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| 2011 - Puffing Billy |
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| 1945 - at the Upwey block - I am at front |
In 1945, I was a whippersnapper in Year 1, at Auburn Central State School.
At that time Mum and Dad
had bought a block of bushland at Upwey, in the Dandenongs.
We used to go
up there often, taking the train to Upper Ferntree Gully, then hoppping on the world-famous tourist train,the Puffing Billy,
getting off at Belgrave. We would buy some bread, snags and milk in th Upwey shopping centre, then walk up the hill,
reaching the wooden lookout tower, then to our block.
Our downward-sloping land was covered in forest, with a couple of houses nearby.
Dad would light a campfire, and we would toast bread and sausages for a barbecue! We would do some clearing of undergrowth.Afterwards,
we would hike down the hill through the forest, eventually reaching Upper Ferntree Gully station.
The block looks much the same today as it did over 60 years ago, except that there
is now a house on it! The lookout is still there, but is closed due to safety concerns.
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| 1951 - Upwey Lookout - my pic! |
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| 1955 - Upwey station |
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| 1969 - Puffing Billy (public domain pic) |
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 present line between Belgrave and Gembrook, through the forests, fern gullies and farmlands of the magnificent
Dandenong Ranges, is the major part of the line which opened on 18 December 1900 and operated over 18.2 miles (29km) between
Upper Ferntree Gully and Gembrook until 1953. In 1953, a landslide blocked the track and, because of operating losses, the
line was closed the following year
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| 1915 - Puffing Billy (public domain pic) |
In September 1957, the VR announced that Puffing Billy would cease operating between Upper Ferntree Gully
and Belgrave early in 1958 to enable conversion of this section into an extension of the electrified suburban train system.
Public interest resulted in the formation of the Puffing Billy Preservation Society,
The Puffing Billy Preservation Society, having passed its first major test was now faced with operating the train from Belgrave toward Gembrook. After
the last train ran on Sunday February 23, 1958, the PBPS steeled itself to build a new station at Belgrave and to bypass the
landslide that originally closed the line in 1954.
Run by volunteers, with the blessings of the Victorian State Government and the assistance of the Citizens’
Military Forces, it by-passed the landslide and reopened the line to Menzies Creek in 1962, Emerald in 1965, Lakeside in 1975
and finally to Gembrook in October 1998.
Public interest resulted in the formation of the Puffing Billy Preservation Society, whose volunteers, with the blessings of the Victorian State Government and the assistance of the Citizens’
Military Forces, by-passed the landslide and reopened the line to Menzies Creek in 1962, Emerald in 1965, Lakeside in 1975
and finally to Gembrook in October 1998.
A collage of pictures I took on February 23, 1958, the last day on which
Puffing Billy ran from Upper Ferntree Gully to Belgrave. The images are JPGs, scanned from black and white transparencies,
which were originally black and white negatives. A mate and I had ridden our bikes to Belgrave to watch this historical event!
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| 1958 - Belgrave station, last Puffing Billy from Upper Ferntree Gully |
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| 1958 - last Puffing Billy at Upper Ferntree Gully |
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| 1958 - last Puffing Billy at Upper Ferntree Gully |
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| 1958 - Belgrave station, last Puffing Billy from Upper Ferntree Gully |
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| 1958 - Belgrave station, last Puffing Billy from Upper Ferntree Gully |
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| 1958 - last Puffing Billy at Upper Ferntree Gully |
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| 1958 - last Puffing Billy near Upper Ferntree Gully |
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