 km) Gembrook line, running through the southern foothills of the Dandenong Ranges, just east of Melbourne, opened in December 1900. It was closed in 1954 following a landslide between Selby and Menzies Creek, but the Puffing Billy Preservation Society continued to operate tourist services over the remaining usable section of the line from Upper Ferntree Gully station to Belgrave. Those services came to an end in 1958 when the line was closed to allow conversion of the track to a broad-gauge electric line, as an extension of the suburban railway system of Melbourne. Through the efforts of the Puffing Billy Preservation Society, with the assistance of the Citizen's Military Forces, the landslide was bypassed, and the remainder of the narrow-gauge line from Belgrave to Gembrook was progressively restored, with trains on the line operating daily for tourists. The railway is now administered by the Emerald Tourist Railway Board. Sixty five paid staff and 1000 volunteers keep the railway operating. Trains run every day except Christmas Day.

There is a real effort to keep the feel of the 1920s with heritage uniforms for the workers, a 1920s vintage post box and original destination boards. Four regular trains run each day. One of the highlights is the Steam and Cuisine Luncheon in the heritage dining carriages, as can be seen in the photo at the right.