Walhalla railway line

Before the railway The region of Tanjil County in Central Gippsland was a significant metals mining district in the mid 1860s, with significant gold mines and Victoria's first copper mine opening in 1865. The town of Walhalla had grown to 1,500 residents by 1870 following the opening of the Heyfield line, and in 1888 the local Member of Parliament, Albert Harris, first officially proposed a railway to Walhalla. However, New South Wales's Camden railway line had grades as steep as 1 in 19, and was limited to very light loads for relatively powerful locomotives. Using that line as a proxy, it is likely that Victorian engines of the era, like the Y Class, with similarly-sized driving wheels and boiler pressure, on a slope like that would have been limited to something like ; something like 5 to 10 loaded fixed-axle cars and wagons, or as few as two or three bogie vehicles. In early 1900 a new proposal was made for a gauge line with a cost estimate of per mile, down from per mile for a broad gauge line along a similar route; some of the savings came from lighter rails. This route would have required provision of a tunnel about four miles before arriving at Walhalla. The special narrow gauge train was worked from Moe by engine 9A, Speeches at the event included reference to tourism, "if the mines failed". A common epithet was that the line had been built to help remove the town. As the mines closed the population moved on to mining coal in Wonthaggi, Victoria or gold in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia; by 1920 after the Great War, the population of Walhalla had dwindled to only 250 people. In practice the vast majority of the traffic on the line was timber, mostly from local sawmills with occasional log traffic. == Route ==

General description The 1927 grades chart indicates the line was fully fenced in the dropper style, and provided with combined railway and postal wires along the west side of the line to Gould, though Trainor notes these wires ran the whole length of the line, typically no more than above ground level. Maintenance of the line was divided among four crews; one each at Moe, Gould and Erica, each with three staff members, a tricycle and two hand-operated trolleys, and the Walhalla gang with three staff members, two tricycles, one hand-operated trolley, and two motorised trolleys. Each of the four gangs was responsible for about of track including sidings. Ganger tool sheds were present at each of the four depots; two departmental residences at Gould and four at Erica. For train operations there were cattle loading facilities at Moondarra and Erica, and water supplies gravity-fed at Walhalla but pumped by oil to Gould and Erica (the latter with two water columns). Walhalla was also listed as having a coal stage, engine shed, and a crane. Walhalla's coal stage was , and was rated to hold of coal at depth, of coal at depth, or of coal at depth; The line was laid using recycled rails, with a mix of , and steel and/or iron rails. Sleepers were hardwood, with a mix of and sizes, at 9 or 10 sleepers per length of rail. Ballast was gravel, to a depth of . and a coal stage, then a run-around loop for narrow-gauge trains and a stub siding with a ramp for inter-gauge transfers. Then, facing west, a siding diverted to the left to serve the rear of the broad gauge goods shed, and continuing beyond to a livestock race with narrow gauge on the north and broad gauge on the south. Moe had previously had a turntable stub track behind the station platform and branching from the Thorpdale line, though sources differ as to whether that had a By the time interlocking was provided in 1913, broad gauge tracks 2 and 3 were extended at the east end to serve the coal stage and locomotive depot, and via a back-shunt, the narrow gauge transfer ramp respectively. On 15 September 1927 changes to the broad gauge signalling at Moe required that the Up Walhalla home signal be swapped from signal box lever 3 to lever 5. at from Melbourne. In August 1953 the Home signal from the narrow gauge line was disconnected from the Moe station interlocking and instead worked by a lever provided on the goods shed platform, to free up that lever for the then-under-construction Yallourn broad gauge branch line. After the Walhalla line closed the signal remained in place, not being abolished until September 1956 where it crossed the road again. Fiddian (1982) claims Gooding had a raised platform, though this is not corroborated elsewhere. However, the section between Gooding and Tyers River featured two intermediate sites. These were an unnamed temporary station site at from Moe, or approximately from Melbourne, placing it about a mile from the crest of the 1 in 30 uphill slope; It is at least plausible that the temporary station could have been provided at the listed chainage, as the construction plans for the route show a straight section of track between and from Moe with a level crossing that does not appear on the 1927 grades chart. Gould, Moondarra and Watson Gould was opened with the line as a stopping place, probably only with a nameboard. The loop siding was converted to staff locks (worked by a key milled as the end of the Train Staff) on 27 September 1920. Between the weeks ending Tuesdays 15 February 1921 and 21 April 1931, Gould was permitted to open as an intermediate special block post. Trainor noted that, at least in 1927, there had been a small tea stall provided at the station, opened when trains passed through and operated by the owner of a mixed business "on the road near the local hotel". This station had a passenger shelter, a loop siding or 17 trucks long and was provided with a cattle race. The cleared site of Moondarra station is now used as a council depot, but parts of the rail alignment have been converted to road or walking tracks. The road crossed to the west side of the line here, following the edge of the mountain for about half a mile while the railway took a slightly longer approach to manage the local gradient before the two came together on the approach to Collins' Siding. Collins' Siding and Erica Collins' Siding '''Collins' Siding''' was slightly beyond where Upper Moondarra Road (now Moe-Rawson Road) met the alignment of the railway. At this point the railway took over the road's original alignment while the road was pushed west into the cliffside for a length of a little under a mile, as both ascended. The new tramway was connected to the Victorian Railways network by a crossover at the down end, but it had its own yard parallel to the Walhalla line's siding built above the rail height of the Walhalla line. The loading of the tramway had previously been run to Erica and transhipped to the Victorian Railways' network there, and the opening of the tramway directly led to a reduction in staff at that station as its administrative requirements dropped. When the line opened officially the station was renamed Harris after the local Member of Parliament for Walhalla., who had been instrumental in having the line constructed. Local residents objected to the renaming on the grounds that it would affect produce sales, but as Pearson station had since claimed the name Moondarra, Harris had to be renamed to somethng else. At this time the middle road of Erica's main yard only had a derail facility at the Down end; No.3 road with the goods shed was or 15 trucks clear. Assuming typical spacing between parallel tracks and therefore normal limits for truck placement at the ends of sidings (with about from the toe of turnout to the "fouling point" where applicable), the Forest Mill's stub siding would have been about or 15 trucks clear, and their loop siding about or 17 trucks clear, while the sawmill loading area would have been about or 6 trucks clear. On 14 October 1952 the railway beyond Erica to Platina was closed (Platina to Walhalla having been closed almost a decade earlier), followed by the whole line on 25 June 1954. All remaining facilities were removed by June 1955. Erica to Platina After departing Erica the line towards Walhalla was peppered with assorted sidings, gradually transitioning from logging to mining as the primary industry. From the station there was a roughly stretch where the railway dipped down to a bridge over Jacobs Creek (with a 10-span curved trestle bridge on a curve of radius), then climbed back up to almost the same height by the 100-mile post. Following cessation of mining activities the siding was transferred to a Mr G. W. Knott as of 1 September 1913, and renamed '''Knott's Siding''' about four months later. From 20 April 1914 the site of the siding was made available for passenger traffic and operated under "No one in charge" conditions so passengers had to flag down trains and purchase tickets from the Guard or Travelling Station Master. O'Shea's Siding After Fullwood's Siding was a deep cutting, then a loop siding was provided on the north side of the line, initially with about or 5 trucks of space available. This had been provided in April 1921 as '''Ezard's Siding, and the loop was extended by (2 trucks) in 1924. In 1925 a stub siding was extended from the down end of the loop, initially as the Lime Company Siding but quickly renamed as the White Rock Lime Company Pty Ltd Siding'''. This only had capacity of or 2 trucks. The loop siding was flanked on the north side by a timber tramway network that extended through Rawson and Amor as far as modern day Baw Baw National Park and Caringal, and on the south side by a separate tramway serving a mine near Coopers Creek. The cutting between Knott's Siding and O'Shea's Siding was used as a local rubbish tip in the 1970s, and has been partially filled in. As of Weekly Notice No.27/10, Murie's Siding had to be worked by dedicated local goods trains from Walhalla, and not the regular Mixed train. A tramway extended from the Evans Siding south-east parallel to Coopers Creek Road, towards the point where Coopers Creek met the Thompson River, a distance of about 1.2 kilometres. making use of the 1 in 40 downhill slope towards Walhalla. Early photos of the line show a short run-around loop and shelter in the approach to the bridge while it was under construction, and later with the loop and shelter removed but its worksite yet to be cleared. Additionally, a short siding extended north from the loop towards the main road bridge over the Thomson River, and this area was used to store the plate girders and recycled lattice girders while the middle concrete piers were still encased in their formwork. though it was the terminating and interchange point for a number of timber tramways that served mines in the mountains between the Thomson River and Walhalla town and station. while the plate girders either side of the central span were taken from former bridges on the North East railway line and cut to fit. This second temporary terminus was in service from 7 September 1996 until 28 March 1997. The preserved line reached Happy Creek on 1 April 1997 where the preserved line terminated pending reconstruction of the plethora of bridges between there and Walhalla proper in 2002. This last location included a short run-around loop slightly on the up side of the actual station shelter. Around this site, Happy Creek (the waterway) passed under the railway on a trestle bridge, to merge with Stringers Creek. Walhalla was the only station on the line to have a dedicated passenger platform, measuring long. == Fleet ==

Engines and rolling stock would have been rotated on an as-required basis, largely to accommodate maintenance requirements that could not be handled on site. The locomotives were originally classed "A", and referred to as, for example, "1A (narrow gauge)", though later documents used the class "NA" to distinguish them from various classes of broad gauge "A" class engines. Similarly, the passenger and goods rolling stock had been delivered with identifying codes equivalent to the broad gauge system, e.g. the open wagons were classed "QR", but by the time the Walhalla line opened these were in the process of being reclassed, e.g. NQR. Similarly, the passenger and van stock codes were simplified e.g. from NBB to simply NB. Locomotives Nearly all of the Victorian Railways' narrow gauge locomotives worked on the Moe - Walhalla line at some point, with the exception of engine 2A (captive to the Wangaratta - Whitfield line) and Garratt locomotive G41 (captive to the Colac - Crowes). Baldwin-built engine 1A was transferred from Wangaratta to Moe around February 1905 to help with the construction effort, staying until May the same year before moving on to Colac. It returned in November 1907, and stayed on the line (barring occasional maintenance at Newport Workshops) for over half a decade, including working the first train to Upper Moondarra in 1908. Carriages, Trucks and Vans By the time the line officially opened it has already seen trains in service for a few years, and these used an assortment of passenger and goods stock from the narrow gauge fleet, including wagon 20NQR and at least one NBB saloon carriage. In September 1909 these were joined by composite compartment First and Second class carriages 3 and 4 NABAB,; The photo at the top of this article shows locomotive 1A hauling three unidentified NQR trucks configured for passenger traffic, followed by carriage 4NAB and (based on the height difference) van 4NBC. 1910 also saw van 7NBC enter service on the Walhalla line. First class passenger accommodation was abolished on the Walhalla line on 9 July 1923, with fares adjusted accordingly. this makes it likely that the cars essentially kept their original allocations through that point, and that the 1917 conversion of 4NAB to 24NB was made to reflect demand on the Moe - Walhalla line. In June 1910 van 1NPH entered service on the line, with a six-ton compartment for goods and four-ton compartment for explosive powder transport to mines, though it was reconfigured to entirely normal goods capacity shortly thereafter. In 1940 the line fleet comprised 5, 10, 14 and 27NB, 3NBC, 1NC, 6 and 13NU, 14NM, and a total of 77x NQR trucks including some available for passenger transport. At the line's closure the fleet was reduced to 7NBC, 1NC, 6NU, 14NM, and 45x NQ trucks; including NQ no.192 fitted with a gallon water tank, and the first and last NQ wagons nos 1 and 218. 7NBC operated on the last train from Erica to Moe in 1954, and 1NC was withdrawn from Moe in 1955. == Traffic ==

Over the whole of the line's existence, the average annual outwards patronage was 6,371; the inwards goods was , the outwards goods , and the revenue (raw numbers, ignoring inflation) . Another such instance was in February 1944, when the Forest Commission's Fordson Tractor engine was transferred from Erica to Collins' Siding. For this move, after No.17 Mixed arrived at Erica the Train Staff was taken by a railway employee who accompanied the Tractor back to Collins' Siding, after which the employee and Train Staff were returned to Erica to resume normal operation. About a month later the process was reversed. When the process was repeated in 1950, the qualified railway employee was specified as the Block and Signal Inspector, and the local Ganger had to check the track after the Commission's tractor engine had passed over to make sure no damage had occurred. == Operations ==

Safeworking As noted above, the line was always worked by the Train Staff and Ticket safeworking system. This was initially as one block Moe to Walhalla, later divided into two as Moe - Harris/Erica and Harris/Erica - Walhalla. In the inter-war period Erica was downgraded to an Intermediate Special Block Post, allowing following trains but not trains in opposite directions by telephoning the prior station to advise when the first train had passed. Later, Erica was restored as a Train Staff and Ticket station, and Gould was introduced as an Block Post in its own right between 1921 and 1931. Even as the line progressively closed from the north end, the Train Staff at Erica remained engraved with the section to "Walhalla". and prevented the morning Walhalla train from passing Harris, so a special train was organised from the Moe end to connect from the 7:52 a.m. train from Melbourne and passengers and mail were swapped between the two train sets either side of the landslip, where the rails were suspended in mid-air with sleepers attached. The passengers of the train from Walhalla did not arrive in Melbourne until 10:30 p.m. that day, but full service did not resume until 10 November. This was reported as the fourth time the land had subsided at the Up side of the station. Another landslip happened only thee days later, with the immediate solution of mail being conveyed by the track maintenance crew's rail motorcycle; passengers had to wait for a replacement train from Moe as per the previous week. The line had been fine when inspected at 6 a.m. that day, so there hadn't been enough time to prepare the second engine and train for the relief connection. This time, the gap under the line was described as about long, deep and wide, and requiring to fill. Three trucks of filling had been poured in by 15 November but this had all been washed out by further subsidence the following day, and another 13 trucks were unloaded into the site; even that proved insufficient, and by 19 November another slip was deemed likely only away. These predictions were prudent, with the line covered over by a slip on 25 November. This, too, was cleared, but shortly thereafter the line was permanently diverted to the south around the site for a length of just over . == Services ==

The opening service was a mixed train departing Walhalla on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 6:40 am, arriving Moe 9:25 am to meet the 9:50 am train to Melbourne. The return train left Moe at 11:50 am the same day, having connected from the outbound Melbourne train that passed Moe at 11:26 am, and arrived back at Walhalla at 2:50 pm. Mail traffic remained with the road coach hauliers because that contract had not yet expired. When this trial was deemed successful double-heading was permitted as a rule, though initially restricted to engines 9A, 12A and 17A until the other engines were modified. The train was operated by 9A (leading) and 17A, and was long enough that before departure the leading engine was parked just short of the George Street level crossing at Moe. On this trip, the consist from Moe was the engine, louvre van 6NU, an unidentified, tarped NQ open truck, and guard's van 7NBC. The train left Moe with the photographer and "two or three" other passengers. The train made good time to the water tanks at Gould. On arrival at Erica the two trucks were detached to be unloaded by local residents. The NQ placed beyond Down of the goods shed on No.3 track while the NU was coupled to a set of five other NQ wagons already present at the up end of the same track, with the consignments collected directly from the van by local road trucks. Van 7NBC was left opposite the station building. Station facilities were the main building, a standard Victorian Railways portable timber structure with a verandah and fireplace, and two galvanised iron toilet facilities; the Mens' being a distance away from the station building while the Ladies' was attached to the main structure. A water tower was present at each end of the station. The Men's toilet had an advertisement board for "Pure Velvet Soap" below the station nameboard and elevation board. The line beyond Erica was clear of weeds only far enough to enable shunting of the yard, and the arrival Home signal from Platina and Walhalla had been left at proceed, with the operating lever adjacent to the Men's toilet. The derailment protection at the down end of the yard was connected by point rodding to the lever of the mainline turnout, with both No.2 and No.3 tracks derails worked synchronously. Erica had two Departmental Residences in place at this time, and at the down end of the station a collection of discarded and abandoned timber tramway equipment including bogies, winches, a TACL rail tractor and the Climax Locomotive of the Tyers Valley tramway. A second T.A.C.L. was still in use at the Erica sawmill, shunting about ten discarded former Victorian Railways NQ wagons between the three sidings; some of these were singles, others worked in pairs with the facing sets of truck ends removed. Notably, while the rails in the sawmill area "appear[s] to be of V.R. origin", one of the turnouts was worked by a point lever apparently imported from the North East Dundas Tramway line in Tasmania. That line's last regular service was in 1929, and it had used the world's first Garratt locomotives. At the Up end of Erica the stock race structure was immediately adjacent to the toe of the Up end turnout, so livestock wagons would have been loaded and unloaded on the mainline. Like the Down end, the mainline turnout point lever also worked the derail in No.2 road, though the Up end of No.3 road had a timber, manually-worked scotch block. The return train from Erica was the locomotive, newly-emptied 6NU, untarped truck 166NQ collected from Erica and van 6NBC. At Gould a crate was loaded into the NQ. On arrival at Moe G42 was stabled adjacent to broad gauge N493 in the locomotive shed, while 7A was parallel outside and 12A was stabled in the yard. The parallel broad gauge siding near the turntable was host to the early, timber-bodied rail tractor 1RT, and workmens sleeper 50X, so any load transfer between the two gauges must have happened at the transfer sidings and gantry crane at the opposite end of the station. Narrow gauge wagons 1NQ and 85NQ were present in the yard on the maintenance trestle, accompanied by a handful of other NQ wagons and an NC van. There was also another NQ stabled at the west end of the yard near the goods shed, fitted with a water tank, and one final wagon in the transfer sidings. == Closure and legacy ==

The Walhalla line, like the other narrow gauge routes, was never profitable. In the period 1918 to 1929 it made in revenue, but still generated a loss. from that date the regular tri-weekly Mixed train ran to Erica, or Platina if required. Later this service was reduced to Mondays only, though it changed to Fridays only in January 1951. At this time the train was reclassed as a regular Goods train, though an NBC van with passenger accommodation was available for travel. In 1952 the Erica-Platina section was closed, and the whole of the line on 25 June 1954. By the 1950s the track, rolling stock, crews and residents were generally run down; Anchen (2012) recounts from the Narracan Shire Advocate in February 1954 that of a consignment of of fertiliser from Melbourne to Erica, only a quarter of the load actually arrived with the rest being lost to weather, and some of the truck being unloaded at Gould to be forwarded the following week. Another resident noted that the railway did not have sufficient livestock trucks or loading facilities so there was no choice but to use road transport. Furthermore, cancellation of the early morning train from Erica to Moe meant there was no way to provide same-day delivery of livestock to Traralgon market. The last train to Erica was worked by driver Con Mangan and fireman Jim Rae, with engine 7A on 25 June 1954. It was supposed to be worked the previous day by G42, but the engine couldn't function because coal had been put on the lighting-up fire too early and suffocated it. For the final train 7A was decorated with a banner, ferns, flags and chalk, and made the return trip with some difficulty due to things like the sanders not functioning correctly. The train was met at Erica by a small crowd, then returned to Moe well after dark. The consist had been the engine, a louvre NU van, an open NQ truck, and guard's van 7NBC. The NQ truck was delivered to Moondarra and loaded with potatoes to be collected on the return trip. Additional wagons were collected "at every station along the line", reaching and possibly breaching the maximum limit that the engine could haul with the result that six wagons had to be left behind at Gould. Finally, on 29 June 7A was lit up again for driver Con Mangan and fireman Frank Ritchie to run to Gould with van 7NBC and collect the last six NQ wagons from the siding there. The engines and rolling stock sat at Moe for some time after closure before being removed; in October 1954 G42 was taken to Newport Workshops (the engine units on transfer wagon 129Q, the boiler unit loaded on a QB or QBF well wagon), and engine 7A arrived at Upper Ferntree Gully in to work trains for the newly established Puffing Billy Preservation Society. On 9 September 1954 six NQ wagons, nos 94, 100, 102, 153, 169 and 208, were sold from Moe station to the Forests Commission. In 1957 NQ trucks 29, 94, 153, 164 and 169 were recorded in use at the Erica sawmill, being shunted by one of the Forestry Commission's TACL units. After the line closed, lyrebirds in the forest were noted in continuing to imitate the locomotive whistles with a ghostly reverberation. Occasionally from 1956 to 1958, locals would ride home-made trolleys along the remaining track, but this practice ceased when after track dismantling started in 1958. In 1958 the Moe engine shed was dismantled and van 6NU was mounted on trestles with the bogies and rails removed under it; most of the stations along the line had their staff locks and other signalling equipment removed, buildings demolished, and sidings at Knotts, White Rock and Platina had all been lifted, with dismantling of Walhalla yard underway. By 1963 parts various bridge decks had fallen through, and the Thomson River bridge had been sold to the Shire of Narracan (who were also negotiating to buy the rest of the bridges along Stringers Creek). The Coopers Creek bridge was sold to the army for a demolition exercise and the road bridge over the line nearby had been filled in underneath. At Walhalla the main road had been diverted over the site of the former station building, and similarly the road between Moe and Erica had been diverted onto the rail alignment in places to make way for Moondarra Dam. Removal of track and buildings was completed by 1963, and since then changes to Moe yard (including electrification, and later de-electrification) have obliterated nearly all evidence of the former interchange facilities; as of 2011 a single gate post was still in situ at the former George Street level crossing (visible on Google Street View in 2010, but absent by 2014), and the "telltale line of back fences" indicate where the line used to pass through. Just north of town the rail formation has been converted to an access road for a sewage plant. Parts of the land have been sold privately, including the area where remains of the Latrobe River bridge sit, but the Tanjil River bridge is still somewhat intact, as is the road bridge over the line on the approach to Gooding. The area of the Tyers River bridge was flooded by rising waters in Moondarra Dam and Reservoir (completed in 1961), though some parts are visible in low water conditions. The Thomson River Railway Bridge is listed on the Register of the National Estate. It had been scheduled for demolition as a military exercise in the 1950s but this was prevented by "indignant railway enthusiasts", and was still intact (though with gaps in the deck) in 1992, and in the preservation era trains operate over it again. == Reconstruction ==

In recognition of the outstanding tourist potential of the railway, a number of attempts were made to reopen the line for tourist traffic, but none were successful until the early 1990s. The Walhalla Railway Taskforce was formed in 1991, becoming the Walhalla Goldfields Railway, Inc., in 1993. By this time the roadbed was a totally overgrown jungle of blackberries and heavy scrub, with numerous sections of the trackbed having collapsed and all being derelict except one of the bridges. Restoration began with the establishment of Thomson Station and its accompanying yard on the site of an original station. The railway commenced operations in April 1994, within the Thomson Station yard. Gradually the line extended, first over the nationally heritage-classified Thomson River Bridge in October 1994, pushing up the Stringers Creek Gorge to Happy Creek. This became the terminus for the line until the six bridges in the last kilometre into the Walhalla Station yard were completed, this section of line opening on 15 March 2002. The operating line is in length. The new Walhalla station building is a replica of the original, though on the opposite side of the yard because the road alignment has taken over its former site. == See also ==