The Mansfield railway line is a closed branch railway line situated in the Hume region of Victoria,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Constructed by the

Victorian Railways The Victorian Railways (VR), trading from 1974 as VicRail, was the state-owned operator of most rail transport in the Australian state of Victoria from 1859 to 1983. The first railways in Victoria were private companies, but when these companie ...

, it branched from the Seymour line at station, and ran east to . The line was primarily built to provide a general goods and passenger service to settlements in the area.

History

The line was opened in six stages from November 1883 to October 1891, and was closed in November 1978. The first stage of the line was opened from to in 1883, being extended in stages from 1889 though , , and , to reach in 1891. A 7-kilometre-long branch was opened from Cathkin to in 1890, being extended another 7 kilometres to in 1909. The line was a result of a decade of local lobbying, and provided improved access for agricultural products from the region to

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

markets. The line was quite scenic, and included a 200 m tunnel near Cheviot and a viaduct over an arm of the

Lake Eildon The Eildon Dam is a rock and earth-fill embankment dam with a controlled spillway, located on the Goulburn River between the regional towns of and within Lake Eildon National Park, in the Alpine region of Victoria, Australia. The dam's pur ...

reservoir in , which was rebuilt in 1955 as part of the enlarging of the reservoir. By the mid-1970s, the track had deteriorated beyond Yea and, after March 1977, the majority of passenger services were run by buses. The last regular passenger service to Mansfield, on 28 May 1977, was operated by 280hp Walker railmotor 91 RM. It was replaced by a bus service via , which was rerouted via after road upgrades had been carried out. The line was closed on 8 November 1978, along with the branch line to Alexandra. It was quickly dismantled following closure, preventing any chance of tourist services from operating along the line, despite some interest being shown. Many bridges along the line were also removed with only the abutments and piers remaining. The trackbed has since been re-used for the 134-kilometre Great Victorian

Rail Trail A rail trail or railway walk is a shared-use path on a Right of way#Rail right of way, railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed but may also share the rail corr ...

. Construction of the trail was funded by the federal government and local councils.

Stations

References

External links

Photographs of stations along the Mansfield line

Goulburn River High Country Rail Trail
{{Victorian Railway Lines, branch Closed regional railway lines in Victoria (state) 5 ft 3 in gauge railways in Australia Railway lines opened in 1883 Railway lines closed in 1978 1883 establishments in Australia 1978 disestablishments in Australia Transport in Hume (region)