The Wonthaggi railway line is a closed

railway line Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to road ...

located in

South Gippsland South Gippsland, a region of Gippsland in Victoria, Australia, is a well-watered region consisting of low, rolling hills descending to the coast in the south and the Latrobe Valley in the north. It is part of the larger Gippsland Basin bioreg ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

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 ...

. Its primary purpose was to serve the State Coal Mine but the line also provided passenger and general goods services. The line was opened in 1910 and closed in 1978. Wonthaggi-Anderson rail ticket 1977

Background

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, 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 ...

depended on black coal to fire its

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

s. Although black coal deposits around

Korumburra Korumburra is a town in the Australian States and territories of Australia, state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It is located on the South Gippsland Highway, south-east of Melbourne, in the South Gippsland Shire local government area. At ...

had been exploited since 1891, the seams were narrow, the costs of production were relatively high and, in 1900, their production accounted for just a quarter of Victoria's consumption. It was cheaper for VR to purchase coal from

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle, also commonly referred to as Greater Newcastle ( ; ), is a large Metropolitan area, metropolitan area and the second-most-populous such area of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the cities of City of Newcastle, Newcastle and Ci ...

, but a protracted miners' dispute in 1909 threatened the NSW supplies and led to an even stronger commitment by the

Murray Murray may refer to: Businesses * Murray (bicycle company), an American bicycle manufacturer * Murray Motor Car Company, an American car manufacturer * Murrays, an Australian bus company * Murray International Trust, a Scottish investment trus ...

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

to securing local supplies.Lee, p.132 With the Korumburra mines unable to meet the Victorian Railways' demand for 1000 tons of coal a day, a promising seam on the Powlett River, which had been tested in 1908, was rapidly exploited, with the government opening the mine for commercial purposes in 1909. Although the first coal shipments were taken to Melbourne by sea from Inverloch, a railway was rapidly constructed to serve the new mine.

Construction

Originally known as the "Powlett River railway", the Wonthaggi line was built extremely rapidly. A branch line from Nyora to Woolamai had already been approved, branching from the South Gippsland line (the ''Great Southern Railway'') just east of

Nyora railway station Nyora is a railway station on the former South Gippsland line in South Gippsland, Victoria, Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (cont ...

, but work had not started. In December 1909, a extension of the branch from Woolamai to the Powlett River coalfield was given parliamentary sanction. The line carried its first coal in February 1910, with

Baldwin Baldwin may refer to: People * Baldwin (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname Places Canada * Baldwin, York Regional Municipality, Ontario * Baldwin, Ontario, in Sudbury District * Baldwin's Mills, ...

-built

4-6-0 A 4-6-0 steam locomotive, under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, has four leading wheels on two axles in a leading bogie and six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles with the abs ...

locomotive W 227 given the honour of hauling the first train from the Powlett coalfield. As well as passenger and general goods stations to service the rapidly growing town of

Wonthaggi Wonthaggi is a town located south east of Melbourne via the South Gippsland Highway, South Gippsland and Bass Highway, Victoria, Bass highways, in the Bass Coast Shire of Gippsland, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Known originally f ...

, connections were provided to the State Mine (on the up side of Wonthaggi) and to later additional mine extensions at Dudley and Kirrak.

Traffic

The mine's production grew rapidly and at its peak in 1926 produced per day, with Victorian Railways buying 90% of production. By 1928, twelve return passenger services also ran on the line per week, with a journey time from Flinders Street station to

taking approximately four hours. The introduction of diesel rail motors in the 1950s saw a reduction in journey times for passenger services on the line to around three hours by 1954, but service frequency was now eleven return passenger services operating per week.

Decline and closure

The conversion of Victorian Railways from steam to diesel-electric power during the 1950s and 1960s reduced demand for black coal and in 1968 the mine closed. Passenger services from Nyora to Wonthaggi were withdrawn on 4 December 1977 with the last train being a

153hp Walker railmotor The family of Walker railmotors were a type of diesel railcar operated by the Victorian Railways in Australia. After World War II, the Victorian Railways undertook a major rebuilding program known as Operation Phoenix. One of the first tasks ...

. By this time the general decline of Victorian branch line network saw services being withdrawn from a number of lines, and the Wonthaggi line closed on 21 November 1978 when a final goods train returned to Melbourne with

staff Staff may refer to: Pole * Walking staff, an instrument used for balance when walking * Staff, a weapon used in stick-fighting ** Quarterstaff, a European pole weapon * Staff of office, a pole that indicates a position * Staff (railway signalling) ...

equipment from stations along the line. The track was dismantled in 1988 and the southern section from Woolamai to

has been developed as the

Bass Coast Rail Trail The Bass Coast Rail Trail is a rail trail located in the Bass Coast Shire of Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. The trail has been constructed along a section of the former Wonthaggi line. The trail starts at the former Anderson station and fini ...

Station histories

References