Items related to Focus on - Victoria's Narrow Gauge Beech Forest...
- PublisherPuffing Billy Preservation Society
- Publication date2004
- ISBN 10 095797924X
- ISBN 13 9780957979246
- BindingPaperback
- LanguageEnglish
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Focus on - Victoria's Narrow Gauge Beech Forest Line - Part One
Published by
Puffing Billy Preservation Society, Belgrave, Victoria, Australia, 2004
ISBN 10: 095797924X
ISBN 13: 9780957979246
Used
Soft cover
First Edition
Seller: Train World Pty Ltd, North Brighton, VIC, Australia
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Soft cover. Condition: Good. No Jacket. 1st Edition. 42 Pages with Sepia Photos. The former Victorian Railways, the state railway authority in Victoria, Australia built a number of experimental 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge railway lines around the beginning of the 20th century. A depression in the early 1890s brought a halt to the rapid expansion of railways in Victoria. Politicians promoted narrow gauge lines as a way to link remote communities, particularly in hilly country, without the expense of the 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) broad gauge railways. Railways officials opposed them, citing the inconvenience and expense of a break-of-gauge. A parliamentary committee eventually identified 14 possible locations for narrow gauge railways, and recommended that four experimental lines be built. They were: Lilydale - Warburton : Wangaratta - Whitfield : Upper Ferntree Gully - Gembrook : Colac - Beech Forest. The third line to open was in the Otway Ranges in southwest Victoria. The line from Colac to Beech Forest opened in March 1902, and it was extended to Crowes in June 1911. Nearly 44 miles (70.8 km) long, this was the longest of the narrow gauge lines. It was also the last to close, finally succumbing in June 1962, although the line had been truncated in 1954. Both the Colac and Crowes lines entered Beech Forest yard from the same end, creating a junction. Trains had to be turned to run down the Crowes branch and a balloon loop was provided at the other end of the yard. A tennis court occupied the land within the loop. Crowes, the terminus of the line, was the most southerly railway station on the Australian mainland. The primary traffic was sawn timber and firewood, with many sawmills located adjacent to the railway, or accessed by short tramways. Seasonally heavy potato traffic and a lime kiln added to revenue. Traffic grew to require up to 7 trains a day each way by the mid 1920s. The introduction of the Garratt locomotive allowed a new timetable with two trains each way between Colac and Beech Forest, and a third train each way to Gellibrand. The Crowes branch saw a single mixed train daily. The arrival of the Great Depression and competition from motor vehicles saw traffic decline to a point where only one train each way operated over the line three days a week. Increased wartime loadings saw traffic increase to two trains each way daily, however this improvement was only temporary. By the time the railway closed, the timetable listed only one train each way a week, and most of the traffic was pulpwood. The line opened using the Staff and Ticket method of safeworking. However Train Section Orders were adopted between 1927 and 1939, after which Staff and Ticket working was resumed. Seller Inventory # UB-04264
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